List of Lessons

Generating Barcodes

Need for Barcodes

Barcodes are commonly used for categorizing products in a store having hundreds of products. They are used for representing product information, most commonly identification numbers, in a machine readable format. Then we can use scanners to read the barcodes and process the information contained them using computers. Usually if you want to list your products in a store, then you need to have a valid identification number. This product number is obtained form the authority regulating your product. For example, ISBN is the authority for publishing books. You have to fill a form and get a valid ISBN number for your book. Then you can convert the number into a barcode and add it to the book. This is typically added to the back of the book. Then you can supply your books to a book store.

Generating Barcodes using Inkscape

Inkscape has a builtin extension for generating Barcodes codes. This makes the process of generating a Barcode much more easier. We’ll have to enter only the information and then click a button to generate the Barcode. Since Inkscape is a vector art program we can resize the Barcode to any size we want.

  1. In order to open the Barcode extension go to Extensions > Render > Barcode > Classic
  2. The Barcode type is used to specify a particular format. This is decided by the authority who issues the product numbers. The type of the code also determines what information can be entered. For example some types support only numbers while others support alphabets as well as some special characters. You have to contact the store or your product regulator to obtain the type details. For example, ISBN numbers are issued for books. They are represented using the EAN-13 extension.
  3. In the barcode data field you can enter your product information like product number that will be converted into the barcode.
  4. If you are going to be using the barcodes internally for your own store, then you can choose any of the types you want and then configure your scanners to scan for that type of barcode.
  5. Click on Apply to generate the barcode.
  6. The barcode appears small initially. In order to expand the Barcode code press Ctrl and then drag one of the corners.
  7. You can go to File > Export PNG image to bring up the export settings.
  8. Enter the height and width required for the image and give a file name
  9. Click on Export to save as a PNG image and then click on File > Save to save the project as an Inkscape SVG file for later use.