Our platform supports the IGC Notaries Basic Assurance | Individual Identity | Software Storage certificate issued by IdenTrust. To use this certificate for notarizations within the ProNotary platform, you must export it from your Mac as a .pfx file and upload it to your notary profile. You are required to utilize an X.509 issued by IdenTrust and the use of any other certificate will fail.
Prerequisites
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A macOS computer (MacBook, iMac, etc.).
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Your IdenTrust digital certificate must already be installed in your Keychain.
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Your Mac's administrator password.
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A secure place to record a new password.
Step-by-Step Guide to Export Your Certificate
Step 1: Find Your Certificate in Keychain Access
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Open Keychain Access by going to Applications > Utilities > Keychain Access.
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In the left sidebar, select the "Certificates" or "My Certificates" category.
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Find your IdenTrust certificate (it will typically show only your name).
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Click the disclosure arrow (►) next to the certificate to reveal its associated private key (it will be labeled similarly to "key from secure.identrust.com").
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Verify the certificate includes "Sign" in its description.
Step 2: Export the Certificate
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Right-click (or Ctrl+Click) on the certificate name (the parent item, not the private key) and select "Export..." from the menu.
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In the dialog box that appears:
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Choose a name for your certificate file.
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Select a destination folder (like your Desktop) where you can easily find it.
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From the "File Format" dropdown menu, select "Personal Information Exchange (.pfx)".
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Click "Save".
Step 3: Set a Password
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You will be prompted to create a password.
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Create a strong password and store it in a secure location. You will need this password to upload the certificate to the platform.
NOTE: Your X.509 password should not contain certain special characters such as $, ! or backslashes. The use of certain special characters may cause it to fail when uploading it into the ProNotary platform. -
Never share this password.
Step 4: Complete the Export
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If prompted, enter your Mac's administrator password and click "Allow" to grant permission for the export.
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Your
.pfxfile will be created in the destination folder you selected. It is now ready to be uploaded to your notary profile in our platform.
If you ever need to update your X.509 certificate, you can do so under Account Settings > Notary Details > X.509 Certificate. View the article on how to update your X.509 certificate here.
If the option to export as a .pfx is unavailable, you may export the X.509 certificate as a .p12 format. On macOS, .p12 and .pfx are technically the same file format however, since our platform requires you to use the .pfx extension and that file extension isn't an option for you, you may safely convert it by simply renaming the file extension in Finder.
Step-by-step: Change .p12 to .pfx on a Mac
- Export the certificate from Keychain
- In Keychain Access, export your certificate as a .p12 file and save it to your Desktop or Downloads.
- Make a backup copy (optional but recommended). In Finder, locate your .p12 file.
- Right-click it and choose Duplicate.
- You’ll now have something like: certificate.p12 and certificate copy.p12
- Rename the file extension by clicking once on certificate.p12 (or the copy), then press Return to rename it.
- Change the name from: certificate.p12 to certificate.pfx
- macOS will ask: “Are you sure you want to change the extension from .p12 to .pfx?”
- Click “Use .pfx”.
- Upload the .pfx file into the platform during the notary registration process.
Common Questions
Q: I only see the ".cer" file format as an option. What should I do?
A: This means you have selected the private key or the certificate without the key. Ensure you are right-clicking on the main certificate entry (the one with the disclosure arrow) and that you have expanded it to see the private key beneath it. The ".pfx" option will only appear when exporting both the certificate and its private key together.
Q: I forgot the password I set for my .pfx file. Can I reset it?
A: The password for the .pfx file is set during export and cannot be recovered or reset by our support team. You will need to delete the exported file and repeat the export process from Keychain Access to set a new password.
Q: The platform says my certificate is invalid. What should I check?
A: First, confirm you are uploading the correct .pfx file and entering the exact password you set during export. Also, verify in Keychain Access that the certificate has not expired.
Last Updated: September 5, 2025
Author: Customer Success Team
Version: v1.0
