This MICR e13b font (also often called MICR font, or E-13B font) is necessary to print numbers and special symbols at the bottom of checks so they can be recognized by the OCR/magnetic ink reader systems used by banks in North America (US and Canada).
To install a font, double click on it, and in the window that appears, click Install.
Because applications may be looking for different font names, there are three different font files :
MICREBMatch
MICRE13B
MICR
You may install all files or only the one you need. They are technically identical, but the name will differ in the font menu.
To create the proper magnetic stripe, you need numbers, and separator symbols.
The separators are ABCD. For compatibility with some programs, you can also use single quote, sharp, dollar and percent.
Below is an example of the data one would enter in a plain font, to get the same as the bottom of a check :
9 '#$% 0123456789
10 '#$% 0123456789
#122000661#0545'03739'19299%
#322270055#0148202801%
12 '#$% 0123456789
Here is how it looks, when the MICR E13B Match font is used (the font must be installed to show the result) :
9 '#$% 0123456789
10 '#$% 0123456789
#122000661#0545'03739'19299%
#322270055#0148202801%
12 '#$% 0123456789 (12, This is is the proper size)
If you need Unicode encoded separator characters, they are supported as well, compliant to Unicode page U2440
http://www.unicode.org/charts/PDF/U2440.pdf
MICR (Magnetic Ink Character Recognition) strips are used by U.S. bank systems to automate check processing, around 68 Billion last year.
The MICR techology has been invented around the mid-fifties to help processing the growing number of checks that took much too long to handle by hand.
The MICR E13B Match font has been created with extremely accurate positioning, and tested with the finest benchmark systems. It is used daily by major corporations, as well as regional and national banks.
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