Pre-Printed Check Forms

[WayTooLate]

I am having trouble printing check data onto our preprinted checks. 

Our company has preprinted check forms that have the Check numbers preprinted.   They are in the box with the lowest number first, so we can take any quantity out of the box and they are face up with the lowest number on top.  

TheUser's Manual staes you should place the preprinted forms in Tray #2  - Face Up with the top of the form to the front of the Printer. 

However, the printer prints on the 'back' of the form - not the preprinted face. 

How should this be configured?  It is unreasonable to have to re-collate the pages upside down. 

Thanks!

[dansdaduk]

The User Guide for the LaserJet M402/M403 printer series does indeed show that (for pre-printed stationery), tray 2 should be loaded as follows:

• Simplex print jobs: Face-up; Top edge at the front of the tray.
• Duplex print jobs: Face-down; Top edge at the front of the tray.

If the information in the User Guide is correct, your symptoms perhaps suggest that the (simplex) cheque print job is being printed as for a duplex job - this could be the case if an option known as Alternative Letterhead Mode is invoked.

I don't know if your printer supports this option; I also don't know whether (if supported) the option can be set on the printer itself (via front panel menus), or whether it is set (or over-ridden ) by settings available with (the Advanced ?) options of the printer driver.

[WayTooLate]

Thanks for the suggestions. 

The driver supplied for the LaserJet 402dn is: "HP LaserJet Pro 402-403 n-dne PCL-6" 

When setting the Printer Properties, either the "General Tab/Preferences button" or the "Advanced Tab/Printing Defaults button" gets you to the same screen.  I have set:

• Paper size: Letter
• Paper Source: Tray 2
• Papertype: Letterhead
• Print on both sides: No
• Pages per sheet: 1

With the paper load Face Up, Top 'out' (front of tray), it STILL prints on the 'back' of the preprinted forms. 

Printing test sheets, from the computer or the printer control panel yields the same result - the paper comes out of the printer face up (like it was loaded), but the printing is face down. 

Since the check forms are pre-numbered, it is unacceptable to have to re-collate the pages upside down or reverse order. 

Any further help is GREATLY appreciated!

[dansdaduk]

Perhaps the documentation is wrong (I've no idea, sorry).

• When you request a Simplex print, does the paper actually go through the duplex unit (i.e. it partially exits into the output tray, then is drawn back in)?
• If you select a Duplex print, what happens?

[Valsimot]

Can you use Tray 1 as source of your checks ?

If you use Tray 1 and load original ( checks in order from smallest number to largest ) face up printer will print on face up side of loaded checks.

[WayTooLate]

The simplex and duplex functions work properly. 

It is the User's Guide that is incorrect.  Unfortunately, I purchased the Printer based on their published documentation...

Using Tray 2, the documents must be placed Faced Down; Top to tray's front and lowest numbered form on top.  You cannot take the printed forms from the box and place them in Tray 2.  It will print of the backs of the check forms.  You have to recollate the forms from the box. 

Oh well...  So much for being easy.

[WayTooLate · Accepted solution]

Yes. I have found that Tray 1 will work - I can remove a stack of checks from the box and place them in Tray 1 and they will print properly. 

Our plan is for this printer to be exclusively dedicated to printing checks.  This is a network printer in an office where a few accountant clerks issue disbursements regularly.  Someone else collects the printed checks to be mailed.  So it needs to function reliably, unsupervised. 

Tray 1 is designed for intermittent use with an "attendant" operator.  It seems awkward to continually leave blank checks hanging out on Tray1.  Tray 1 is not as consistently reliable for feeding paper, or there would be no need for Tray 2. 

The M402dn is not 'broken'.   It works well and is a good value.  However, it is disappointing to purchase it based on the documentation and discover it does not function as advertised...

[Jim_Asman]

If you are dedicating the printer to checks, buy MICR toner, blank check stock, and then have the printer create the complete check that includes the form, the MICR, and the data. I have done this for years.

[dansdaduk]

Printing the complete check on blank paper (using MICR toner) appears to work well for quite a few organisations, but may not be sufficiently 'secure' for some.

Years ago I worked with (very) large continuous stationery printers (both impact and laser) and there were requirements to match preprinted cheque numbers with the same numbers held in the variable data.

Complex routines used feedback from the printer to confirm that each cheque had printed successfully, and any cheque 'wreck' used a combination of operator action (to notify the application of the new 'first check' available, and the application renumbered the ones which had not yet been printed to suit.

All very complicated!

I don't think that modern printers and spooling systems have the requisite 'feedback' mechanisms to allow such renumbering anyway)

... and not really compatible with an 'unsupervised' printer.

[Jim_Asman]

@dansdaduk,

Absolutely, security is a major concern in printing checks.

Another option would be to talk to the people that "preprint" the checks and see if they can deliver them to you in reverse order.

[Jim_Asman]

@dansdaduk,

Absolutely, security is a major concern in printing checks.

Another option would be to talk to the people that "preprint" the checks and see if they can deliver them to you in reverse order.