This guide covers printing paper paychecks: choosing your check stock, the page layout, aligning the print to your stock, downloading the checks, and the print-and-mail alternative (CheckFlo). Only employees paid by Paper Check produce a printable check — see Set your payroll check numbers for payment methods and numbering.
Choose your check stock (blank vs. pre-printed)
What it does: Tells Payrollix how much to draw on the check face, so it matches the checks you actually feed the printer.
Where: Client → Settings → Payroll tab → Check Stock.
- Pre-printed checks — checks you buy in bulk (from your bank or a check vendor) that already have your company name, bank routing/account, the MICR line, and check number printed on them. Payrollix prints only the date, payee, amount, and amount-in-words, plus the pay stub. Nothing is double-printed, and you don't need a MICR font or magnetic toner. This is the simplest option for most businesses.
- Blank stock — plain check paper with nothing pre-printed. Payrollix prints the whole check, including the routing/account MICR line. This requires a MICR font and magnetic (MICR) toner to be bank-scannable — see Blank stock below.
Notes: Pre-printed is the default recommendation. On pre-printed stock a funding bank account isn't even required to print, since the bank details are already on the check.
Pick where the check sits on the page
What it does: Positions the negotiable check on the sheet to match your check stock's perforations.
Where: Client → Settings → Payroll tab → Check Print Layout.
Steps:
- Open the client and go to Settings → Payroll.
- In Check Print Layout, select one of:
- Stub on top, check on bottom (default) — earnings statement on top, check on the bottom third.
- Check on top, stub below — check in the top third, statement beneath.
- Check in the middle — check centered, a short stub above and below.
- Three checks per page — three checks on one sheet with no stub (for "all-check" stock).
- Click Save changes. This becomes the client's default for every payroll.
On the two full-stub layouts, Payrollix prints your firm's full pay stub (the same style you've chosen for paystubs) above the check.
Notes: You don't have to change the default to try another layout for a single run — the Check layout dropdown in the payroll Download menu (below) overrides it just for that download.
Line it up with your printer
What it does: Nudges the whole print a few points in any direction so the fields land exactly on your pre-printed stock (and corrects for printer feed/margin drift).
Where: Client → Settings → Payroll tab → Printer Alignment (X and Y, in points — 72 points = 1 inch).
Steps:
- Click Download alignment test page. It prints a 1-inch ruler grid with the check band outlined.
- Hold it against a real check (or print it onto one) and measure how far off the check band is.
- Enter the horizontal (X, + moves right) and vertical (Y, + moves up) offset and Save changes.
- Re-download the test page to confirm, then print a live check.
Download and print the checks
What it does: Produces the check PDFs to run through your printer.
Where: Client → Payroll → open the payroll run → Download.
Steps:
- Open the completed payroll run.
- Click Download. Use All Paychecks to get every paper-check employee at once, or the per-employee Download Paycheck button on an employee row.
- Optionally set the Check layout override in the Download menu to print a single run in a different layout without changing the client default.
- Load your check stock and print.
Notes: With the Three checks per page layout, "All Paychecks" returns a single combined PDF (three checks per sheet). The other layouts return a ZIP of one PDF per check. Check numbers increment automatically from your Starting / Next Check Number.
Blank stock: MICR font and toner
If you print on blank stock, the check's MICR line (the special digits at the bottom that banks scan) must be printed with an E-13B MICR font and magnetic (MICR) toner:
- Font: drop a free GnuMICR (E-13B) font, or a purchased one, into the app's fonts folder. Without a MICR font the line still prints and is human-readable, but it is not magnetically scannable.
- Toner: a laser printer loaded with MICR toner is required for banks to process the magnetic line reliably.
Most businesses avoid all of this by using pre-printed stock (above) or CheckFlo (below).
Let CheckFlo print and mail them
What it does: Instead of self-printing, Payrollix hands each paper check to CheckFlo, which prints it on secure check stock and mails it — no printer, stock, font, or toner on your end.
Notes: CheckFlo is enabled per client during setup. Contact Payrollix support if you'd like checks printed and mailed for you instead of self-printing.
Related: Set your payroll check numbers · Company bank account setup · Employee payment methods