eNotary -Workflow

OneSpan Sign's e-Notary feature enables Notaries in approved state jurisdictions to electronically witness, sign and seal documents in face-to-face meetings with signers. This Quickstart Guide provides an overview of the e-Notary process.

e-Notary still requires in-person signing unless otherwise approved by your state’s laws. Please see remote notarization if your state laws permit such signings.

Enabling eNotary Requirements

eNotary must be enabled by our Support Team. Contact your dedicated Customer Service Representative to enable eNotary on your account. You will be asked to provide the following:

• Notary Name

• Notary Jurisdiction

• License number

• License Expiration Date

Note the following:

• Notaries must be a registered OneSpan Sign sender.

• You cannot send notarize-enabled transactions without adding a registered notary as a signer.

• If you would like to test this feature in your Sandbox, you can either use a real notary's credentials, or have a fake one created.

Once you have eNotary enabled and your notary registered, you can begin using the eNotary feature.

Creating an eNotary Transaction

Begin by creating a normal transaction: Click New Transaction to open the transaction settings dialog box and begin the transaction creation process.

Please note that anyone can send a notarized transaction, not just notaries or admins. Any authorized sender can send these transactions.

In the Transaction Settings dialog, use the transaction type drop-down to select In-Person Electronic Notarization Ceremony. If you do not do this, the transaction will not be legally notarized.

Continue creating the transaction as you normally would. Then, click Create. Again, continue to create the transaction as you normally would. Ading documents and signers does not change when creating an eNotary transaction. The only difference is that you must add a notary as a Recipient. Once you do so, notice that a notary badge will appear next to their name:

Non-notaries will not have a badge next to their name as shown in the image above. In order to assign the notary to the transaction, you must click the badge icon. Doing this sets the notary.

If you do not do this step, you will not be able to send the transaction!

Once clicked, the badge becomes filled in. The notary is now set.

As you’ll notice, the set signing order function is grayed out and you cannot toggle it. This is because a notary legally has to be the last one to sign a document. The system automatically forces the notary, when toggled, to sign last. You cannot move the notary out of last place, though you can adjust the other signers as needed.

After you’ve added documents, signers, and set the notary, you can click Next at the top right-hand corner to begin adding signature buttons to the document. You can lay down signature blocks as you normally would. However, notaries get a few extra buttons to add to documents.

Once you lay down a notary signature block, the below options also become available:

The SEAL is a square stamp that encapsulates all of the Notary information and is generated by the system.

The New Signing Experience (in-person)

Once you’ve laid down the signature blocks and have the document setup to your liking, you are ready to send the document for signing. Some things to note before beginning:

• IMPORTANT: Unless remote notarization is allowed by your state’s laws, all notarized transactions must be done in-person.

• The notary must begin all notarized transactions regardless if they are in-person or remote. A signer cannot begin the signing process.

Assuming they are in-person and ready to sign, the notary would then go to their portal and open the transaction. Inside the transaction, the notary would click the first signer’s name in order to pass off controls:

After highlighting the recipient, the notary then clicks Start at the bottom right. A dialog box will then pop up letting the notary know they are to pass off controls to the recipient. The notary should then click Proceed.

The notary must now physically pass the controls (be it a tablet, computer, or mobile device) to the signer. The notary cannot esign for the client. Once controls are handed off, the recipient then clicks Proceed on the next dialog box to confirm they did receive control.

The recipient can now sign the document as needed. After completion, the recipient will now be instructed to pass back the controls. The notary clicks Done when they have received the controls.

The notary can now select themselves and begin the signing process. Once that is complete, all signers will receive a confirmation email with an option to download the documents. Please remember that if you do not journal your transaction before marking as complete, you will not be able to go back and do so at a later time.

The Classic Signing Experience (in-person)

Starting with the 11.42 release of OneSpan Sign, the Classic User Experience is no longer supported for SaaS customers. This section is thus only intended for on-premises customers who have not yet migrated to our Container deployment.

Once you’ve laid down the signature blocks and have the document setup to your liking, you are ready to send the document for signing. Some things to note before beginning:

• IMPORTANT: Unless remote notarization is allowed by your state’s laws, all notarized transactions must be done in-person.

• The notary must begin all notarized transactions regardless if they are in-person or remote. A signer cannot begin the signing process.

Assuming they are in-person and ready to sign, the notary would then go to their portal and open the transaction. Inside the transaction, the notary would click the first signer’s name in the drop down menu to pass off controls:

After highlighting the recipient, the screen automatically switches to a Switch Signer prompt. A dialog box will then pop up letting the notary know they are to pass off controls to the recipient. The notary should then click Proceed.

The notary must now physically pass the controls (be it a tablet, computer, or mobile device) to the signer. The notary cannot esign for the client. Once controls are handed off, the recipient then clicks Proceed on the next dialog box to confirm they did receive control.

The recipient can now sign the document as needed. After completion, the recipient will now be given the opportunity to review the documents or exit the Signer Experience.

If the recipient clicks Exit, the transaction will close. The recipient should select Close in order to allow the notary to begin signing. Once the dialog box is gone, the recipient must make the notary the signer by clicking their name in the drop down menu.

The recipient will then get a prompt explaining that they must pass the controls to the notary. The recipient must click Proceed in order to pass controls.

The notary then agrees they are gaining control.

Once the notary clicks Proceed they will be able to sign as needed and complete the transaction. Please remember that if you do not journal your transaction before marking as complete, you will not be able to go back and do so at a later time.

Remote Notarization

Remote Notarization is notarization that happens via a third-party video app in lieu of in-person signing. For example, you could use Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Skype, etc.

In order to utilize remote notary, please make sure your Legal team has reviewed the current laws in place regarding this type of signing. Conducting remote notarizations without verifying the state laws opens you and your company up to lawsuits and hefty fines.

Once you’ve verified that remote notary is allowed in your state, you can proceed with the signing process. It works exactly the same way as in-person, the only key difference being that you are using a third-party app that allows the recipients to request screen control.

To start, the notary would schedule a video-enabled meeting between themselves and the signer(s). Once the meeting begins, both parties activate the video feature.You should recommend recording all remote notarizations but this is not required. Please see steps below:

• Notary starts the meeting, records it (if applicable). Both parties have video enabled.

• Notary begins transaction.

• Notary should screen share once transaction is open.

• When it gets to Passing the controls the recipient must then request screen control. Remote notary will not work if you do not use a platform that allows for this.

• The recipient can then sign while in control of the screen. Once they are done, they simply relinquish control of the screen and the notary then signs.

• Transaction is complete and can be stored per the usual guidelines.

Each notary that is registered in the system can view their information via the My Account tab in the OneSpan Sign portal, including their Journal.

Once complete the notary has the option to add each transaction to their Notary Journal. Before exiting the Signer Experience, they can click More options at the top right hand side. They can then add this transaction to their Journal:

For CLASSIC, they click Journal at the top right:

Upon clicking Journal a secondary box will pop-up that requires details. This box pops up in new & classic and requires the same infoormation. The notary would then fill in as needed:

If they click the Journal hyperlink in their My Account page it will take them to a reporting page where they can run a report of all journaled transactions. They can also export a CSV/Excel report from the portal.

If you ever have any questions regarding eNotary or to setup a demo, please reach out to your dedicated CSR for assistance.