Custom Carbonless Forms
Custom carbonless forms from 100 sets — 2- and 3-part NCR invoices, receipts, delivery notes and work orders printed to your layout, numbered in sequence and finished as loose sets, glued pads or bound books.
One signature, written once, landing on every copy
- Paper
- Carbonless NCR bond, CB / CFB / CF, white, canary, pink, goldenrod and blue
- Parts
- 2, 3 or 4 part sets in letter, half letter, legal or a custom size
- 1 or 2 colors in black and a spot color; different text per part if needed
Order online
Order carbonless forms
Starting from $0.75 per unit
Printed to your artwork or plain, sold in runs of 100 up to 5,000 units per product online. Freight to the US, UK, Canada and Australia is inside the price.
How an online order runs
- Add the units you needThen check out with your delivery address. Add other products to the same order on the way.
- A digital proof comes backLaid on the dieline, before anything prints. Change it as often as you need.
- Pay once you approve itPay by PayPal invoice or bank transfer after you approve your digital proof, or cash on delivery in the US and Canada.
- We make it and ship it deliveredYour delivery date is confirmed with the proof, against the spec and your fill date. Freight and customs are handled on the way to you.
Another size, board or finish, or more than 5,000 units? Send the spec for a price instead. Freight by market and our terms cover delivery and remakes.
Get a price for Carbonless Forms
Send the size and quantity — we reply the same working day with a price, a dieline and a date. Artwork optional at this stage.
- Free dielineThe flat drawing comes with the quote, before you commit.
- Proof before pressNothing is printed until you have seen it laid on the dieline.
- Die kept for reordersTooling is paid once. Every reorder skips straight to press.
- Quoted in four marketsUS, UK, Canada and Australia, in the delivery currency.
How CB, CFB and CF sheets stack
The sheets are collated in that order and must stay in it. A set assembled upside down copies nothing, which is why loose sets are glued along one edge before they leave the press.
| CB (coated back) | Top sheet. Carries the capsules that break under the pen |
|---|---|
| CFB (coated front and back) | Middle sheets. Receives the image and passes it on |
| CF (coated front) | Last sheet. Receives only; nothing behind it is marked |
| 2-part set | CB + CF |
| 3-part set | CB + CFB + CF |
| 4-part set | CB + CFB + CFB + CF; the bottom copy is the faintest |
Copy colors and who keeps which part
The convention most offices recognize is white on top, then canary, then pink, with goldenrod or blue as a fourth. White usually goes to the customer, canary stays in the office and pink goes to the file or the driver. None of that is fixed; we print a line at the foot of each part, such as “Customer copy” or “Accounts copy”, so nobody has to remember.
Each part can carry slightly different printing. A delivery note can show prices on the office copy and blank them out on the driver’s copy with a block printed over that area of the sheet.
Numbering in sequence, and starting where the last order stopped
- Red or black sequential numbers, printed on every part of the set so all copies share one number.
- Your starting number is taken from the last book you used, so there is no gap or repeat in the records.
- Prefixes for branches or vans, for example A-10001 for one depot and B-10001 for another.
- Numbers can sit top right, along a stub, or in a box the form layout already reserves.
Loose sets, glued pads or bound books
Loose glued sets suit forms that go through a printer or get filed one at a time. Pads glue 50 sets along the top edge on a chipboard back, for a counter or a clipboard. Books bind 25 or 50 sets with a wraparound cover and a writing shield, so a technician can fill one set without marking the next. For the cartons that carry finished pads to a shelf, see our boxes made for carbonless pads.
Perforation is added along a stub or a tear-off line when one part has to leave the book and the rest stay bound.
Laying out a form people fill in by hand
Boxes need to be big enough for handwriting, not for typing: about a quarter inch of height per line is the floor. Put the fields filled on every job at the top, the signature near the bottom edge where the hand rests, and leave the back of the top sheet blank, because printing there competes with the copy. We can rebuild an old form from a scan, or set yours from a sketch. Other office printing such as invoices and pads sits in our range of printed business forms.
Trades that still run on paper copies
| Field service and HVAC | Work orders signed on site; copy left with the customer |
|---|---|
| Delivery and logistics | Delivery notes and bills of lading; driver, customer, office |
| Auto repair | Estimates and repair orders with authorization signature |
| Retail and markets | Receipts and order slips at a counter without a till |
| Rental and events | Hire agreements with terms printed on the back of the top copy |
Carbonless Forms — specification
The rows that are specific to this build first, then what applies to every job we run. Anything not listed is a question, not a limit — send the brief.
