Bar Codes in Office

[Rich Becker]

Is there any version of Office (including 2007) that will produce bar codes?
This is really the question I'm trying to get answered. I find conflicting
reports...

FYI...I've been asked to look into the possibility of encoding up to 1,000
alpha-numeric characters in a bar code. Not sure there are even 2D bar code
(pdf417?) algorithms that can do this and not fill an entire page? I wonder
how small this could be and still be reliably read?

Response from Jay Freedman
-----------------------------------
The only kind of bar code that any version of Word can produce on its own is
the US Postal Service’s POSTNET code, produced by the Barcode field. This
field is capable of encoding only 5-digit ZIP codes and 9-digit ZIP+4 codes;
any other number of digits will cause the field to display an error message.
As a bit of trivia, the Postal Service doesn’t accept this code for bulk mail
discounts anymore (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/897290), so Word 2007
dropped the bar code option from the Envelopes dialog, although the Barcode
field can still be created through the Fields dialog.

There are ways to generate other kinds of bar codes that can be inserted
into a Word (or other) document. There are fonts that display bars of various
kinds when you type numbers, and there are stand-alone programs that generate
bar codes as graphics files. The best starting point I know for research into
these options is the BarCode1 site at http://www.adams1.com/index.html.

Considering that a page of single-spaced 12-point text is roughly 2000
characters, I think you should be able to code 1000 digits in about half a
page of linear bar code. Two-dimensional bar codes are much more compact,
although they’re more demanding of high-resolution printing without stray
spots and smudges. BarCode1 has a page devoted specifically to 2D codes
(http://www.adams1.com/stack.html).

Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP

 

[Rich Becker]

Does this mean you may insert a bar code into a document created with the
mentioned versions but none of Office 2007 will actually generate a bar code?

"The ability to insert a barcode is available only in Microsoft Office
Professional Plus 2007, Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007, Microsoft Office
Ultimate 2007, and in the stand-alone versions of Office Word 2007, Office
Excel 2007, and Office PowerPoint 2007." ===>
http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/word/HA102103291033.aspx

 

[Gordon]

Is there any version of Office (including 2007) that will produce bar codes?
This is really the question I'm trying to get answered. I find conflicting
reports...

Any version of Excel will produce Barcodes - it's not the Office module,
it's whether you have the special Barcode fonts. Some can be got for
nothing, most you have to pay for. Google for them.