Your favorite sub-$100 barcode generating software
- This topic has 9 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 5 years, 11 months ago by Caspian Ievers.
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May 16, 2014 at 9:00 am #68484George KrompackyParticipant
I need to generate 5–7 Bookland EAN barcodes per year in .eps format to send to my book cover designers.
My predecessor here at our small research center used https://www.barcode-us.com and paid $10 for each barcode, which I have been doing as well. It never occurred to me that I could do it myself with a program or plug-in.
Looking through the forums I can see that there are at least a couple of InDesign plug-ins that can nicely do the job–but for my volume of books, I can’t really argue that we’ll save money by getting a $249 or even $100 plug-in instead of paying $10 a shot.
So are there any sub-$100 Mac-compatible barcode-generating applications out there that you use and like?
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June 4, 2014 at 8:52 am #68806Eugene TysonMember
There’s quite a few free online generators.
https://www.terryburton.co.uk/barcodewriter/generator/
Bit of trial and error but they work.
To be honest – I get my printers to generate the barcode and attach it onto the artwork, I supply the Indesign files. They insert the barcode.
They also do it for free, which is very cool.
Check with your print vendor. If you’re doing a lot of work with them they can be persuaded!
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August 5, 2014 at 4:29 am #69889Colin FlashmanParticipant
If you’re prepared to go just beyond $100, try https://www.easybarcodetech.com/ebc.html
To make barcodes without leaving InDesign, here are some solutions:
There is a free solution for code 39 barcodes: https://www.barcodesinc.com/free-barcode-font/
EAN 13; EAN 8 have a few free or paid solutions:
EAN Barcode Generator by Konstantin Smorodsky: https://creative.adobe.com/addons/products/899#.U-C20kgfY0E
Skilldrick’s ISBN barcode generator: https://github.com/skilldrick/id_barcode
Marc Autret’s Book Barcode: https://www.indiscripts.com/store/BKBC
So far as QR codes go, there are a ton of free code generators online, and since CC, InDesign has had the ability to generate them without plug-ins. Since CC 2014 it is also possible to create variable QR codes.
What I’ve found with some dedicated barcode creation software is that they can create one barcode at a time, but if I have to create hundreds – even thousands – of barcodes, then they are no good for that purpose. There are plug-ins that will generate various varieties of barcodes as part of a Data Merge (or apply the barcodes to a database in general) but there is only an ROI if this work is being done often.
Otherwise Eugene’s link is a good one, and there is always search results from looking up the following in your favourite search engine: “open source barcode creation software”. Also, if you are on the Mac OSX, do a search in the app store for “barcode” as there may be an affordable app worth downloading. Just remember – you get what you pay for!
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May 6, 2015 at 4:57 am #75196Ruben SolérParticipant
We’ve been using this free, online EAN-13 generator at my office. It exports to pdf, ai, eps, png and jpg:
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April 26, 2016 at 2:20 am #84290elisa huynhMember
you can find some solution barcode at
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April 26, 2016 at 8:59 am #84318George KrompackyParticipant
I guess there’s no way to mark posts as spam?
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April 26, 2016 at 9:06 am #84320David BlatnerKeymaster
Thanks, George.
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April 9, 2018 at 4:43 am #102974Anders ModenMember
I have been using this free online barcode generator for 100+ EAN-13 barcodes for more than two years. It generates eps, ai, png etc.
Works very well.
https://online-barcode-generator.net -
April 15, 2018 at 5:18 am #103088Colin FlashmanParticipant
Just an update on the suggestion of the Terry Burton suggestion mentioned earlier.
My work recently had a barcode knocked back by GS1 that was made using this website, was to do with the widths of the bars within the barcode.
Caveat Emptor.
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April 17, 2018 at 8:42 pm #103135Caspian IeversMember
There are a few on the Mac App Store for around $20. (assuming you are on a Mac)
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