Check printing question

I am assuming 2006 is like all the versions I have used for the last

20 years --

Quicken will start printing with the first check on the physical page. If you want to print only the 3rd check, remove the first two and go.

You can tell Quicken there are 1 or 2 checked on the first physical sheet of checks (the default is 3)

Quicken does remember the last used check number, so if you are skipping around, do not forget ot change the check number. That way the number in the register will be the same as one the check

Gordon Atlanta

SPAM has driven me to Spoof my email, sorry

Gordon said on 8/20/2005 11:43 AM:

======So, if I understand you correctly, you CAN tell Quicken to print on the

2nd check ( because the first one is already gone ). You said it would start with the first check on the physical page but I don't know how it would know if 1 or 2 had already been used, unless you can specify which check to use--and I believe you said you could.

Thanks for the info.

< snip >

Don't mean to butt in and not sure what I say is of any benefit: Quicken appears to offer the capability you seek, but my test indicates that it does not work. Mind you, I do not print checks in Quicken, so all I did was create some dummy check transactions and tell Quicken to print them using the options Quicken offered.

The (Q2005 Deluxe) Quicken "Print check" dialog clearly offers the ability to choose how many checks will print on the "first page". This might lead the user to think Quicken understood that if there were less checks to print than the page could hold, that Quicken should start printing 1 or 2 checks down on the page (reasoning that the user had already printed the first

1 or 2 checks on the page). But my tests did not indicate that was how Quicken thought of the option. Quicken seems to think that if you ask to print 1 check on the first page of a page that holds 3 checks ... that you just want to print the top check on the page, then skip to the second page. In my experience, that would not be what a user would want, I think if a user wants to print 1 check on a page that can hold 3 checks, the user wants to print the bottom check on the page (because the top 2 checks have already been printed); but as I said, I don't print actual checks in Quicken - and I also don't claim to know what Intuit was thinking when they offered the option.

On Sat 20 Aug 2005 06:52:27p, az-willie wrote in news:%mPNe.112601$E95.94585@fed1read01:

Quicken always prints the top check on the page, whether there is a full page of checks or a partial. If you want to print less than a full page (and have a sheet feed printer), you will want to use a "Forms Leader" which you can purchase when you purchase your checks. Item #6349; call (800) 433-8810 to order. Or make one.

All it is, is an 8.5x11 in. sheet with a little fold-over, re-useable, sticky strip at the top.

I actually used the print checks option up until a couple of years ago (since replaced with my bank online bill pay), and I had no problem with Intuit's implementation.

You buy sheet checks, 3 to a page, that are numbered from top to bottom. When you print checks, you frequently end with the bottom checks unprinted. The next time you go to print checks, you start with the check in the #2 or # 3 position. By telling Quicken what position you are starting in, it knows when to send a form feed for the next sheet.

Clark W. Griswold, Jr. said on 8/21/2005 7:57 AM:

=========Ok, you are saying that you CAN tell Quicken to start with check #2 on the page or check #3. That is what I was trying to find out.

My printer has a cassette with a couple hundred sheets of regular paper loaded and a slot to put envelopes and single sheets in that is used for things like checks or transparencies etc. etc. So I want to be able to put the sheet of checks in and print one check and then next time I need a check put the sheet back in ( with 2 checks left ) and tell Quicken to print the check on #2. According to your post that is exactly what I can do.

I suppose it might be a logical thing to make up a phony check in Quicken and then try telling it to print checks and see how it works -- just sticking a single sheet of normal paper in and see where it winds up printing.

Thanks to all for their responses. It looks like this may indeed be possible to do.

If I find out otherwise eventually, I will post and report.

Read carefully. The thinking behind the Quicken check printing numbering is that if you print one check, you detach the check from the page (Ie. the page gets shorter). What you tell Quicken is merely an indicator of how many checks are left on the 1st page before it has to do a sheet feed for a new sheet.

So if you stick an letter-sized sheet of paper in and tell Quicken to start at #3, Quicken will still print the 1st check at the top of the page. The difference being that if you printed two checks, Quicken would eject the 1st sheet (thinking it is now used up) and feed a new sheet to print the 2nd check.

It is not like labels where the size of the sheet stays the same and you have to dictate the starting position.

Yes - that's exactly how Intuit has implemented it and how I use my printer. The reality is that the checks are designed such that the top each starts at the same distance from the perf (or top of sheet), so that Quicken just needs to know how many checks are on the first sheet.

Yep. You can print registration test sheets as well, to check or adjust the alignment on plain paper.

Everything said here is correct based on my experience. Now, lets muddy the waters.

What about wallet-sized checks, which don't take up the full with of an

8.5-X-11 sheet of paper. When you tear the top one off, you still have a tongue of paper left on there, so that the longest part of the sheet is still 11 inches. But that longest part ( the "tongue") is not 8.5 inches across, and you'll be feeding the paper into the computer tongue first.

That's got to be a big old fly in the ointment, eh what?

Anyone with experience with this care to comment?

When I printed on wallet sized checks, I always put them in the printer landscape - the same orientation as a sheet check.

Hmmm..... Sheet checks and wallet checks -- I always printed them portrait style (the way people print most documents). I guess in printer setup, you can make it landscape. Never tried that.

Of course, that means the answers to the original poster might need some amplification. I got the impression his questions and most answers had to do with portrait-type printing. Printing checks landscape style might mean a different set of answers in those cases where the first check or two has already been used.

I use wallet-size checks with Quicken regularly.

They are designed so that you tear across the entire width of the sheet, and then separate the check from the stub. (The stub has the check number, date, payee, amount, memo and category on it.)

I usually attach the stub to the bill or receipt for filing, though I'm not sure there's much benefit in keeping the stubs at all. If there's no receipt, the stub gets thrown into the receipt file loose.

If you want to keep all the stubs attached to each other *and* want to be able to print on a partial page of checks, then you have a problem I can't help with.

Gary

I guess I never paid attention to the stubs enough to realize they were perforated as well into three separate parts. I usually throw way the page of stubs after I've printed three checks.

Thanks for clearing that up.

Well, I'm not sure we're describing the same thing. I used sheet checks that are business sized, three up to a page. While the sheet itself is portrait going through the printer, the individual checks look landscape - That is, the shorter edge is on the side. My checks have no stubs on the side or between each check, just a bit of extra paper at the bottom to make the page 8.5 x 11.

When I used wallet checks, I fed them through individually, in the same orientation. That looks landscape as the short edge is on the side. The drawback to wallet checks is that most inkjet printers need about 1/2" margin at the bottom of the check/page for the roller, thus I was not able to print a digitized signature on the wallet checks. Sheet checks did not have this issue.