Barcodes

Every barcode points at one item in your inventory, but each item can carry several barcodes, useful when one piece ships with the manufacturer's tag and you also want a fresh sticker for the warehouse. Codes that aren't yet assigned still work; scanning one prompts you to link it to an existing item or create a new one on the spot.

QR Code is a 2D square that any phone camera can read, including the system camera app. Pick this if your team scans with phones, as most setups should. A printed QR label encodes a full URL, so a quick snap from the iOS or Android camera app jumps straight into Staging Assistant without first opening the app.

Standard Barcode is the traditional one-dimensional stripe pattern (Code 128). Pick this when you have an existing warehouse scanner gun or want compatibility with another system that already prints linear codes. Standard barcodes accept printable ASCII characters and need at least four characters per code.

New codes are generated in your company's label style, QR or standard barcode. Admins choose the style; existing barcodes keep theirs.

Click an item's barcode area to open the barcode editor. Generate creates a fresh code in your company's label style, Enter code takes a typed or pasted code, and Scan reads a printed label with the camera, on phones, iPads, or a desktop webcam. Duplicate codes are refused so two items can't share a label.

Each code's menu can flip it between QR and standard barcode, add a label, copy it, or remove it. On an item's page every change saves immediately (removing offers an Undo); in a create or edit form, changes save with the form. The new-item form also has a barcode button next to the price fields that opens the same editor.

Assigning codes by hand doesn't require any special permission. Linking a scanned-but-unknown code to an existing item is a Mover-safe action (see team).

On the inventory page, focus the search box and scan. The matching item filters in. Inside the barcode editor, scan into Enter code; there's no separate scan mode for a scanner gun. No gun? The editor's Scan action reads labels with your computer or iPad camera. When scanning by camera, hold steady on a standard barcode: it scans once the camera reads it twice within a second, while a QR code scans on the first read.

On mobile, you can scan a code to look up an item, add it to a house, or check it out. See the mobile guide for details.

Scan an unknown code with the in-app scanner and an item search opens under the line No item has this code, without leaving the camera. Pick an item and confirm to attach the code, and you can scan the next label. Create new item replaces the search with the new-item form, the code already attached, so unlabelled stock can be scanned straight into inventory. The scanner remembers which of the two you used and opens the next unknown code the same way. Anyone with edit permission sees both options; movers get the item search only (more in the team guide). The mobile guide covers the scanner in detail.

A scannable QR label resolves to a short URL, so snapping it with the phone's camera app works too. A linked code jumps straight to its item's detail page; an unlinked one opens a web page with the same item search the scanner shows for an unknown code, plus Create New Item.

That page also works without a camera. Type a code into the URL bar and the same page opens, handy when a label is too damaged to scan and you want to look it up by hand.

Both live at the top of the barcode editor. Show on item page picks a Compact or Prominent barcode display, and Auto-generate for new items gives every new item a fresh code in your company's label style.

• Browse the inventory page to select which items need labels, then print them from the list's Print Barcodes action with the selection carried over.
• Use holds and checkouts on mobile so movers can scan items in and out as the truck loads.
• Invite movers to your team with the Mover role, which can scan and assign codes without seeing financial fields or creating new items.