Check Prints on the Wrong Side of the Paper

This happens because every printer has its own expected paper orientation — which way the sheet faces and which edge feeds first — and it's easy to load check stock the wrong way, especially if you're used to a different printer.

How to fix it

  1. Take one sheet of your check stock and mark the front with a small pencil tick in a corner you'll remember.
  2. Print a plain test page and note exactly how the paper was oriented in the tray — face up or face down, which edge went in first.
  3. If the result printed on the back (the unmarked side), flip the stock over in the tray — don't rotate it, flip it — and print again.
  4. Once you find the orientation that prints on the correct side, note it somewhere (a sticky note on the printer works fine) so you don't have to re-discover it next time you load check stock.

This is purely a function of your specific printer model, not your check software — the same software settings will produce correct results once the paper orientation in the tray matches what that printer expects.

Want to put this into practice?

Check Writer 123 handles check layout, MICR encoding, and alignment automatically — join the waitlist to get access as soon as accounts open up.