Record a certificate of insurance (ACORD 25)

When a certificate arrives, whether by email, through a subcontractor’s upload link, or on paper, someone on your team records what it says. WatchMyCover can fill the form in from the PDF to save typing, but a person checks every value and saves it. The rules then run on exactly what was recorded.

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Open the form

• On the subcontractor’s page, choose Record certificate.
• If the subcontractor sent the file through their upload link, it is listed under Documents on file marked Not read yet. Choose Record it beside the file: the form opens, and once you save, the document is marked read.

The dialog is Record a certificate. It is laid out from the subcontractor’s requirement template: the template’s coverages are listed first, the mandatory ones opened and the optional ones closed (marked “Optional on the template.”), then every other coverage type, closed, in case the certificate carries it. With no template assigned, General Liability is opened.

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Reading a certificate PDF

At the top of the form, choose Upload certificate and pick the PDF (a PNG or JPEG photo works too). It is kept under the subcontractor’s Documents on file. When you choose Record it beside a document a subcontractor sent, it is read the same way as soon as the form opens.

• A fillable ACORD 25, as most broker systems produce, is read from its own form fields. Nothing leaves WatchMyCover.
• A flat or scanned certificate is read by AI (Claude, from Anthropic). The document is sent to Anthropic to be read; see the privacy policy.

What was read is filled in and highlighted in blue; a value you change loses the highlight. Each coverage’s insurer is read from its INSR LTR (filled in only when it differs from the certificate’s insurer), and a checked PER STATUTE box on workers’ comp selects Per statute (the one value read that is not highlighted, so check it too). Anything that could not be read clearly, such as a smudged date or a cell holding two figures, is left empty and listed under Could not be read, so left for you. Coverages the certificate does not show are left unchecked. The reader leaves these for you, and lists them:

• A limit is filled in only when its box holds one amount. A box with two figures (“1M/2M”), a word the reader does not know beside the figure (“1,000,000 PENDING”, “1,000,000 AGG”), a slip in its commas (“500,0000”), shorthand that comes to a hundred million or more (“500M”), or a run of digits with no commas that is not a whole number of thousands (“80012345”, which reads as a policy number) is left empty.
• A date that could be read two ways (“11/05/2026”) is left empty on a certificate whose other dates are written day first.
• Primary & non-contributory, on a fillable ACORD 25, is filled in only from a plain sentence in words the reader knows, such as “Coverage is primary and non-contributory where required by written contract.” Any other sentence that mentions the wording is listed for you to read: one that says no, one about the automobile or umbrella policy alone, and also a plain yes that names a project or a company.
• Split limits under automobile liability are listed, not filled in: they do not give a combined single limit.
• A policy in the bottom rows of the form, where an excess layer or professional cover is often written, is listed and not filled in.
• A row with words where the policy number goes (“EXEMPT”, “N/A”) and no dates or limit is listed, and its coverage is left unchecked.
• Two rows for one coverage on a scanned certificate: neither is filled in, and you enter the one that applies.

On a flat or scanned certificate the AI reads the description of operations itself, and a value it was unsure of may still be filled in. Such a value is listed as well, so check it against the document. Four coverages are read from the document: general liability, automobile liability, umbrella / excess and workers’ compensation. Professional, pollution and cyber liability and builder’s risk are never filled in, even when the certificate shows them: select and type those yourself. Primary & non-contributory wording is read for general liability only. If the file cannot be read, the form says so and you type the values in; the file is kept either way. “That does not look like a certificate of insurance. Enter the values by hand.” means the document was read but is not a certificate.

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Reading an ACORD 25

The ACORD 25 (Certificate of Liability Insurance) is the one-page form most brokers issue, published by ACORD. For what each part of the form means, see What is an ACORD 25?.

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Certificate details

The issue date matters: a certificate issued more than 365 days ago cannot confirm cover today, and is flagged. See Every finding explained.

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Typing a date

A date written as numbers alone means two different days: 03/04/2027 is 4 March on an ACORD 25 and 3 April in most of the world. So numbers are read only where the order is not in doubt, by the country your workspace was set up in, and what was read is shown in words under the box as soon as you type it. The empty box tells you which of the two your workspace is.

• Read the line under the box before you save. It names the month, and when the same numbers could be another day it says how to type that one.
• Enter pressed straight after typing numbers does not save. It rewrites the box as 04-Mar-2027 and leaves the line showing, so you see what was read. Press Enter again to save.
• A date that cannot be one in your workspace’s order is refused, never turned round. 13/05/2027 in a United States workspace is told “there is no month 13”, with the way to type 13 May.
• Write the year in full: 03/04/27 is refused.
• 07-Oct-2026, Oct 7, 2026 and 2026-10-07 are read the same in every workspace.
• Copying a date that was written day first, from an email or a letter? Type the month as letters, and the order no longer matters.

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Coverages

Each coverage on the certificate is one row in the table in the middle of the form. The letter in the INSR LTR column says which insurer writes it. Enter limits as whole amounts in your company’s currency: 1,000,000 or $1,000,000. The field’s label shows the currency mark. Leave a limit blank if the certificate does not state one; if your template sets a minimum for it, the finding will read “On file: Not provided”.

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Endorsement evidence

For each endorsement, choose one of three levels. Each starts at Not on certificate.

• Not on certificate: the certificate does not show it.
• Stated on certificate: Y in ADDL INSD or SUBR WVD, or the description box says so.
• Endorsement form on file: you hold the endorsement form itself (for example CG 20 10 or CG 20 37 for additional insured). Add it under Documents on file and confirm it there. A form that arrives later can be confirmed on its own, without recording the certificate again.

Why the distinction exists: Endorsements and evidence levels.

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Save

Choose Record and re-check. You must include at least one coverage, and every included coverage needs its effective and expiry dates. The subcontractor is checked straight away, and the page shows the new verdict and findings. On the subcontractor’s page:

• Requirements versus certificate compares each required coverage with what is on file: the limit required, the limit on the certificate, and the evidence for each endorsement (AI, WOS, P&NC).
• Cover in force shows the policy each coverage is judged on, across every certificate in force.
• Certificate on file (or Certificates in force) lists the insurer, producer, certificate number and issue date of each.

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Several certificates, and renewals

Recording a certificate does not have to replace the one before it. General liability and workers’ compensation often arrive on separate certificates, and a renewal can be recorded before the old policy ends. WatchMyCover keeps each in force and judges each coverage on the right policy. See Renewals and several certificates.

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Storing the document

A certificate uploaded with Upload certificate is already kept under Documents on file. If you typed the values in instead, use Add a file there to keep the document with the record (PDF, PNG or JPEG, up to 10 MB). Files sent through an upload link are stored there automatically. A file you add with Add a file is stored as already read, so Record it is not offered beside it. To have it read into the form, choose Record certificate and Upload certificate instead. Each plan has a ceiling on total document storage; see Plans and billing.

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References

• ACORD Forms. ACORD forms program.
• What is a Certificate of Insurance?. ACORD, the body that publishes the ACORD 25 form.
• ACORD 25 (2025/12). The form as published by the New York Department of Financial Services.
• Certificate holder. IRMI glossary definition.