Tip & How-To about Computers & Internet

How do I read Barcodes in Microsoft Excel?

Bar code symbols are composed of a number of adjacent bars and spaces of different widths of pre-defined codes. A barcode scanner is used to read or scan the bar code symbol to represent the information to decode. Once the symbol is scanned by a handheld reading device or another, can then be used by computer software to track inventory and perform other functions. Microsoft Excel is a computer application that use bar code information can make the business perform.

1. Insert bar code scanner to your computer using the "interface cable keyboard wedge". The keyboard wedge interface cable looks like the printer port of your computer, and differs only in that a connection between the scanner bar code and serial number of your computer or USB port. The cable is provided as a peripheral pattern with hand-held bar code scanners.

2. Open Microsoft Excel on your computer after the bar code scanner connected to your computer.

3. Links on the Excel cell to the bar code to enter and bar code scanning to load it into Microsoft Excel.

4. View the data in Excel file is translated into a vision of the bar code information.

Related Questions:

0helpful

1answer

explain bar codes

A bar code (often seen as a single word, barcode) is the small image of lines (bars) and spaces that is affixed to retail store items, identification cards, and postal mail to identify a particular product number, person, or location. The code uses a sequence of vertical bars and spaces to represent numbers and other symbols. A bar code symbol typically consists of five parts: a quiet zone, a start character, data characters (including an optional check character), a stop character, and another quiet zone.
A BarCode Readeris used to read the code. The reader uses a laser beam that is sensitive to the reflections from the line and space thickness and variation. The reader translates the reflected light into digital data that is transferred to a computer for immediate action or storage. Bar codes and readers are most often seen in supermarkets and retail stores, but a large number of different uses have been found for them. They are also used to take inventory in retail stores; to check out books from a library; to track manufacturing and shipping movement; to sign in on a job; to identify hospital patients; and to tabulate the results of direct mail marketing returns. Very small bar codes have been used to tag honey bees used in research. Readers may be attached to a computer (as they often are in retail store settings) or separate and portable, in which case they store the data they read until it can be fed into a computer.
There is no one standard bar code; instead, there are several different bar code standards called symbologies that serve different uses, industries, or geographic needs. Since 1973, the Uniform Product Code (UPC), regulated by the Uniform Code Council, an industry organization, has provided a standard bar code used by most retail stores. The European Article Numbering system (EAN), developed by Joe Woodland, the inventor of the first bar code system, allows for an extra pair of digits and is becoming widely used. POSTNET is the standard bar code used in the United States for ZIP codes in bulk mailing. The following table summarizes the most common bar code standards.

Read full answer

Mar 09, 2014 • Computers & Internet

0helpful

1answer