I've seen CA notaries state over and over again they can't use their seals or the title "notary public" except on a notarial certificate. I may have seen that sort of claim in some of the stuff put out by the CA SOS too. But I think that position is a bit too extreme.
The relevant passage in Government Code § 8207 seems to be this:
'A notary public shall not use the official notarial seal except for the purpose of carrying out
the duties and responsibilities as set forth in this chapter. A notary public shall not use the title
“notary public” except for the purpose of rendering notarial service.'
Notice it doesn't say anything about being written or on paper. So consider this phone conversation:
Signing service scheduler: "Are you still a notary public?"
CA notary: "Yes" followed by sounds of handcuffs clicking shut as notary is hauled off for using the title "notary public" someplace other than a notarial certificate.
I suggest that it is legitimate to use the title "notary public" while arranging for notarizations, and explaining how those services were performed after the notarizations afterward. I even suggest it would be OK to provide a written explanation of the service. "I determined the person who signed the true copy affidavit by document custodian was the person named in the affidavit by examining a driver license #12345678 issued by the State of California".
I believe the true reason behind this prohibition goes back to ads that were going around where notaries would use their titles and seals to endorse products that have nothing whatever to do with notarial acts, like time shares, vacation deals, and all kinds of crud. I really don't think it's meant to forbid people from mentioning they are notaries while they are explaining how they did (or will do) a notarization.
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