This build
- Paper
- Carbonless NCR bond, CB / CFB / CF, white, canary, pink, goldenrod and blue
- Parts
- 2, 3 or 4 part sets in letter, half letter, legal or a custom size
- 1 or 2 colors in black and a spot color; different text per part if needed
- Finishing
- Sequential numbering, perforation, hole drilling, edge-glued sets, pads or books
- Covers
- Wraparound book covers and writing shields on request
- Minimum
- 100 sets per design
On every job
- Print process
- Digital below about a thousand, offset above it. Both sides as standard on cards, tags and leaflets.
- Color
- CMYK with spot colors for a brand match. Uncoated and cotton stocks print noticeably lighter than coated ones.
- Tolerance
- Trim plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut. Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding.
- Tooling
- A die only where the piece is shaped, perforated or drilled, made once and kept. A plain rectangle needs none.
- Food contact
- Food-safe inks on menus and counter print that will be handled where food is served.
- Sustainability
- Uncoated and unlaminated stocks recycle without separation, and FSC papers are available across the range.
- Artwork
- Vector PDF or AI, 3 mm bleed, 4 mm safe area, fonts outlined. We check every file and send a proof before press.
- Dieline
- Supplied free with the quote, before you commit. Yours whether or not you order.
- Sample
- A plain unprinted sample at the finished size on request, for fit and construction.
- Reorders
- Skip the tooling and go straight to press at a lower unit price.
- Lead time
- Quoted with the price against your fill date rather than promised before we have seen the spec.
- Markets
- United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia — priced in the delivery currency, freight included.
Boards and films we build carbonless forms on
Sheet print is judged in the hand more than a box is: the weight, the surface and whether a pen works on it. These are the stocks we run for cards, folders, leaflets and stationery.
Coated card 300–400gsm
The workhorse. Sharp full-color print, matte or gloss, laminated where it is handled. Does not take a pen unless the finish is matte.
300–400gsmUncoated card
No clay coat. Colors read softer and warmer, a deboss goes deeper, and it writes on with anything. Photographs lose punch.
300–400gsmCotton and textured card
Soft, thick and fibrous. Takes a deep blind deboss and reads as an invitation. Foil sits beautifully; four-color does not.
400–700gsmDuplexed card
Two sheets bonded, often with a colored core, for a very thick card with a visible colored edge. The heaviest thing we print.
600–900gsmText paper 100–170gsm
Leaflets, folder inners and booklet pages. Folds without cracking and takes a full-color print on both faces.
100–170gsmManila and kraft paper
Unbleached, tan, and cheap. One or two colors read well; white ink gives a light mark. Envelopes, folders and tags.
90–300gsmSynthetic stock
Polypropylene sheet for tags and cards that get wet, torn or handled outdoors. Prints like paper and does not soften.
200–400 micronBoard-backed
A printed face laminated to grayboard, for a rigid card, a folder back or a display that has to stand up on its own.
1–2 mm boardNot sure which? Say what goes in it and where it is sold — the material follows from that. Our notes on recycled, recyclable and compostable cover which claims each stock can honestly carry.
- 01
Send what you have
A dimension, a photograph beside a ruler, or the product itself. No technical drawing needed — that part is ours.
- 02
We quote and draw
A price, a dieline and a date come back together. If a different build would suit the product better, that is in the reply too.
- 03
Approve the dieline
The flat drawing is yours to check: which panel is the front, where the folds fall, how deep the cavity really is.
- 04
Artwork on the dieline
You place your design on the flat we sent, or we place it for you, and you see a proof before anything goes to press.
- 05
A sample if you want one
A plain unprinted sample at the finished size shows fit and construction — the things a drawing cannot.
- 06
Cut, printed, shipped
The die is cut once and kept, so every reorder skips the tooling and goes straight to press at a lower unit price.
Format
Vector PDF or AI where possible. Raster artwork at 300dpi at final size, in CMYK.
Bleed
3 mm past every trim line, so a fraction of drift on the cutter never leaves a white edge.
Safe area
Keep type and anything important 4 mm inside the cut and away from every fold.
Color
Convert to CMYK before sending. Uncoated stock prints lighter; a spot color is the only exact match.
Fonts
Outline them or supply the files. A missing font substitutes silently and the proof will not match.
