NCR Books - Upload Own Design

About NCR books printed to your own design

This product is for businesses that already have a form and want it printed as a carbonless NCR book exactly as designed. There is no template to work to: send a print ready file for an invoice, a receipt, a delivery note, a job sheet, a work order, a service report, a quotation, a hire agreement or any other document that needs a handwritten copy, and we print it in black ink on NCR paper as a duplicate or triplicate book with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape. Choose from A6, DL, A5 and A4, add sequential numbering if you need it, and we proof it before printing.

If you would rather we designed the layout, our personalised invoice books include a free design service; this page is the same book, priced the same, for artwork you supply.

What is carbonless (NCR) paper?

Carbonless paper, sold as NCR (No Carbon Required), does the job carbon paper used to do without the carbon. A dye held in tiny capsules on the underside of the top sheet meets a reactive coating on the sheet below when your pen presses down, and your handwriting is reproduced where you wrote it. In this book every form is a set: an original that leaves with the customer and one or two copies that carry the same print, the same number and the same handwriting.

Filling in a set

Put the wrap-around writing shield behind the set you are about to use; it stops the pen pressure copying onto the sets underneath. Use a ballpoint pen and press firmly: the pressure makes the copy, so a light touch or a gel pen gives a faint copy, and the third sheet of a triplicate set needs the firmest hand. When the form is complete, tear the top sheet away along the perforation for the customer. The copies remain bound in the book as your record until you want them; the perforation lets you lift one out later without loosening the rest.

Because every sheet is perforated, you can also lift a copy out later for your accountant or bookkeeper and leave the rest of the book intact, or keep the whole book as a bound record of the year and file it when it is full.

Two part or three part

Duplicate gives you more forms per book; triplicate gives you more copies per form. They cost the same per book, so decide how many places each form has to be filed.

Specification

Configuring your books

Six decisions, all made in the order panel, with the price updating live.

• Pick a size: A6 (105mm x 148mm), DL (99mm x 210mm), A5 (148mm x 210mm), A4 (210mm x 297mm). The guide further down explains which suits what.
• Two part with 100 sets, or three part with 50 sets. The book costs the same either way.
• How many books: 5 up to 100, and the unit price falls at every step.
• Numbering: on, from any start number, or off; included.
• Perforation on the top or the left edge, which is also the binding edge.
• Design: leave it to us (free, new or copied from your existing form) or upload a finished file.

All printing on this product is black ink; choose personalised receipt books for colour.

Who uses NCR books printed to your own design

This is the right product when the layout matters more than the design service: you already have the form and want it printed as NCR exactly as it is.

• Businesses with an existing form: a job sheet, worksheet or invoice you have used for years and simply want reprinted as an NCR book, with nothing moved.
• Franchises and multi-site firms: a head office layout that every branch must use, printed with each branch's details in the same design.
• Firms whose accountant or software sets the layout: a paper form that mirrors the fields in your accounts package so the copy can be keyed in without translation.
• Hire companies, engineers and inspectors: agreements, check sheets and service reports with tick boxes, declarations and signature blocks that a standard invoice template does not have.
• Designers ordering for clients: you have set the artwork to the client's brand and need it printed as NCR with a proof to sign off.
• Bilingual or specialised trades: forms in another language, or with industry wording, that need to print exactly as written.

Your details on every sheet

Every sheet, original and copies alike, carries the same printed layout. Typically that is:

• Logo and name
• Full contact details
• Registration numbers (VAT, Companies House) where relevant
• The heading (Invoice, Delivery Note or Job Sheet or another title) and number
• Your form's own content, printed as your artwork has it: fields, boxes, declarations and signature lines
• How to pay: bank details, payment terms
• Footer text: terms and conditions, guarantee, signature line

Our designers place all of this for you free of charge, or reproduce the design you already use; your own artwork is printed as supplied once you approve the proof. Printing is black ink, so light tints and pale colours are checked at the proof stage.

Sequential numbering

Sequential numbering prints a unique number on every set, and the same number on each sheet in the set, so the customer's original and your copy always agree. You choose the start number when you order: a run from 10001 gives 10001, 10002, 10003 and so on through every book in the order. Numbering is included in the price, you can tell us where on the sheet it should sit, and when you reorder you tell us the number to continue from. A numbered run makes a missing or cancelled set obvious and lets you match any copy to its original. If you number your forms another way, choose the unnumbered option.

Which size?

Set your artwork at the finished size of the book you order. All four sizes use the same NCR paper, cover and binding, and all come in duplicate and triplicate.

A6, 105mm x 148mm

A6, 105mm x 148mm, is postcard sized and made for receipts rather than itemised invoices. After the 20mm binding margin about 85mm x 148mm (left bound) or 105mm x 128mm (top bound) remains: a logo and contact line, date and number, four to six short lines, a total and a signature. It is the book that fits a shirt pocket or sits beside a cash tin, and it is the wrong choice if you need a VAT breakdown or bank details on the sheet.

DL, 99mm x 210mm

DL, 99mm x 210mm, is one third of an A4 sheet and the size a DL envelope takes without folding. Allowing 20mm for the binding edge you have about 79mm x 210mm (left bound) or 99mm x 190mm (top bound): a header, a number and date, a single column of six to ten lines with a price column, a total and a signature. Top bound it works as a tall receipt pad; either way the slip posts flat with the goods or the card.

