Barcodes in Adobe InDesign
R. wrote in recently asking how to make barcodes in InDesign. There are actually a number of third-party solutions for barcodes these days, but the only one that I have personal experience with is Barcode Maker from Teacup Software. It’s easy to use (it’s based on the same underlying plug-in as the free PatternMaker plug-in, I supposed because barcodes are a kind of pattern), and it handles a wide range of barcodes — including EAN, PostNet, UPC-A, UPC-E, KIX, ISBN, ISSN, and more. It’s also scriptable, so it’s good for an automated workflow where you need to build these quickly.
One of the other things that’s kind of cool about Barcode Maker is that the results (the barcodes) are actually EPS files that get embedded in the document. That means you don’t have to keep track of external graphics files. However, you can unembed the barcodes if you want (select Unembed from the Links panel menu) and then place them in any other program that can read EPS (Illustrator, Photoshop, or whatever). On the other hand, the EPS file has no preview (InDesign doesn’t require it), so if you import it into QuarkXPress or Word or something, you can’t see it on screen (though it’ll still print fine).
As I said, there are also a number of other barcode making tools on the market. For example:
- Blitz Barcode maker (currently only for CS3, I believe)
- Cacidi Barcodes (currently about 2x the price of teacup’s product; not sure why)
- And, of course, no discussion of barcodes would be complete without a mention of Azalea’s Barcode Software and Fonts, which works in many different programs. These are based on fonts that look like barcode lines.
I have also seen several free barcode fonts on the Web, and other shareware-type tools. However, as Jerry Whiting (king of barcodes and owner of Azalea) has said repeatedly, barcodes are tricky little things. If you want to be sure you’re getting a good quality printable barcode, it may be better to stick with a commercially-tested product.
If you need a solution for postal barcodes, savepostage.com is a great and cost effective solution. It allows you to sort according to the USPS Standard mail sorts and includes a barcode font that can be utilized with Indesigns merge features. (this software does not include the CASS certification capabilities)
A barcode “font” sounds like a very bad idea, because the bars do not correspond in a direct way to the numbers. In the most common types of barcodes, the last lot of digits are straightforward enough (graphically speaking), but the digits preceding them can be mirror-imaged, black-white inversed, or both, or neither, and which does which is determined by the first digit!
A couple of years ago I wrote a script for drawing ISBN barcodes wholly within InDesign. So far, I’ve had 100% success, and it has saved me money, but I’d never give (or sell) the script to anyone else because it’s just too risky. My colleague and I always do a test scan before sending anything anywhere important (such as a printer).
Hehehe… cool answer David. I was gravitating towards Teacup’s software after some google-ing during lunch but wasn’t sure if its pricing is good or not.
FYI: there’s a cheaper than cheap (a.k.a. free) way to make barcodes using the Creative Suite if you’re using Windows: Adobe LiveCycle Designer.
In there, you can create a new form, include the barcode you want (lots of choices), then save as a PDF and extract the barcode using Acrobat Pro. Full step-by-step here: http://blog.rakkoon.com/?p=285
It’s a fine method for a single or very small amounts of barcodes, but I’m looking at a dozen barcodes in the next week and at least 30 more in the coming months, and then this is too time-consuming.
For simple EAN13/ISBN13 barcodes, don’t forget to check out the free script “EANDesign”:
http://marcautret.free.fr/geek/indd/eandesign/
(100% free, 100% portable: no font required)
I’m using the standalone Barcode Producer. Expensive as all get-out, but it has the flexibility I need.
I had used Barcode Maker and liked it, but I wanted something I could use outside a program like InDesign.
For Windows users who have CorelDraw, that package at least used to include a barcode-making tool, which I used on some book projects — it output EPS (gasp!) files. But I don’t know if it’s still in the current version, as it’s been years since I was an avid CorelDraw user.
I use Teacup’s Barcode Maker and it’s worked very well for me. I looked at a number of commercial products and found this to be the least expensive, yet it does everything I need it to do.
Agami Barcoda is my favourite, http://www.agamik.co.uk/ helpful guys there too. Simple to use, lots of options and even kit prices so you only buy the bits you need, ideal for publishers.
I’ve just tested the CorelDRAW to Illustrator to InDesign path. It works, if a little cumbersome. I think if I had lots of barcodes to do this way, I would create and name the barcodes by product in CorelDRAW first, then import them into Illustrator, and from there just paste the items into InDeisgn. I didn’t take the time to export them as EPS files from CorelDRAW, but that’s almost certainly less clunky than the method I tried first.
On a slightly different note, if you need a fake barcode, just to make a product look complete — here are some free fake vector barcodes I found:
http://www.deadwingsdesigns.com/freebies-barcodes-vector-pack
I used one recently on a project for a design class to make it look more realistic. Just don’t get confused about whether they’re real or not!
Thanks, Phyllis
I use the free program BarcodeImage: http://www.levsys.co.uk/products/barcodeimage/
I find I have to tweak the numbers below the barcode to get the spacing/placement right on the EAN-13 codes I use, but it’s easy to do. The program saves as EPS.
I’ve tested the barcodes repeatedly, and found that our scanners read them perfectly.
I am using Marc Autret’ version (because it’s free, and it’s good). It actually makes ID shapes – no other object or link… It reads the dimensions of what you have selected (assumes you want to replace the white rectangle you first created to hold the place for the barcode…), you can chage the colour if you want…
Best solution – I can’t think of any flaw. Did I mention that it’s free?
If you use Barcode Maker and want to see it in Quark when you unembed it, can’t you just take it into Illustrator and resave it to give you a preview?
I’ve had to create a lot of barcodes in my hey day, but I’ve always used free online generators to do them such as this and this. Ouput as an eps or vectored pdf file and do a little preparation and bingo. Ready to be placed in Indesign. I gotta admit that Teacup’s and others’ software is much more convenient, but when you’re in a jam with no access to a plug-in, those sites work great.
I think I’ll give Marc’s script a go first, but when push comes to shove, I’ll probably invest in Teacup’s plugin. Then again, I might abandon the “barcodes in InDesign” route and look for an Illustrator-based barcode generator instead, as that’s where I’ll need to use most of them.
Just saw Pariah’s tweet pointing to this wonderful page with cool barcodes on it. Why not make a really cool (but still functional) barcode?
We did hundreds of bookcovers with hundreds of ISBNs, all with Marc’s free script, all without a flaw.
Marc’s script seems to work great indeed, and copying to Illustrator from InDesign is easy enough. Since I (currently?) only need EAN13 codes I’ll hold off spending money until I need to make barcodes that Marc’s script can’t do.
David, that is such a cool idea! If the design permits it, that’s one of the things I’ll definitely be doing with a barcode in the future.
You can just copy paste from Corel to InDesign.
It works great.