Printing Checks

GoodBooks prints on standard pre-printed check stock — the kind your bank or a check printer supplies with your routing and account numbers already on it — in the common check-on-top voucher format. GoodBooks fills in the date, payee, amount, memo, signature image, and a voucher stub listing what the check paid for.

Availability: Foundation plan and up, and it's enabled per bank account.

One-time setup

Open the bank account in your Chart of Accounts and find the Check Printing section:

1. Turn on "Enable check printing for this account."
2. Set the Next Check Number to match your check stock.
3. Upload an Authorized Signature Image (a PNG with a transparent background looks best). If your policies require two signatures, turn on "Require two signatures" and upload the second image — every check will print a second signature line.

The everyday flow: the print queue

When you write a check in the register, the "Print later (add to queue)" switch is on by default. Leave it on and keep entering — queued checks don't take a number yet, so you can enter Monday through Thursday and print everything Friday.

When you're ready:

1. The register shows a banner — "N check(s) waiting to be printed" — with a Review & Print Checks button.
2. On the Print Checks screen, confirm the Starting Check Number (pre-filled from the account), tick the checks to print, and optionally add a per-check memo (e.g. an account number) that prints on the check.
3. Click Print N Check(s) — one PDF opens with all of them, numbered sequentially in the order shown. Load your check stock and print.

Afterward GoodBooks asks: "Did all checks print correctly?"

• Yes, all printed — done; the numbers are recorded on each entry.
• Some need reprinting — pick the ones that jammed or misprinted. They're returned to the queue and will get a fresh number next time; the spoiled numbers are automatically logged so they're never reused.

Printing a single check now

Turn the "Print later" switch off when writing the check and enter the check number yourself — or use Print Check in the register row's ⋮ menu to print any posted check on demand.

The voided-check log

Banks (and auditors) want every check number accounted for. The Voided Checks button on the register opens the log where GoodBooks records every spoiled or voided number automatically — and where you can record one by hand (printer jam before anything was written, coffee on blank stock, etc.). A logged number is skipped forever; the account's counter moves past it.

Good to know

• On plans with two-person approval, a check waiting for approval can't be printed and won't appear in the print queue until it's approved.
• Voiding a check from the register offers to log the printed check number at the same time — see Fixing Mistakes in the Register.
• Check numbers are suggested automatically from the highest number used so far, so even hand-written checks recorded in the register keep the sequence intact.