NOTARY JOURNAL TEMPLATE
If you came looking for a template, this is it — not a PDF to print, but the whole field list, what belongs in each one, and two entries filled in end to end. Rule it into a bound book, put it in a spreadsheet, or use the app that already has it as a form.
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Three of them fill themselves in. One is required. The rest are there because some state somewhere expects them, and left empty where yours does not — a template that suits one state’s rules suits the next state’s badly, so nothing here is forced.
| Field | What goes in it | Filled by |
|---|---|---|
| The act | ||
| Date and time | Written when the entry is saved. The moment the signer appeared, not the date on the document. | Automatic |
| Signer | ||
| Full name | As it appears on the identification you accepted. | Required |
| Address | Where the signer lives, not where the signing happened. | Optional |
| Phone | Rarely required. Frequently the only way to reach them a year later. | Optional |
| Identification | ||
| ID type | Driver licence, state ID, passport, military ID, credible witness, personal knowledge — or your own wording. | Optional |
| ID number | Where you are permitted to keep one. Some states restrict this. | Optional |
| Issued by | The issuing authority, not the country you are standing in. | Optional |
| Expiration | The date on the credential, which is how a reviewer knows it was valid on the day. | Optional |
| Document and act | ||
| Document type | Acknowledgment, jurat, oath or affirmation, copy certification, signature witnessing, loan package — or your own wording. | Optional |
| Document date | The date on the instrument, when it carries one. | Optional |
| Notes | Anything the fields do not cover: which package it belonged to, who was present, why a signer was refused. | Optional |
| Fee and payment | ||
| Fee charged | The notarial fee. Record a zero rather than leaving it blank. | Optional |
| Travel fee | Kept separate, because in most places it is not the notarial fee. | Optional |
| Payment method | Cash, cheque, card, a payment app, invoiced, or no charge. | Optional |
| Where it happened | ||
| Latitude | Captured on request, or automatically on new entries. | Optional |
| Longitude | Stored alongside the latitude, to six decimal places. | Optional |
| Resolved address | The street address the coordinates resolve to — the part a person can read. | Optional |
| What you captured | ||
| Signature | Drawn on the phone at the time, under a prompt in English and Spanish. | Optional |
| Thumbprint | A photo attached to the entry. Nothing is taken unless you ask for it. | Optional |
| Signer ID photo | Behind its own switch, so it can be turned off where keeping images is restricted. | Optional |
| Status | ||
| Edited at | Stamped the first time you change a saved entry. | Automatic |
| Voided at | Stamped when you void. The entry stays and still prints in the export. | Automatic |
Three of the fields are pick-lists rather than free typing, which is what stops the same act being spelled four ways across a year of entries. Two of the three also accept your own wording, for the cases where your state words something differently.
Notarial act / document type
How identity was established
Payment method
The same template, used twice. One is a mobile signing with travel and a thumbprint; the other is five minutes at a desk with no fee at all. Both are complete entries — the difference is which optional fields earned their place.
Mobile acknowledgment
Sample data
Desk jurat, no charge
Sample data
The CSV writes one line per act, in the column order the export uses. Values containing a comma are quoted; a value a spreadsheet would try to evaluate is escaped first, so a name beginning with a dash stays a name.
2026-07-07 12:13,John Michael Doe,"123 Main St, Austin, TX 78701",(512) 555-0198,Driver License,TX10000000,Texas,2028-05-14,Acknowledgment,2026-07-07,25.00,50.00,Cash,"123 Main St, Austin, TX 78701",30.267200,-97.743100,,Loan signing for refinance.The last two columns are the voided flag — empty here, because this entry is active — and the note. The PDF carries the same entry laid out to read, with the signature and thumbprint printed underneath it.
Nothing here argues you should not. A bound book has no battery and nothing to log into, and where the rules describe numbered pages in a sewn binding, a printed sheet in a folder is not the same thing. If that is your position, use this page as the ruling for the columns and buy the book.
The one thing paper cannot do is answer a request quickly. When the question is about a single signing from three years and eleven hundred entries ago, a search box is the whole difference — which is the argument for keeping it electronically, and the reason to check first whether that is accepted where you are commissioned.
The ones that come with the word “template”.
Not from us. The field list on this page is the template: rule the same columns into a bound book with numbered pages, or use an app that already has them as a form.
In NotaryLog, only the signer’s name. What your state requires is a separate question with a different answer in each state — ask your commissioning authority.
Where a journal is required, yes. The document signature is the act. The journal signature is your record that the person who signed it was in front of you.
Where your rules count acts, one entry per act. The notes field is where you name the package, so the entries still read as one appointment.
Yes. Both lists accept free text, so an act your state words differently goes in exactly as your state words it.
This page is general information about notarial recordkeeping, not legal advice. What your state requires, permits and forbids in a journal entry is set by your commissioning authority. NotaryLog reduces the paperwork around a notarial act; it does not make one valid and it does not guarantee compliance with any state’s rules.
GUIDE
Notary journal requirements
Why the journal exists, what a complete entry generally contains, the mistakes that cause trouble later, and how long to keep it.
GUIDE
Electronic notary journal
Whether an app is acceptable where you are commissioned, and the eight things to check before you trust one with your record.
THE APP
NotaryLog
The offline journal itself: the anatomy of an entry, the real screens, and what the PDF and CSV exports contain.
Every field on this page is a row on one screen in NotaryLog, with the pick-lists filled in and the signature pad a tap away. $19.99 once, or $3.99 a month, after a seven-day trial with no card.
