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Barcode Fonts - FAQ

Frequenly Asked Questions 
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Special Note for Word users!!!!
Word has a feature that will disable all 3 of 9 fonts including this one. You can disable this 'feature' of Word by following the instructions at this link. Barcodes and Microsoft Word

Frequently Asked Questions
    Why can't I scan the barcode I just created using your font?
     * Are you using Word?  Word has special "helpers" that cause code 3 of 9 barcodes  to be unreadable.  Follow this link to find out how to fix this problem. Barcodes and Microsoft Word 
        
     *Did you include the * before and after the code? You must have this character before and after any code you want to scan. 
        
     * Your code cannot include any gaps between characters. If you need to use a space character be sure to use the "~" instead of a normal space.  
        
      *Make sure you are using valid characters for the font set that you're using. For a list of supported characters, follow the links below. Scroll to near the bottom of the page to see the characters included in the font.

    Standard Code 39 Barcode Font Supported Characters
    Extended Code 39 Barcode Font Supported Characters

    		 
        
     *

    If you're using the supported characters surrounded by the "*" stop and start characters, chances are the problem is either the size of the barcode or the resolution of the printing. 

    When you are trying to scan a barcode, the scanner has to be able to determine the thickness of the black bars and the spaces. The width of the narrowest bar in the barcode is called the "barcode density". Although the standard density that a normal scanner can read is .007-.012, your scanner may have different specifications. First, try putting the scanner about an inch off the paper. Then pull the trigger and start increasing the distance of the scanner head to the paper. If the barcode has the proper density, it should beep and the scanning light should go off by the time you reach about 12" away from the paper.

    If changing the scanning distance didn't work, try increasing the size of the narrowest bar - in other words, increase the size of the barcode overall. Your word processing or spreadsheet program has a default Font Size set at 10 to 12 points. This font makes the narrow bar quite small, less than the .007" minimum that most scanners require. Highlight the text and select a larger Font Size. We start at 26 point then make adjustments from there.

    When we first came out with the barcode font, most people were using dot-matrix or ink jet printers. If you are using either, know that you may have to make the barcode very big in order for the scanner to read it. As the barcode gets bigger, the distance from the code to the scanner will increase as well. Laser printers are best, but you can still use a dot-matrix printer successfully. non-laser printer, sometimes upgrading the paper quality can help.

    		 
        
      *Make sure that the size of each character is the same font size. Mixed sizes will not work. 
        
     *

    Color. Color. Color. High contrast colors are essential. While red bars on a white page may look good on the page, it looks invisible to the scanner. The reader is red so it never sees the bars. Other colors may have a similar effect depending on the sensitivity of your barcode scanner.

    You can replace the white background with a red one to increase the visibility of the barcode to the user. Since the barcode reader will interpret the red background as white, the ability to scan will not be affected, but operator visibility certainly will.

    When experimenting with changing the color of the bars, remember that darker colors are better. Pastels are not so good. Red is a no-no.

    Barcode Font with Red Background

    My scanner reads the barcode but it is reading the wrong code. Why?
     *

    This problem is caused by using the Extended Code 39 Barcode font or the one of the Full-Ascii characters supported by the Standard Barcode Font.

    The Code 39 Standard supports only the capital letters A-Z and the numbers 0-9, along with a period, a dash and the "~" used to represent a space. All the other characters are actually a combination of a precedence character (%,/,$+) followed by a standard character.

    If the character you encoded looks like 2 characters instead (ie a "a" is a "/A"), then your scanner isn't programmed to read the Full-Ascii character set for Code 39. You must program your scanner to read the Full-Ascii character set. 

       
    Can I make it smaller/taller/wider/shorter?
     *

    Any adjustments will need to be made by changing the Font Size or Font Style.

    Setting the font to italic or bold italic will change the height of the barcode. 

    Stretching the font by hand won't work, as your must maintain the ratio of narrow bars to wide bars.  Making the characters taller or shorter has no effect on readability so this you can do as you see fit. If you want it shorter, did you try setting the font to italic or bold-italic?  This will shrink the bars to 1/2 height.

       
    Do you have a version without the character under the bars or with shorter bars?
     *Yes. It is all included with the same font. To get tall bars with no text, highlight the text and change the font to bold. To get short bars with no text, highlight the text and change the font to bold-italic. To get short bars with text, change the font to italic.

    You still haven't solved my problem. Now what?
      

    Send us an e-mail or fill out the form on our Contact Us page. Please include a contact phone number so we can call and walk you through the solution. Give us an much information about the problem as possible. The more infomation you give us, the easier it will be to solve your problem.

    Generally, you will have an answer within 2 hours if you contact us during business hours. The max wait time will be 24 hours.