Create and record checks

If you purchase something with a handwritten check, or you want QuickBooks to print a check for you, you need to record a check in QuickBooks. Let’s go over how to record a check, how to print a check from QuickBooks, and then how to confirm the check in your transactions so your books are correct. To start, select New and then check. Enter who you’re paying with the check. Then select the bank account the money will come from. If you’re recording a handwritten check, enter the date you wrote it. Or if you want QuickBooks to print the check later, select today’s date. For the Category, select an account that best describes what you’re writing the check for. If you don’t see an account that sounds right, select Add New. This check is for Gas & Electric Utilities. In the description field, you can enter some more details about your purchase. Then enter the amount of money you're spending. And if you spent the money for a specific customer or project, enter it here. If you wrote a check by hand, enter the check number. If the field is gray, you’ll need to uncheck the Print later box. If you want QuickBooks to print the check, select the Print later box. This adds the check to the print queue where you can print it either by itself or in a batch with other checks. You'll assign the check number when you print the check Later. Enter any final details, like a Memo or a receipt for your purchase. Then Save and Close to record the check in QuickBooks. If you recorded a handwritten check, you don’t need to do anything else until the check clears your bank. We’ll show you what to do then in a minute. If you need to print the check, along with any other checks you’ve recorded, select New…Print Checks. When you Print checks for the first time, you’ll see some instructions on how to set up your printer. Choose whether you use voucher or standard three-to-a-sheet style checks. Put a piece of blank paper in your printer. Then select View preview and print sample…and Print. After your sample prints, place it on top of your pre-printed check stock. If the dollar amount on the preview didn’t print in the same place as it needs to on the pre-printed checks, select No, continue setup so you can adjust your printer alignment. If everything looks good, select Yes, I’m finished. If you ever need to change your printer settings, select Print setup. QuickBooks lists all the checks you’ve marked to print later. By default, you’ll print all of the checks in your queue, but you can uncheck any you don’t need to print. Load your pre-printed check stock into your printer and then enter the number of the first check you’ll print on. Select Preview and print…then Print. Afterward, confirm whether or not your checks printed correctly. If they didn’t, they’ll go back into the check printing queue. If you download transactions from your bank, you’ll see them match against the checks you recorded. Confirm the match to make sure QuickBooks doesn’t count them twice. Now you're ready to record and print your own checks in QuickBooks.