Barcodes
On a light, matte, unvarnished patch with the quiet zone clear — a code on gloss fails the scanner.
Not set up that way? Send it anyway — fixing a file is a short conversation, and we check every one before press. Our guide to preparing print files covers each point.
Sheet print takes the widest range of finishes of anything we make.
Matte lamination
Soft, fingerprint-resistant, and it still takes a pen. The default on anything handled.
Gloss lamination
Maximum color depth. Shows every fingerprint and refuses a ballpoint.
Hot foil
Gold, rose gold, silver, holographic or a color. The block is small so the die is cheap.
Emboss and deboss
Deepest on uncoated and cotton stocks; shallow and prone to cracking on gloss coated.
Spot UV
A gloss shape on a matte laminate. Best on a dark ground where the contrast reads.
Edge paint and colored core
Color on the cut edge of a thick or duplexed card. Only seen when the card is picked up, which is the point.
Soft-touch
A velvet laminate on a cover or a folder. Marks on white; excellent on dark.
Uncoated and textured
No film at all. Writes on, debosses deeply, and reads as considered rather than cheap.
Not sure which suits the shelf it sells from? Say where the product is sold and we suggest one — our notes on specialty finishes show them on real boxes.
Sizing printed sheets, folds and the grain: carbonless forms
A printed piece is specified flat and finished folded, and the difference between the two is where mistakes live. Send the finished size you want and we work back to the flat.
- Finished size
- The size after folding and trimming. A6, A5, A4, DL, US letter and legal are standard; anything else is cut on its own die.
- Bleed and safe area
- 3 mm of artwork past every trim edge, and nothing important within 4 mm inside it. The guillotine drifts by a fraction on every stack.
- Grain direction
- Paper folds cleanly along the grain and cracks across it. We set the grain to the fold, which is why a sheet is not simply cut from the biggest sheet available.
- Fold allowance
- On a roll fold or a gate fold, the inner panels are cut a millimeter or two shorter so the piece closes flat.
- Creasing
- Anything over about 170gsm is creased before folding. Without it the fold cracks and the coating flakes along the line.
- Trim tolerance
- Plus or minus 1 mm guillotined, plus or minus 0.5 mm die-cut.
Not sure your numbers are right? Send the product dimensions rather than the box dimensions and we work the box out — the full method is in our guide to measuring for a box.
Interactive · five steps · no sign-up
Spec your Carbonless Forms
Pick a shape, type a size, choose a stock and a finish. The preview on the left redraws as you go, and the spec lands with us exactly as you set it.
Frequently asked questions
Got a question about carbonless forms? The answers below cover what we get asked most. If yours is not here, send it with a brief, message us on WhatsApp, or call +1 503-461-4788 — we reply the same working day.
How many parts can a carbonless form have?
Two, three or four. Beyond four the bottom copy becomes too faint to read with an ordinary ballpoint.
What do CB, CFB and CF mean on carbonless forms?
Coated back, coated front and back, and coated front: the top, middle and bottom sheets of a set, in that order.
Can each part of a carbonless form say something different?
Yes. Each part can carry its own footer such as “Customer copy”, and an area can be blanked out on one copy so prices do not show.
Can carbonless forms be numbered from where my last book ended?
Yes. Send the last number you used and we start the new run from the next one, with the same number on every part of a set.
Do carbonless forms come as pads or books?
Both, or as loose edge-glued sets. Pads glue 50 sets on a chipboard back; books bind 25 or 50 with a cover and a writing shield.
Can carbonless forms go through a laser printer?
Laser-safe carbonless sets exist for single-sheet use, but most of our sets are designed to be filled in by hand. Say which you need before we quote.
What pen works best on carbonless forms?
A ballpoint pressed firmly. Felt tips and gel pens do not apply enough pressure to break the coating and reach the lower copies.
Which colors are used for carbonless form copies?
White, canary and pink are the usual order, with goldenrod or blue as a fourth. Any order can be set to match your filing.
Can you copy an existing carbonless form?
Yes. Send a scan or a photo of the old form and we redraw it, so you can correct fields while it is being set.
Can carbonless forms have terms printed on the back?
Yes, usually on the back of the last copy or on a separate top sheet, so the printing does not interfere with the copy image.
Can carbonless forms be perforated for tear-off stubs?
Yes. A perforation along a stub or a line lets one part leave the book while the others stay bound for the record.
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