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How to Make Your Own Barcodes

July 4th, 2008

Your own barcode

Using barcodes to enter products can be quicker and more accurate than manually typing in item codes. If your products already have barcodes on them, then all you really need is a barcode scanner and some software. If not, you can first make your own barcodes.

If your products are going to be sold in other retail stores, you’ll need to use standardized formats and pay to make sure your barcodes are unique. We won’t cover that in this article, but you can find more information here.

Otherwise, if the barcodes are just for your business’ own use, it’s pretty easy to print them yourself. Barcodes are just a special way of writing letters and numbers so that a scanner can read them. You can make up your own letter/number codes (e.g. ABC1234) for each of your products. Then, use some software like IDAutomation’s free version of their barcode label printing software to print them as barcodes onto some sticky address labels, like those Avery sells in office supply stores. You can then peel them off and stick them onto your products, and you’re all set.

If you want to print barcodes directly onto your packaging or other materials, you can instead get a barcode font and use that to type barcodes into your designs in Microsoft Word, Publisher, Adobe PageMaker, etc. IDAutomation also offers a free Code 39 barcode font. There are different types of barcode fonts and symbols - Code 39 is the simplest type, but perfect for your company’s own use. Other common types you might come across are UPC-A in North America and EAN-13 in Europe.

Don’t let all the barcoding jargon scare you away - it’s quite easy to get started and you can really speed things up for your business.


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12 Comments

  • sunil on July 23rd, 2008 at 8:54 am says:

    i want to make my barcode for my product soya nuggets.,i hv the software but i dont know how to make the barcode

  • inFlow Inventory on July 24th, 2008 at 5:02 pm says:

    I think some of the software listed in the above posts allows you to print the barcodes directly on stickers paper. You can get those type of paper in your local office supplies stores.

  • Carlie Butts on February 1st, 2009 at 7:51 am says:

    I am making my own labels for a disc of a song for sale. Is there any way that I can include the barcode along with the information to be printed on the sticky Avery label forms, at the same time?

  • Ted Hickox on June 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm says:

    I wish the people who make commercial UPC’s would extend their barcodes to include product dating. That way people could be confident that what they were purchasing wouldn’t be out of date.

  • inFlow Inventory on June 26th, 2009 at 4:36 pm says:

    Carlie, yes I think so. There are websites that you can download the barcode fonts (e.g. IDAutomation.com), and use them in programs like MS Word/Excel. So basically you can customize the format and content that goes with the barcode, and use the printing templates as specified by the Avery package.

  • vaibhav on August 20th, 2009 at 4:07 am says:

    hollo……………..

    I want barcoding facility for my jewellary shorum.pls help

  • inFlow Inventory on August 20th, 2009 at 10:35 pm says:

    You can take a look at these articles:

    http://www.inflowinventory.com/Blog/index.php/2008/05/28/the-two-minute-guide-to-using-barcodes/
    http://www.inflowinventory.com/Blog/index.php/2008/07/04/how-to-make-your-own-barcodes/

    http://www.inflowinventory.com/KnowledgeBase/questions/5/Barcode+Support

    Hope this helps,
    -Louis

  • Lee Adams on May 26th, 2010 at 8:12 am says:

    I am currently looking in to starting to make my own barcode labels and this blog has really helped me.

    Thanks guys

  • inFlow Inventory on June 18th, 2010 at 2:56 pm says:

    You’re very welcome, Lee! :)

  • iphoneicandi on June 19th, 2010 at 2:53 pm says:

    This was the best write I have seen on the web for barcodes! Thanks!

  • Peter on August 17th, 2010 at 4:36 am says:

    Can u pls help me i have started a detergent busines i need to creat my logo n bar code pls help

  • inFlow Inventory on August 18th, 2010 at 8:41 am says:

    Hi Peter, unfortunately we do not have any services for creating logos or barcodes but as you’ve read the article above you will find some resources within it for getting started with barcodes. As to your logo, perhaps you might start by taking a look at this article about creating logos: http://websitetips.com/logos/. In addition, there is a freeware program called “Paint.net” (available here: http://www.getpaint.net/) which is very similar to Adobe Photoshop in its design that you might find useful in creating your logo. All the best!

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