An Indiana notary seal carries five items: your name as the commission certificate spells it, the phrase notary public, the phrase state of Indiana, the label commission number with your number, and the label my commission expires with your date. No size, shape or ink color is set. An embosser is expressly allowed. This page covers each rule and how to order against it.
Engineer Seal Stamps compliance desk. Checked against Ind. Code § 33-42-10-2(a) and the Indiana Secretary of State, through INBiz. Sources read September 2026.
| Requirement | What the rule says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Seal required | Yes. | Ind. Code § 33-42-10-2(a); Indiana Secretary of State, via INBiz |
| Required wording | Your name as the commission certificate spells it, plus notary public, state of Indiana, the label commission number ahead of your number, and the label my commission expires ahead of your date. | Ind. Code § 33-42-10-2(a) |
| Form of your name | It has to match the commission certificate. | Ind. Code § 33-42-10-2(a) |
| Size | No dimensions are set. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Shape and border | Neither is set. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Ink color | No color is named. | Not addressed in the cited rules |
| Embosser | Expressly allowed. The seal may be affixed, displayed, or embossed by the notary. | Indiana notary statute, seal provisions |
| Stamping device | Defined as a device able to affix or to emboss. | Indiana notary statute, definitions |
| Commission term | Eight years. | Indiana Secretary of State, via INBiz |
| Change of details | Within 30 days, the Secretary of State has to be told of a change of name, of mailing or email address, of telephone number, or of employer details. | Indiana Secretary of State, via INBiz |
To compare Indiana with every other jurisdiction, see our table of notary seal requirements by state.
What has to appear on an Indiana notary seal?
Five items. The phrase notary public; the phrase state of Indiana; your name written as the commission certificate spells it; the label commission number ahead of your number; and the label my commission expires ahead of your date.
Two of the five are labels rather than data, which is the part people miss when they sketch a layout. The words commission number have to be on the die, not only the digits, and the same goes for the expiry label. Element by element artwork is on what goes on an Indiana notary seal.
How exactly does your name have to be printed?
As your commission certificate spells it. That is the reference document, not your driver's license, not your business cards and not the signature you actually use. A middle initial on the certificate belongs on the die.
Read the certificate rather than working from memory when you place the order. Hyphenated surnames, suffixes and a maiden name carried on the certificate are the three that most often come back wrong, and each one means a second die.
Does Indiana set a size, a shape or a border?
No, none of the three. The cited rules set no dimensions, name no shape and call for no outline, so a round die and a rectangular one satisfy the rule equally as long as the five items are on them.
What that leaves is a layout question. Five items with two of them long labels take more room than a three element seal, so a die that is too small runs the type together. We size Indiana seals around the longest line rather than around the shortest. More context is on Indiana notary seal requirements.
Can an Indiana notary use an embosser?
Yes, and Indiana is unusually direct about it. The statute names three things a notary may do with the official seal: affix, display, or emboss it. A stamping device is defined as one able to affix or to emboss.
So the embossed format is written into the statute rather than tolerated around the edges. It still has to carry all five items, since the wording rule does not change with the device. Many notaries order an inked stamp for daily work and an embosser for documents that stay in a file.
Is an ink color required in Indiana?
No. The cited rules name no color for a notary seal, so the choice is not regulated. Black is what we ship by default because it copies and scans cleanly.
If your employer or a recipient has a color preference, tell us when you order rather than changing pads afterward, since a pad swap on a self inking stamp leaves the old color in the die for a while.
How long does an Indiana commission last?
Terms run eight years. That is the longest term of any state we make notary seals for, and it changes the economics of the purchase, since a well made Indiana die has to survive twice as long as one in a four year state.
Build the eight years into what you buy. A self inking mechanism rated for a few thousand impressions is a different proposition over eight years than over four, and so is the pad inside it.
When does an Indiana notary need a new seal?
At each new commission, because the expiration date printed on the die belongs to the commission that is ending. A change of the commission number or of your name has the same effect, since both are on the face of the seal.
Order the replacement from the new certificate, not from an impression of the old stamp, so the number and the date are copied from the source. The renewal sequence is on Indiana notary stamp renewal.
What changes have to be reported, and how quickly?
Tell the Secretary of State within 30 days of a change to your name, your mailing address, your email address, your telephone number or your employer details. That is a wider list than most states keep.
Only one of those changes reaches the die. Your name is on the seal, so a name change means a new stamp as well as a notice, while an address or telephone change is a records matter alone. The practical side is covered on Indiana notary seal guidelines for buyers.
What do you do if the device is lost or stolen?
Tell the Secretary of State promptly once you learn of the loss or the theft. The cited rules set the duty without attaching a day count, so the standard is how fast you act rather than a fixed number of days.
Report it the day you find out and the timing question answers itself. Then reorder from your commission certificate, so the replacement carries the same five items as the device it replaces. The statutory background is set out on how Indiana notary stamp law is written.
What should you send a seal maker?
Three details: your name as the certificate spells it, your commission number, and your expiration date. Add whether you want a round or rectangular die, and whether you want an inked stamp, an embosser, or both.
We set the two fixed phrases and the two labels, so there is no need to write out notary public, state of Indiana, commission number or my commission expires. The ordering checklist is on Indiana notary stamp requirements for a first order.
How do you check the first impression?
Take a test impression on plain paper and lay your commission certificate beside it. Read your name letter by letter, the commission number digit by digit, and the expiration date in full, including the year.
Then confirm both labels printed, since a die that is slightly under inked drops the smallest type first and the labels are usually the smallest type on an Indiana seal. If anything is short or unclear, tell us before the stamp is used on a certificate.
Frequently asked questions
Does a county belong on an Indiana notary seal?
A county is not among the five items named in the cited wording rule. That rule lists the two phrases, your name, the commission number label and the expiry label, and stops there.
Do the digits alone satisfy the commission number requirement?
No. The rule pairs the label with the figure, so the words commission number have to appear on the die ahead of the number itself. The same pairing applies to the expiry label and your date.
Is a round seal treated differently from a rectangular one?
No. Shape is not addressed in the cited rules, so neither format has an advantage under them. Choose on the space available on the documents you sign.
Can an embosser be the only device an Indiana notary owns?
The statute contemplates affixing, displaying or embossing the seal, and defines a stamping device as one able to affix or to emboss, so the embossed format is expressly within the rule. Weigh how your documents are copied afterward, because a raised impression with no ink does not reproduce.
Does an eight year term mean a seal will last the whole commission?
Nothing in the rules speaks to the life of the device. Eight years is simply longer than most states allow between reorders, so the build quality of the die matters more in Indiana than in a four year state.
What happens to the old seal when a commission ends?
Disposal is not addressed in the rules read for this page. They set no method and no deadline for retiring a device once the commission behind it has ended.
With the commission certificate in front of you, order from the Indiana notary stamps and seals range and send the three variable details with it.
