The Official eTranscript

The University of Toronto official electronic transcript (eTranscript) is securely transmitted to the recipient in PDF format via Parchment, U of T’s eTranscript vendor. It is certified with a digital signature that meets the legal requirements in countries around the world.

The University of Toronto eTranscripts are official only when bearing the blue ribbon across the top of the document and a valid digital certification issued by GlobalSign for Adobe. The transcript is considered official and trusted when a recipient receives it from an email sent by Parchment on behalf of the University of Toronto. eTranscripts sent on behalf of the University of Toronto will come from the email address noreply@parchment.com.  

For the security features to work, the eTranscript should be viewed with the latest version of Adobe Reader or Adobe Acrobat on a desktop or laptop computer. 

Information for recipients of the eTranscript

Recipients of the eTranscript will receive an email from Parchment – from the email address noreply@parchment.com – on behalf of the University of Toronto when the transcript is ready to be downloaded.  

The email from noreply@parchment.com will have the subject line “You’ve Received A Document”.  

Recipients have 30 calendar days to access the transcript using the secure download link provided in the email. 

Requestors will be required to order another eTranscript if the secure download link expires before the eTranscript is downloaded by the recipient.

To view the eTranscript, download the file and open it with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader on a laptop or desktop computer. 

The eTranscript is digitally certified by GlobalSign and is valid when displaying the blue ribbon across the top of the document. 

You will receive an email notification that a transcript has been sent to you.  

Click on the Access the Transcript button to download the eTranscript file.  

The blue ribbon across the top of the document is your assurance that the digital certificate is valid, the document is authentic, and the content of the University of Toronto eTranscript has not been altered.  

The digital certificate will appear in the blue ribbon and declares that the document was certified by Parchment, with a valid certificate issued by GlobalSign CA for AATL. This document certification can be validated by clicking on the Signature Panel of the document.  

All official eTranscripts must have a valid blue ribbon certification as shown below.

There are three other possible authentication statues when the blue ribbon certification is not appearing:

1. Author Unknown  

Author Unknown can have two possible meanings:  

  • The certificate is a self-signed certificate or has been issued by an unknown or untrusted certificate authority, or  
  • The validation check could not be completed.  

If you receive an eTranscript with this message, be sure to try these troubleshooting tips.

Note: If you have tried to troubleshoot the issue and you still cannot validate the digital certificate, reject the eTranscript.  

2. Invalid Signature 

An invalid digital certificate display means either the digital signature is not authentic, or the document has been altered. A document with an invalid digital signature display should be rejected.

3. Missing Signature 

If the eTranscript does not contain a valid blue ribbon certification message, as shown below, reject it immediately. 

See Transcript Grading Scales and Notions for full details.

The blue ribbon across the top of the document is your assurance that the University of Toronto eTranscript is official and digitally certified. Be sure to try the following if you are encountering issues with the blue ribbon (e.g., Author Unknown) before rejecting the transcript:

  • The PDF file must be opened with the latest version of Adobe Acrobat or Adobe Reader on a laptop or desktop. The blue ribbon will not appear when opening the transcript on the mobile version of Adobe. 
  • Users must be connected to the internet as the blue ribbon does not work when offline. Adobe must communicate with servers to authenticate the embedded certificate in the transcript.  
  • Adobe Reader preferences must be up to date. Adobe Reader sometimes has more stringent default security settings, which could result in GlobalSign not being on the list of trusted certificates. To make sure trusted certificates are up to date in Adobe Reader, see Manage trusted identities for step-by-step instructions.   

If you have questions about the eTranscript: