How to Create a Positive Pay File from Paylocity
Paylocity is a payroll and HCM platform, not check-issuance software, so the data your bank needs for positive pay lives in your payroll check register rather than in a dedicated check-writing module. The good news is that every paycheck Paylocity cuts has a check number, an amount, an issue date, and an account, which is exactly what a positive pay file requires.
This guide shows where that data sits in Paylocity, which report to pull, the column details that trip people up, and how to turn the export into the exact file your bank expects using a free browser tool. If you have used our QuickBooks guide, the approach is the same: get a clean register out, then map the columns.
Paylocity does not export a generic positive pay file
Paylocity does not have a self-serve feature that produces a positive pay file for any bank. What it offers instead is a set of bank-specific integrations in its integration marketplace. For example, Paylocity lists a JP Morgan Chase Positive Pay integration and a US Bank Positive Pay integration that transmit issued check data directly to that one bank so it can verify checks and flag exceptions. You can see these on the Paylocity integration marketplace.
If you bank with Chase or US Bank, ask your Paylocity service team about enabling that integration. If you bank anywhere else, or you simply want to keep control of the file yourself, you build the positive pay file from a payroll report. That is what the rest of this page covers.
Which Paylocity report to pull
The report you want is the Check Register, available through Report Writer in Web Pay. Report Writer is available to all Paylocity clients and includes Check Register and Payroll Register among its preset reports. The general location is the main menu under Reports, then Report Writer. Menu labels and the exact set of reports vary by company configuration and your permission level, so if you do not see Report Writer, check with your Paylocity administrator rather than assuming it is missing.
- From the main menu, open Reports, then Report Writer.
- Select the radio button next to Check Register (or your nearest equivalent that lists check numbers), then click the Run icon.
- Set the date range to the pay run or runs you are reporting.
- Choose the output format. Paylocity lets you run the report as a PDF or as Microsoft Excel. Pick Excel so you get rows and columns you can work with. Save it, then export to
.csvfrom Excel if needed.
A Payroll Register also works if it shows the check number per employee. Avoid summary reports that group by department or earning type, because those drop the per-check detail your bank needs.
Column gotchas to check before you convert
Payroll exports are built for accounting and HR, not for banks, so a few columns need attention before the file will pass:
- Check number location. Confirm there is one row per physical check with a real check number. Direct deposit lines often carry no check number or a placeholder. Your bank only wants paper checks, so filter out direct deposit rows before you build the file.
- Amount and sign. Positive pay files expect the check amount as a positive value. If the export shows the net pay as a debit or with a negative sign, strip the sign so each amount is plain and positive, such as
1450.00. Some bank layouts also want the amount with no decimal point as implied decimals, where1450.00becomes0000145000. - Date format. Paylocity may show the issue or check date as
MM/DD/YYYY, while many banks requireMMDDYYYYorYYYYMMDDwith no slashes. Use the check date or issue date, not the pay period end date. - Account number. The register may not include the bank account the checks draw on. If your file layout requires the account number on every row, you will add it during conversion.
- Voids. If you reissued or voided a check, include the void with the correct status code so the bank does not honor it. See handling void checks for how voids belong in the file.
Convert the export to your bank's format
Once you have the Check Register as a spreadsheet, open the free positive pay file generator in your browser. It runs entirely on your computer, so the payroll data is not uploaded anywhere. Load your file, then use the custom format builder to match your bank's required layout. You map your columns once, the tool remembers the mapping, and future pay runs convert in seconds.
Because every bank's positive pay layout is different, there is no single correct file. Some banks want a fixed-width file, others a CSV, and the field order, date format, and amount style are account-specific. We do not publish a fake Paylocity-to-bank spec, because the only authoritative layout is the one your bank gives you. To understand the common fields and how fixed-width and CSV files differ, read the positive pay file format reference, then enter your bank's exact specification into the builder.
A quick checklist
- Pull the Check Register from Report Writer and export it as Excel.
- Filter to paper checks only and remove direct deposit rows.
- Confirm the check number, positive amount, and check date are present and clean.
- Map your columns to the bank's layout in the custom format builder.
- Validate the output with the file validator before you send it to the bank.
If you are new to the whole process, the what is positive pay overview explains why banks require this file and how it stops altered and counterfeit checks.