This section of the check file describes the overall layout of a page of checks (or check) that goes into the printer.

	Note
	The Blocking_Chars and DateFormat options are defined for all check formats in Edit->Preferences->Printing. It is recommened that these global options be set to false (the default), and that the options be set for individual Check Items as described below.

This group of items specifies how multiple checks are laid out on the same sheet of paper, and gives names to each of these check locations so that a user can specify which check location that GnuCash should print. This entire group of key/value pairs is optional, and should be omitted if the format file only specifies a single check per page of paper.

This section specifies the individual items that are printed on the check. There is no limit to the number of items that may be present in this section, and any given type of item can be repeated multiple times. This allows for the printing of checks that have a side stub, or for the one-per-page business checks that have both the check and multiple check stubs on the same page. For example, to print the payee name on a business check and on both stubs, simply specify three payee items with differing print coordinates.

Each key names in this section explicitly includes the item number to which it applies. E.G. The key named Type_1 applies to the first item to be printed, and the key Coords_3 applies to the third item to be printed. Item numbers start at one and increase sequentially. Any gap in the numbering sequence is interpreted by GnuCash as the end of the item list. Items are printed in the order of their item numbers, not in the order in which they appear in the file.

Each item specified must include a type declaration. The rest of the parameters for that item depend upon the particular type of that item. See Table B.4, “Individual Check Item Types” for a list of valid item types and their required parameters.

Table B.3. Individual Check Item Fields

Name	Type	Required	Description
Type_n	string	mandatory	This field specifies the type of a single item to be printed on a check. See Table B.4, “Individual Check Item Types” for a list of valid item types.
Coords_n	list of 2 or 4 doubles	mandatory	This field specifies the coordinates where the item should be placed on a check, and optionally also specifies the width and height of the item. The numbers in order are the X and Y offset of the lower left corner of the item, and optionally the width and height of the item. If the width is supplied then the height must also be supplied, so this field will always contain two or four numbers. For gtk versions prior to 2.10, the origin point is in the lower left corner of the page and translation values increase moving up and to the right. For gtk version 2.10 and later, the origin point is in the upper left corner of the page and translation values increase moving down and to the right. Note Regardless of whether the origin is at the top or the bottom of the page, the coordinates always specify the lower left point of the item.
Font_n	string	optional	If supplied, this is the font used to print this specific text item. This field can contain any string that is acceptable by gtk as a font specifier. If this field is omitted, the default font is the font specified in the Top section of the check description file, or if that was omitted the font specified in the GnuCash preferences dialog. This field is only recognized when using gtk version 2.10 or later.
Align_n	string	optional	If supplied, this is the alignment used to print this specific text item. This field must contain one of the strings “left”, “center” or “right”. If this field is omitted, the text will be left aligned. This field is only recognized when using gtk version 2.10 or later.
Text_n	string	optional	This field is only used when the item type is TEXT. It specifies the utf-8 text that should be printed on the check.
Filename_n	string	optional	This field is only used when the item type is PICTURE. It specifies the filename of the image that should be printed on the check. The string may specify either an absolute path name or as a relative path name. If a relative path name is specified, GnuCash first looks in in the application check format folder (typically /usr/share/gnucash/checks ) for the image file, and if it is not found there then it looks in the user private ~/.local/share/gnucash/checks[2] directory for the image. This field is only recognized when using gtk version 2.10 or later.
Blocking_Chars_n	boolean	optional	If supplied, this will set the print Blocking_Chars option for this item.
DateFormat_n	boolean	optional	If supplied, this will set the print DateFormat option for this item.

These are the individual items that can be printed on a check. All items require the coordinates on the page where the item should be printed. The majority of these items result in text being printed on the page, and these items may have individual font and alignments specified. For example, the numerical amount of a check could be printed right justified while everything else is printed left justified. Other types may have unique parameters.

	Note
	SPLIT items include all split entries for the transaction except for the split that applies to the current account register (referred to as the anchor-split). This is usually the last split listed when splits are displayed in the register. The coordinate location defines the lower left location for the split information.