Barcode Font For Excel

Do you ever visit a shopping mall and find the person at the billing counter entering the prices of the products you have purchased, manually?

All it takes is a beep sound from a machine, and the details of the product along with its price is uploaded on the computer screen. This cuts down the effort and saves a lot of time.

Despite being a small business owner, I wanted to incorporate the use of barcodes in my product packages to elevate the level of my packaging.

After a great deal of ransacking, I finally came across an easy way to generate these codes, i.e, through MS Excel! In this tutorial, I will share how we can create an Excel barcode font.

However, if you are an absolute beginner in Excel, you can first go through a beginner-friendly Excel tutorial for better context.

Barcode Generation in Excel

Although Excel is predominantly known and used for data analysis, there's a lot more to it. We can create barcode fonts in Excel.

It only takes a formula to represent your data in the form of a barcode in MS Excel.

However, the barcode font is not available in MS Excel by default. Let us first understand how to install the Excel barcode font.

Installing the Barcode Font for Excel

There are many paid and open-source software using which users can install the barcode font for Excel. In this section, we will be dealing with 3 of 9 Barcode True Type, which is a free and one of the most recommended software that is used to install the barcode font in MS Excel.

You will first have to download the 3 of 9 Barcode TrueType software. It will be downloaded as a zipped folder.

Unzip the package and run the file. This way, the barcode generator Excel font will be installed in your device.

Steps to Generate Barcode in Excel

Let’s see how to add a barcode add-in for Excel now. Here, I have outlined the ways to enter the data of your choice and convert it to barcode font:

• Step 1: To begin with, create an empty table on MS Excel. Set the data type to “General”.
• Step 2: Input the data that you wish to be converted. In this example, we have taken five products and their corresponding prices.

• Step 3: Next, you will have to enter the formula for generating the barcode. Select the cell where you want the result to appear (D4) in this case.

Next, you have to write the formula. You can choose either of the two formulae: ="("&A2&")" and ="*" &A2&"*".

• Step 4: Once you have written the formula, drag it down and apply the same to all the cells (till D8 in this case).

• Step 5: Next, select the resultant cells and go to the option from where you can choose fonts from the dropdown. Choose the Excel barcode font from there.

Your result will appear like this:

Generating Barcode Font with Random Numbers

Let us now see how to generate barcode in Excel using another example. In this example, I have illustrated how to generate a barcode for random numbers between 100 and 999.

• Step 1: First, you will have to generate a set of data containing random numbers between 100 and 999.

For this, use the function =RANDBETWEEN(100, 999).

• Step 2: To keep the values from changing, copy and paste them in another cell. Choose the “Paste Special” option and click on “Values”.

Meanwhile, the former set of values may have changed.

• Step 3: Let us now use the formula ="*" &C15&"*" to generate the barcode.

Drag down and apply the same to all the values.

• Step 4: Now, go to the fonts option and choose the barcode font. The result will appear on your screen.

Hope this gives you a complete idea how to generate barcode in Excel!

Understanding the Features of Code 39 Barcode Font in Excel

This is also popularly known as 3 of 9 Barcode, Barcode39, or Code 3 of 9. There are a number of factors that account for its popularity. I’ve highlighted some of the features of code 39 below:

• The formula has start and stop characters: As we have already seen, the code 39 barcode formula is encompassed within two asterisk marks.

This helps to mark the beginning or ending of the formula.

• It can denote a wide range of data characters: A wide range of data elements like letters, numbers, and special characters can be converted to code 39 barcode. They can encode a total of 43 characters that contain 26 alphabets (upper case), 10 digits, and 7 special characters viz -, ., $, /, +, %, and space.
• The significance of bars and spaces: The name of barcode 39 itself speaks a lot about its nature. There are 9 elements in code 39- 5 bars and 4 spaces. Out of these 9 elements, 4 are narrow and 5 are wide.
• Quiet zone on either side: Either side of the barcode has a blank margin. This ensures that the code can be read easily on the machine without any outside noise disturbing the image.

Here’s a pro tip. Keep the width of the quiet zone either 0.25 inches, or 10 times the narrowest space/bar’s width, whichever of the two is greater.

Other Types of Barcodes and Barcode Fonts

Alongside Code 39, there are some other barcodes available. They are discussed below:

• UPC/EAN: People are more familiar with this kind of barcode because it is commonly used in products. It can encode 12 characters.
• Code 128: This barcode font can encode the same data characters as Code 39. This is mainly used for supply chain labels and shipping.
• Interleaved 2 of 5 barcodes: You will find this kind of barcode mostly in carton labels. This is a 2-row barcode that can encode numeric characters.
• QR: QR stands for “Quick Response”. All of us see this code every time we pull out our mobile phones to make an online payment. They are also used on tickets, discount coupons, or feedback forms.
  

Wrapping Up

See? Generating barcodes is this easy. With all this info to guide you, I’m sure you can generate, deploy and use a barcode in any way you want.

Although my idea of using these barcodes for my business packaging was to add some innovation to my packaging, bigger businesses use these barcodes for inventory management, product tracking, and other crucial tasks.

Looking forward to learning more about fonts and functions in MS Excel? Sign in to upGrad’s Excel certification course that will help you hone your skills!

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I get a barcode font in Excel?

There are a number of paid and open-source software using which you can add the Excel barcode font. Install the package and install it on your device to add the barcode font to your Excel. You can now use the font to create barcode in Excel.

2. What is the 39 barcode font in Excel?

The 39 barcode font in Excel is one that can encode a total of 43 data characters, including upper case alphabets, numbers, and some special characters. This Excel barcode font has 9 elements, out of which 5 are bars, and 4 are spaces.

3. What is the 3 of 9 barcode font in Excel?

As discussed before, Code 39, also known as the 3 of 9 barcode font, is frequently used to encode alphanumeric characters. Just download and install the font, type your data, and change the font to Code 39 to see the barcode.

4. What font is on barcodes?

Barcode font is specifically designed to encode data in a format that machines can read. The traditional font type of barcodes is ‘Code 39 Font TrueType (ttf)’.

5. How to add fonts in Excel?

To add fonts in Excel, download any open-source package and install it on your device. Now, if you check the fonts section in Excel, you will see that your desired font is ready to use!

6. How do I install barcode font?

The way to install barcode font has been explained in a step-by-step process in the previous sections of this tutorial.