True Origin

How to Verify a True Origin Certificate

Every True Origin certificate points to a public record on the Polygon blockchain. You don't have to take our word for it: anyone who has your manuscript file can check that record — today, or years from now — using free public tools.

What the file fingerprint is

When you choose your manuscript, your browser calculates a SHA-256 fingerprint of it (also called a hash): a 64-character code made from the file's exact contents. Your file never leaves your computer — only this code is recorded.

  • The same file always gives the same fingerprint. Fingerprint it today, next year, or on a different computer — the exact same file produces the exact same 64 characters, every time.
  • Change anything and the fingerprint changes completely. Fix one typo, add one comma, change one letter, and the new fingerprint looks nothing like the old one.
  • It only works one way. Your manuscript remains private. A digital fingerprint cannot be reversed to reconstruct your manuscript. True Origin records only the fingerprint and timestamp on the public blockchain—not your manuscript, its text, or its contents. Your actual file remains on your computer and is never uploaded to or stored by True Origin. This means anyone can independently verify your manuscript's fingerprint without being able to access or read the manuscript itself.

EXAMPLE — ONE CHARACTER APART

“It was a bright cold day in April.”

b53c86ee1c744d83781c97358721a146cbe8bed5077dd7ed332f424585eb8486

“It was a bright cold day in April!”

a494b81b19fe6f986e25ea06ff688849f19a3fa062d4c446f206ef39cc049d97

What this proves: the fingerprint was written to the blockchain at a specific date and time, and only your exact file can produce it. So if your file still produces that fingerprint, it shows this exact manuscript existed — and was in your hands — no later than that date. The record can't be edited or back-dated by anyone, including us.

Keep the exact file you timestamped

The fingerprint is made from the file's exact bytes, not just its words. Opening a file and saving it again in Word or Google Docs, exporting it again, or converting it to PDF can change those bytes even when the text looks identical — and that gives a different fingerprint.

Keep an untouched copy of every file you timestamp (for example in a folder called “True Origin — do not edit”), and back it up. Keep it together with its certificate PDF.

Check the record on Polygonscan

Polygonscan is the public website for looking up anything recorded on the Polygon blockchain. It isn't run by True Origin.

  1. Open the transaction. Scan the QR code on your certificate, or click View transaction on the certificate in your True Origin dashboard.
  2. Check the details at the top. Status should say Success. Timestamp is the date and time the record was written (shown in UTC). To is 0x000…dEaD and Value is 0 POL — that's on purpose: the transaction is a record, not a payment.
  3. Next to More Details, click Click to show more.
  4. Find Input Data. It shows 0x followed by 64 characters.
  5. Ignore the 0x at the start — it only means the value is written in hexadecimal. The 64 characters after it are the file fingerprint. Compare them with your file's fingerprint (below). If every character matches, this record was made for your exact file on that date.

Polygonscan may show the Input Data in capital letters, or let you switch how it's displayed — choose the default view. Capital and small letters don't matter when comparing.

Get your file's fingerprint

The easiest way is the checker below: choose your file, then paste the Input Data from Polygonscan and it compares them for you.

Check a file

Your file is fingerprinted here in your browser and never uploaded. No account needed.

Choose the manuscript file you timestamped

Use the exact file — not a re-saved or exported copy.

Paste the Input Data from the transaction page to compare it with this file automatically.

You can also verify your manuscript's fingerprint independently using free tools already available on your computer, without relying on True Origin.

Mac

Open Terminal, type shasum -a 256 (with a space at the end), drag your file into the window, and press Enter. The fingerprint is the long code before the file name.

Windows

Open PowerShell and run Get-FileHash -Algorithm SHA256 "C:\path\to\manuscript.docx". Windows shows the fingerprint in capital letters — that's fine.

Linux

Run sha256sum manuscript.docx in a terminal.

What to keep together

  • The exact, unchanged manuscript file you timestamped
  • Its corresponding True Origin certificate (PDF)
  • The Polygonscan transaction link, also available through the certificate's QR code

Keep these records together for each of the four manuscript stages required by True Origin. Back up your files in a second location so they remain available for future verification.

A timestamp shows that a file existed by a certain date. It isn't legal advice and doesn't transfer or register rights.