Wet Signatures and BlueNotary: What you need to know

What is a wet signature?

A wet signature is a signature made by hand, in ink, on a paper document. It's the traditional way of signing. No electronic tools involved.

Does BlueNotary handle wet signatures?

No. BlueNotary is a Remote Online Notarization (RON) platform. Every RON session is completed electronically: the signer e-signs a digital document, and the notary applies an electronic seal and signature during a live audio-video session.

Wet signatures come into play in two situations:

1. A notarial act was performed the traditional, in-person way (paper document, pen and ink, notary and signer in the same room) — outside of a BlueNotary RON session.
2. A recipient (recorder's office, bank, court, etc.) still requires a wet-signed original, even after a document has been signed and notarized electronically.

Logging a wet-signature notarization in BlueNotary

If you performed a notarization in person with a wet signature, you can still record it in your BlueNotary account using the Manual Session feature. This keeps all of your notarial acts — RON and in-person — in one place, satisfying states that allow a single electronic journal for both types of acts.

To add a single entry:

1. Go to the +New session page in your BlueNotary account.
2. Create a new Wet Signature entry.
3. Enter the details of the notarization (date, signer, document type, ID method, etc.) as you would for any journal record.
4. Save. The entry is stored as an Electronic Journal Record alongside your RON sessions.

When a wet signature is required instead of BlueNotary

You can't complete a notarization on BlueNotary if:

• Your state or the signer's location hasn't approved RON.
• The specific document type is excluded from electronic notarization by law (e.g., certain court orders, some wills/testamentary documents, depending on state).
• The receiving party (a county recorder, court, or lender) requires a wet-ink original and won't accept an e-recorded or electronically notarized document.

In these cases, the notarization must be done the traditional way, and, if you want it tracked in BlueNotary, logged afterward as a Manual Session entry.

Quick reference: Wet vs. IPEN vs. RON

Updated on: 04/09/2026