To print a pay stub in QuickBooks Online, go to Payroll, then Employees, select Paycheck list, find the paycheck you need, and click Print pay stub in the Action column. The process takes about 30 seconds once you know where to look, but the menu path isn’t always intuitive. Here’s a full walkthrough, plus how to handle batch printing, check alignment, and let employees pull their own stubs.
Print a Single Pay Stub
You need an active QuickBooks Online Payroll subscription to access pay stubs. Once you’re logged in, follow these steps:
- Go to All apps, then Payroll, then Employees.
- Below the Run payroll button, select Paycheck list.
- Find the paycheck you want. Use the Filter dropdown to narrow results by date range or employee name.
- In the Action column next to that paycheck, select Print pay stub.
- A preview of the pay stub opens in your browser. Click the printer icon to send it to your printer.
This same process works for reprinting a stub from a previous pay period. Just adjust the date range in the filter to go back as far as you need.
Print Pay Stubs for Multiple Employees
QuickBooks Online doesn’t offer a single “select all and print” batch button the way desktop accounting software often does. To print stubs for an entire pay run, you’ll need to open each paycheck individually from the Paycheck list and print them one at a time. Filtering by a specific pay date helps you move through the list quickly, since it narrows the view to just that pay period’s checks.
If you print pay stubs frequently for a large team, this can be time-consuming. One workaround is to set up QuickBooks Workforce (covered below) so employees access their own stubs, which removes the need to print and distribute them yourself.
Print Paychecks on Compatible Check Paper
If you print actual paychecks (not just stubs) on pre-printed voucher stock, you’ll want to configure the layout and alignment so everything lands in the right spot on the page. QuickBooks supports printing a paycheck with either one or two attached pay stubs on the same sheet.
To set this up:
- Click the gear icon (Settings), then select Payroll Settings.
- Find the Printing section and select Edit.
- Choose Paycheck on QuickBooks-compatible check paper.
- Select either Print paycheck and 1 pay stub or Print paycheck and 2 pay stubs, depending on your paper layout.
- Select Align check, then Print alignment form. This prints a test page with a grid of letters and numbers.
- Look at where the sample text falls on your check paper. Enter the letter and number combination that best centers the content.
- Select Save, then Done.
If the printed text is too low on the page, pick a letter closer to A. Too high, pick a letter closer to X. If it’s shifted too far right, enter a lower number (toward 0). Too far left, enter a higher number (toward 9). You may need two or three test prints to dial it in perfectly.
Let Employees Print Their Own Stubs
QuickBooks Workforce is a free self-service portal where your employees can view and download their own pay stubs and W-2s. Once it’s set up, you won’t need to print and hand out stubs after every payroll.
To invite employees:
- Go to All apps, then Payroll, then Employees.
- Open the Employee Center and double-click the employee you want to invite. Add their email address under the Address and Contact tab, then click OK. Repeat for each employee.
- Go to Employees, then Manage Payroll Cloud Services.
- Turn the QuickBooks Workforce status to On, then select Invite Employees.
- Sign in with the Intuit account that owns the payroll license.
- Select the employees you want to add, confirm their email addresses, and click Send Invite.
There’s one ongoing step you can’t skip: after each payroll run, you need to upload the paychecks so they appear in Workforce. On the Confirmation and Next Steps screen, select “Send to Intuit,” then click Send in the Send/Receive Data window and enter your payroll PIN. If you forget to do this right after running payroll, go to Employees and select “Send Payroll Data” to push them through later.
Once employees accept the invite, they can log in to Workforce from any browser, view each pay period’s stub, and download or print it themselves.
Fix Blank or Missing Pay Stub Previews
When you click Print pay stub and see a blank screen or the printer icon doesn’t appear, the issue is almost always your browser rather than QuickBooks itself. Here are the most common fixes:
- Allow pop-ups. Pay stub previews open in a new browser window. If your browser blocks pop-ups for the QuickBooks site, you’ll get a blank screen or nothing at all. Add the QuickBooks domain to your browser’s pop-up exceptions list.
- Try a different browser. Some browsers handle QuickBooks’ PDF previews better than others. If you’re on Safari or Firefox and the print icon is missing, switch to Chrome or Edge.
- Clear your cache. Stored data from older QuickBooks sessions can interfere with PDF generation. Clear your browser cache, close all tabs, and log back in.
- Disable browser extensions. Ad blockers and PDF-related extensions sometimes intercept the preview. Try opening QuickBooks in an incognito or private window, which disables most extensions by default.
If you’re on Windows and the preview loads but the printout itself is blank, run through the PDF test sequence: print a simple document from another website to confirm your printer works, then try printing the pay stub again. This isolates whether the problem is with QuickBooks or your local printer setup.