What comes after triplicate?
The words, in order
| Term | Parts | Trade name |
|---|---|---|
| Duplicate | 2 | 2-part |
| Triplicate | 3 | 3-part |
| Quadruplicate | 4 | 4-part |
| Quintuplicate | 5 | 5-part |
Beyond five parts, handwritten copies become impractical. The pressure from a pen simply does not carry that far.
Who uses 4-part sets?
Four-part forms turn up where one document has four destinations on the same day. Typical examples are plant hire (customer, yard, driver, accounts), some fuel and haulage operations, and larger organisations where a purchase order has to go to a supplier, stores, the budget holder and accounts. Printers in Ireland who offer them commonly use a colour for each part, such as white, yellow, pink and green or blue, so each person knows which copy is theirs at a glance.
The drawbacks of going beyond three parts
1. The last copy is lighter
Each sheet spreads your pen pressure a little. By the fourth sheet, the copy is noticeably fainter than the top, and with a gel pen or a soft surface it can become hard to read. Does NCR paper expire, and why are my copies faint? explains how to get the most from the lower copies.
2. Fewer sets per book
A book has to stay thin enough to sit flat. Suppliers who bind 4-part books commonly put 25 sets in each, compared with 50 in a triplicate book and 100 in our duplicate books. That means more books, more reordering and a higher cost per form.
3. More paper to file and shred
Every extra part is paper that has to be stored for your records period and shredded afterwards. If one of the four copies is routinely unused, you are paying for waste.
Alternatives that often work just as well
- Triplicate plus a photo. The fourth person often only needs to see the docket, not hold it. A phone photo of the office copy, sent to accounts, does that.
- Triplicate plus a photocopy for the one department that needs paper.
- Rethink who needs a copy. In many businesses, the office copy and the accounts copy go to the same building. One copy, filed once, may be enough.
- Separate forms. If the fourth copy needs different information, such as a yard checklist, it may be better as its own form or pad.
Before moving to four parts, map where your triplicate copies go today. What is a triplicate docket system? shows how a three-copy flow usually covers the customer, the person on the road and the office. If you are still weighing up two copies against three, see What is the difference between duplicate and triplicate?
If you really do need four copies
Get a sample and test it with the pens your staff actually use, on the surfaces they actually write on, before ordering in quantity. Ask for part labels to be printed on every sheet. And keep the form short: the fewer lines on a 4-part docket, the easier it is to press hard enough for the last copy.
Duplicate and triplicate books from Discoverprint
Discoverprint prints duplicate and triplicate invoice books, not 4-part books. For most processes, three copies plus a photo or photocopy for the fourth person does the job at a lower cost per form. Our triplicate books hold 50 three-part sets in A4, A5, A6 or DL, numbered on every part, with each part labelled on request so every copy goes to the right person. Design is free and delivery is free anywhere in Ireland. See the full NCR books range.
Read next
Frequently asked questions
- What comes after triplicate?
- Quadruplicate, which means four copies, and then quintuplicate, which means five. In the print trade they are usually called 4-part and 5-part sets.
- How many sets are in a 4-part book?
- Fewer than in a triplicate book, because each set has four sheets. Suppliers who offer them commonly bind 25 sets per book to keep the book a usable thickness.
- Is the bottom copy of a 4-part set readable?
- It can be, with a ballpoint pen, firm pressure and a hard surface, but it is noticeably lighter than the top copies. That is the main drawback of going beyond three parts.
- Does Discoverprint print 4-part books?
- No. Discoverprint prints duplicate and triplicate books and pads. If four people need the paperwork, the alternatives in this guide, such as triplicate plus a photo, usually cover it.
Sources
- Printing Supplies Direct: How does carbonless paper work? (2 to 5 part sets)
