Maryland Notary Journal Requirements — Bound Register or Compliant Electronic (2026)
Yes. Maryland requires every notary to chronicle all notarial acts in a journal, and a journal kept on paper must be a permanent bound register with numbered pages. Printed loose pages do not satisfy Maryland law.
The statute: Maryland's Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, at Md. Code, State Government § 18-219, requires a notary public to maintain a journal chronicling all notarial acts performed. Maryland follows the uniform format rule: a tangible journal must be a permanent, bound register with numbered pages; an electronic journal must be in a permanent, tamper-evident electronic format. One journal at a time chronicles tangible acts.
Last updated: August 2026.
What each Maryland entry must include
The date and time of the act, a description of the record and type of act, the name and address of each individual for whom the act is performed, how the signer was identified, and the fee charged. One Maryland rule runs opposite to states like Texas: when an identification credential is used to identify the signer, the regulation requires the notary to "document in the notary's journal the identification number associated with the identification credential" (COMAR 01.02.08.08). In Maryland the ID number goes in the book.
Retention
Maryland requires the journal be retained for ten years after the last notarial act chronicled in it. Journal duties continue past the end of a commission, so store completed journals with your permanent records.
What Maryland notaries should buy
A bound journal with numbered pages from any notary supplier, or an electronic journal meeting the state's requirements. Nothing else satisfies § 18-219 for the journal itself.
One journal at a time chronicles tangible acts until the register fills; then the next begins. Numbered pages are what make an old act findable years later.
Questions Maryland notaries ask
Can I keep my Maryland journal electronically? Yes, in a permanent, tamper-evident electronic format. Loose printed pages qualify as neither a bound register nor a compliant electronic journal.
When did Maryland start requiring journals? The journal requirement came with Maryland's adoption of the Revised Uniform Law on Notarial Acts, effective October 1, 2020. It applies to all Maryland notaries.
How long do I keep my Maryland journal? Ten years after the last entry.
The honest note from us
Prep & Print Notary Journal sells a $19 app that prints filled-in journal pages, and printed pages do not comply with Maryland's bound-register rule. If you are commissioned in a state that leaves the journal format to you, the app is at prepandprintnotary.com. Maryland notaries: buy the bound book or a compliant electronic journal.
Update, September 2026: we make a bound edition now. The Prep & Print bound journal is on Amazon — permanently bound, one signing per two-page spread, preprinted page and entry numbers, signature and thumbprint boxes, in five cover colors.
Every state's rule is on one page: Notary Journal Requirements by State.
Sources: Md. Code, State Gov't § 18-219 (journal); COMAR 01.02.08.08 (identification number documented in the journal). General information, not legal advice.
