Skip to product information
1 of 2

Custom Carbonless Forms

Custom Carbonless Forms

  • 2part, 3part and 4part forms
  • Numbering and Perforation available
  • Different sizes and binding option
  • Free Designing & Shipping
View full details

Carbonless Forms

Do you remember the days before carbonless forms? Businesses would have to sandwich pieces of carbon paper between what they wanted to copy and press hard. The carbon would get all over fingers from handling. Smudges were common. Light marks more-so.

Wonder why you don’t see it anymore? Carbonless paper was invented. Businesses rejoiced when carbonless forms printing became available on a worldwide basis. No longer would office administrators, mechanics, and others have to resort to using carbon paper and manual copying to create copies of their important documents.

In fact, it's difficult to name a business these days which doesn't use carbonless form printing somewhere within their operations. Many businesses need exact duplicates of signatures and order forms. Carbonless forms are used for many purposes.


The many uses of custom carbonless forms:

You can find multi-part carbonless forms printing in a variety of industries and niches. Some functions of custom carbonless forms printing include:

Order forms - While we would love to have everything entered on a computer, there are still some directions which are best captured on paper in a carbonless form. The custom printed carbonless forms is used so that both the company doing the work and the customer have a copy for their records.

Invoices - Handwritten invoices are more common than you might think. Special instructions are sometimes necessary on the invoice, as well as the number of the invoice. Because there is a special glue used to keep the forms together, printed carbonless forms are never messy.

Receipts - You can find two-part receipt pads at any office supply store, but why not print out your own custom carbonless paper receipts with BestoPrint? An attractive receipt book can make even this last transaction with a customer something special to remember.

Prescription Pads - Many doctors get custom printed carbonless forms as their prescription pads so they are able to give the prescription to their patient as well as keep the information in their own files. Combined with BestoPrint’s finishing services, unique and uncopyable forms can be created.

Contracts - When you have a contract that needs signing and initialing, such as a real estate contract or other legal document, 3-part+ carbonless form printing becomes extremely valuable. You’d be amazed at the amount of duplication needed for some contracts! Be prepared by having carbonless paper contracts and save yourself time at the copy machine.

Purchase Order Forms - Need a purchase order from your accounting department? Rather than receiving a printout of two copies, why not have a 2-part, 3-part, 4-part, or 5-part carbonless form printed for your records? With the distinctive color of the paper, it’s easy to stay organized.

The sizes of carbonless form printing

Carbonless forms can be printed in many sizes. 5 ½ x 4 ¼, 5 ½ x 8 ½, 8 ½ x 11, and 8 ½ x 14 (legal) are common sizes for carbonless printing. We are able to print out your documents in all of these sizes in full color or black and white. If you need a special size, contact our print shop and we may be able to make arrangements.


The process of carbonless forms printing:

The back side of carbonless paper has been coated with a special ink. It looks a little like a grey dusting. When something hard is pressed into the surface of the first page of that carbonless paper, the microcapsules filled with ink that coat the back of the page burst and put their ink down onto the next page. and copy onto the sheet below. Sheets of paper with this special coating are sandwiched to create however many duplicates you need. The piece of paper on the bottom is normal paper to prevent ink from messing up your writing surface.

Once the carbonless forms have been printed, they are then finished with a special glue which only reacts with the dye that was applied to the paper. This makes each of the forms stick to one another, but they don’t stick beyond that to remaining forms. The glue itself is different from the standard padding glue which is used in non-carbonless forms printing. The combination of these two technologies is what allows carbonless forms to work. The glue aligns the pages while you use them, then stops being sticky once the forms are separate.

Finishing Options for Carbonless Forms Printing:

Gluing - BestoPrint is able to glue pads of 2-part through 5-part carbonless forms together in convenient packs of 50, 100, or whatever size you’d like. This option of custom carbon copy forms is sometimes used for things used a lot like receipt books and invoices. It is recommended to put a piece of cardstock or cardboard under each one to prevent any chance of bleedthrough.

Hole Punching - Do you find that your carbonless form printing lands in notebooks more often than not? We can conveniently 3-hole punch your documents so that you don’t need to have a manual hole punch available. This makes for easy filing of larger carbonless paper forms for you and your clients.

Cutting - Some operations prefer to have their forms printed in layers, where the last sheet is longer than the sheet prior, which is longer than the sheet before that. This further distinguishes the forms from one another. We can perform this service for you. Contact our offices for more information on pricing this option.

Die Cutting - Do you have a special design that you’d like to have cut into your carbonless forms? Die cutting is done after the printing process to create patterns in the printed paper. This is often done on the top sheet that your customers or clients will keep for themselves. It’s just another way to set yourself apart from your competitors.


At BestoPrint, we consult with all of our clients to make sure that the process of carbonless forms printing goes extremely smoothly. Talk with one of our design representatives today for guidance on how to format your document so we can make sure your carbonless form printing goes as smoothly as possible. To see all of our standard sizes and options, click on the product links at the top of the page and look through the product listings. If you need something that’s more customized, give us a call and we’ll give you a quote.

  • Free designing.

    Free designing and your files will be reviewed for printing errors without paying a cent.

  • More printing.

    150+ print products to help you make a good impression. 1000+ options to customize to your heart’s content.

  • Reliable. Always.

    The product you want. The way you want. Professional printing guaranteed.