A5, 148mm x 210mm

A5, 148mm x 210mm, is A4 folded in half and the most common size for a handwritten invoice. With 20mm reserved at the binding edge you keep about 128mm x 210mm (left bound) or 148mm x 190mm (top bound): header, customer and date block, six to ten item lines, totals and payment details. The book goes in a jacket pocket or a tool bag, the original folds once into a DL envelope, and most jobs fit on one sheet, which is why it is the default for mobile trades.

A4, 210mm x 297mm

At 210mm x 297mm, A4 matches the paper in every office printer and filing cabinet, which is why it suits an invoice that will be filed rather than pocketed. Keep 20mm clear at the bound edge and the printable area is still about 190mm x 297mm top bound or 210mm x 277mm left bound, enough for fifteen to twenty item lines, a VAT and totals block, bank details and terms on one sheet. It is the size to choose when the invoice carries the detail of the job, and the size to avoid if the book has to travel in a pocket.

Whichever size you choose, keep 20mm clear along the binding edge for the glue and the tape, and keep the sheet portrait.

Keep text and boxes at least 20mm from the binding edge, the top or the left depending on the perforation you choose, and leave a clear space where the sequential number should print if you have chosen numbering.

The same artwork can be printed as an NCR pad instead of a bound book, glued along one edge with a card cover and a strawboard back. Artwork for this product prints in black; a full colour form is a bespoke job, so use the quotation form and attach the file.

In the box

• Books of 100 duplicate sets or 50 triplicate sets, printed in black with your design on every sheet
• Finished with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape
• Perforation, top or left, on every sheet
• Sequential numbering where chosen, from your start number
• Free design, either new or copied from your existing book, with an emailed proof and free changes
• Free UK delivery

No add ons, no upsells: the price shown is for everything above, plus VAT.

Artwork, design and proofs

You can hand the design to us or supply it. Our free design service will build a form layout from scratch around your logo and details, or copy the design you already use from a photo, scan or PDF so the new book matches the old one. Your own artwork should be a print ready PDF at 300dpi with 3mm bleed, sized to the finished book, with 20mm kept clear along the binding edge; AI, EPS, PSD, JPG, PNG and DOCX files are also accepted, up to 50 MB through the page or by email to sales@personalisedinvoicebook.co.uk for anything larger. Artwork prints in black, so colours are converted to greyscale and pale tints may print faint; we point this out on the proof.

In both cases we email a proof, you ask for changes as often as needed at no cost, and printing starts only when you approve it. If a supplied file is not print ready we say so, put it right free of charge where we can, or ask for a new one.

From order to delivery

1. You order. Pick the options, pay by card and receive a confirmation email.
2. You send. Upload artwork with the order, or email your logo and wording with the order number.
3. We design or check. Our designers build the layout, copy your existing one, or check your file for print readiness.
4. We proof. You receive the proof by email. Read every number and every name; the proof is the contract for what we print.
5. You approve. Approve it, or send changes and get a fresh proof. The turnaround clock starts here.
6. We print and finish. Black printing on carbonless paper, then numbering, collating, perforating and binding with a manilla cover, a cardboard back, a wrap-around writing shield and black spine tape.
7. We check and dispatch. Every order is compared with the approved proof, then dispatched within 3 to 4 working days of approval.
8. You receive. Free UK delivery, tracked on the order tracking page.

Delivery and turnaround

NCR Books - Own Design are printed and dispatched in 3 to 4 working days after you approve the proof. Turnaround runs from approval, not from the order date, so send your details straight away and approve the proof the day it arrives for the quickest result. Delivery is free to every address in the United Kingdom, including the Scottish Highlands, Northern Ireland and Jersey, with no minimum spend. Dispatch and progress are shown on the order tracking page. If you have a hard deadline, email us before you order and we will tell you whether we can meet it.

Pricing

Only three things move the price: how many books you order, which size and which format. Larger sizes cost more than smaller ones. Duplicate and triplicate are the same price at each quantity; the duplicate book holds twice as many sets. Ordering more brings the price per book down at every step. Everything else on the page, numbering, perforation, design, proof and delivery, is included. Prices exclude VAT. Rather than repeat figures here that change, the order panel and the price table on this page show the current price for every combination; anything beyond the standard range goes through the quotation form.

NCR Books - Own Design in use

• A scaffolding firm has a handover certificate and invoice on one A4 sheet, designed by its insurer's template. It is printed as a triplicate book so the client, the site and the office each hold a signed copy.
• A tool hire shop prints its hire agreement, with terms on the form and a damage waiver tick box, as an A4 duplicate book; the customer signs the top copy and takes it, the shop keeps the copy.
• A courier supplies a DL consignment note laid out to match the fields in its despatch software, numbered from 50001 to continue its existing run.
• A gas engineer recreates a service record sheet from a photograph of the old book so the new one matches the ones already in customers' files.

Support and guarantees

Every book we print is proofed before it goes to press, designed free of charge if you want us to, and delivered free anywhere in the UK. If you need help, email sales@personalisedinvoicebook.co.uk (answered within one working day) or call 01933 81 21 51, Monday to Friday, 09:00 to 17:30. You may cancel without charge up to the moment you approve the proof; after that the books are made to your order and cannot be returned. Anything faulty, damaged, short or different from the approved proof is reprinted or refunded when reported within 14 days of delivery. Customer reviews for this product are in the Reviews tab.