Printing your own checks is a well-established practice: the layout is standardized, the paper is sold in every office supply store, and the software does the arithmetic. What follows is the whole process, in order.
What you need
| Item | Notes |
|---|---|
| Blank check stock | Security paper, usually about 5 to 12 cents a sheet — see the buying guide |
| A printer | Any laser or inkjet. Laser is preferred for the MICR line |
| Check printing software | Lays out the fields and prints the MICR line |
| Your bank details | Routing number, account number, starting check number |
| Optional: MICR toner | Magnetic toner, discussed in MICR toner vs regular toner |
Step 1: set up the account once
You enter this information a single time:
- Bank name and address, as printed on your existing checks
- Routing number — nine digits, bottom-left of any existing check
- Account number
- Starting check number — continue from where your current book ends, never restart at 101 on an established account
- Your name and address as they should appear top-left
- Optionally a signature image, though many people prefer to sign by hand
Copy all of it from an existing check rather than from memory or a website. The account number on a deposit slip is sometimes different from the one on a check.
Step 2: choose the layout
Blank stock comes in several arrangements, and the software has to match the paper you bought:
- Check on top, two stubs beneath — the business standard, and what most accounting software expects
- Check in the middle, stub above and below — common for payroll
- Check on bottom, two stubs above
- Three checks per page — personal use, no stubs, most economical per check
Buy one arrangement and stay with it. Mixed stock in one drawer is the single most common cause of wasted paper.
Step 3: fill in the check
- Payee — the exact legal name of the person or business
- Amount in figures, which the software converts to the written line automatically
- Date
- Memo — invoice number, account reference, what the payment is for
- Signature — by hand after printing, or a stored image if you have decided to use one
The written amount line is where handwritten checks most often go wrong, and it is the line that legally controls if the two disagree. Software removes that failure mode entirely.
Step 4: test the alignment before printing on real stock
Never print the first check on real paper. Instead:
- Print the check onto plain paper.
- Hold that sheet against a blank check sheet in front of a window or a lamp.
- Check that the payee line, amount box, date and MICR line all fall inside the printed areas.
- Adjust the horizontal and vertical offsets in the software and reprint until it lines up.
Full detail, including what to do when your printer pulls paper slightly askew, is in printer alignment for checks.
Step 5: print
Feed the stock according to your printer's paper path — some printers print on the face-up side, some face-down, and getting it wrong is a wasted sheet, not a disaster. Print one check first and inspect it before running a batch.
What the finished check must contain
- Your name and address
- The bank name
- The check number, in the top-right corner and in the MICR line
- The date, payee, numeric amount, written amount and signature lines
- The MICR line at the bottom: routing number, account number and check number in E-13B characters, positioned to the standard — see what is a MICR line
Keep a register
Every check you print should be recorded: number, date, payee, amount and memo. A gap in the number sequence is the first sign of a problem, and reconciling against the bank statement is far easier from a register than from memory.
Troubleshooting the first batch
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Everything shifted down the page | A4 paper size set, or scale-to-fit enabled | Set Letter, disable scaling, reprint the plain-paper test |
| Text lands between the printed lines | Wrong stock format selected | Match the software to check-on-top, middle, bottom or three-per-page |
| MICR line clipped at the bottom | Printer cannot print near the paper edge | Try the manual feed tray, or a printer with a smaller bottom margin |
| Check printed on the wrong side | Paper path is face-up or face-down | Mark one sheet, print, see which side it lands on |
| Faint or streaky MICR characters | Draft mode, or a low cartridge | Full quality mode, replace toner |
| Printed at a slight angle | Paper guides loose or tray overfull | Square the guides, load fewer sheets, fan the stack |
| Second check on the sheet is blank | Software set to one check per page | Select the three-per-page layout |
| Numbers repeat between batches | Sequence not advancing | Confirm the next number in the software before each run |
Signature: printed or by hand?
A stored signature image is convenient for volume and a liability for security — anyone with access to the computer can produce a signed check. The reasonable defaults:
- Personal use: sign by hand. It takes three seconds and the image never exists.
- Business, low volume: sign by hand, and keep signing authority with the people who have it.
- Business, high volume: a stored image plus a password on the software, plus positive pay at the bank.
Some businesses require two signatures above a threshold; that is an internal control and needs internal enforcement, since banks generally do not verify signature counts during automated processing.
After printing: the three habits
- Inspect the first check of every batch before running the rest — a shifted stack is cheaper to catch on sheet one than on sheet twenty.
- Record every check in the register as it prints: number, date, payee, amount, memo.
- Void properly. Misprints get VOID written across the face, the number recorded as void, and the paper retained or shredded. Never reuse a number, and never leave a gap unexplained.
A note on numbering
Check numbers must be unique for the account. Continue your existing sequence, and if you maintain multiple stacks — say, personal and a side business on the same account — assign non-overlapping ranges. Duplicate numbers cause a bank to flag or return an item.