Barcodes in 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 over 50 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 (by selecting Unembed from the Links 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:
- 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.
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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: https://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”:
https://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, https://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:
https://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: https://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? :D
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.
This may be a bit late to post, but IDAutomation barcode fonts package are compatible with InDesign but the data should first be encoded in a program like Microsoft Excel. For more information about this process and the video tutorial, visit https://idautomation.blogspot.com/2010/11/how-to-create-barcodes-in-adobe.html
Seems Marc’s script isn’t free anymore, gonna try it out anyway, thx. :)
I am using DataMerge in InDesign and I was hoping that I could get the same barcode as Acrobat creates (reflecting the content not a serial number)
Any suggestions?
EanDesign.jsx for InDesign to make barcodes https://t.co/ha6gdmV
I’ve used the ISBN barcode generator
Hi there, i am a good writing blogger and this moment i write my second textbook. Today, i am finished the last site. :) And i am searching for a private isbn number for my book, so i have to have a simplified generator for the number.
This is really great and will have a try. Does the EAN bar codes also support supplementary bar codes to encode detail information?
Meadows Publishing Solutions has released an updated version of their 2D Bar Code Module for Adobe InDesign, with a free license option for producing QR Codes. This new software module is designed to generate QR Code, Data Matrix, and PDF417 two-dimensional bar codes directly in any Adobe InDesign document.
To help introduce the product, Meadows is currently offering a FREE license of the new module, which is limited to the production of QR Codes. The free license can be obtained by visiting http://www.meadowsps.com/free2d
This is really great, I used to convert barcode images on reports to pdf and caused some problem. And now it is easy.
I work for Meadows Publishing Solutions and we have released an updated version of our 2D Bar Code Module for Adobe InDesign with a FREE license option for producing QR codes. This new software module is designed to generate QR Code, Data Matrix, and PDF417 two-dimensional bar codes directly in any Adobe InDesign document.
To help introduce the product, we are currently offering a FREE license of the module which is limited to the production of QR codes. The free license can be obtained by visiting https://www.meadowsps.com/2Dforfree
But doesn’t InDesign create QR codes within their own program for free? What is the good of a free license for a product that can only do what your program already does?
Here is a excellent barcode maker I used before:https://www.onbarcode.com/products/net_barcode/barcodes/qrcode.html
Hi there..i need some advised.
actually, i am doing a project using illustrator,i just create a bar code (using Barcode Font), but that barcore cant read.I dont want the barcode in jpeg or picture.Anybody advised me..Thank you.
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Is there a way I can “Data Merge” my sequential upc graphics into CS6 Indesign? I have over 100 codes to layout to create “cards” 3″x2″. Cards are 8 up on an 8.5×11 sheet.
Nevermind, I figured it all out!
can you share with me what you did? i need to datamerge upc artwork to publish a wholesale catalog. is there a way to have an excel file containing product images, upc images and descriptions etc in either Photoshop or InDesign?
My guess is that Brenda already had the UPC graphics made. In that case, you can treat them just like graphics and import them into graphic frames. But if you don’t have the barcodes made, you may need to use something like Barcode Maker to create them (https://www.teacupsoftware.com/products/barcodemaker1_0.html) That can be scripted, though I don’t think it ties in with data merge.
i already have the barcodes in an excel file and the artwork. i need to merge them and then place them in my catalog in InDesign.
Pam: InDesign (and Data Merge) cannot import images that are inside Excel. Data Merge would require the file paths to the images on disk. I discuss this in my title on Data Merge at lynda.com.
pam: you can still generate all barcodes with app such as transbar,(transbar generates entire column in seconds) then you paste them back in your excel before merging them with Data merge. The generated codebar must be in an ean font.
Hi,
When creating a job in InDesign with barcodes ,serial numbering from data file underneath and base artwork and saving it as JLYT – fast template file where the base, barcodes and data file are separate pieces and you link them together on the printer-press… is there any option to create the print ready file (JLYT) with the barcodes on that file and only import the data file to save the time for creating the file ? Please help. At the moment I need to create PDF’s for 10k wrisband order because we got some problems with the JLYT file and to create PFD for the qty of 10k takes nearly 8h…. but this is only option for now …
Thanks,
Anna
Anna, I replied to you here: https://forums.adobe.com/thread/1986212
Basically, I think you’ll need to contact HP or a company such as XMPie.com