Upc-a, upc-e

upc-a, upc-e

The Universal Product Code (UPC) is a barcode symbology, that is widely used in North America, and in countries including the UK, Australia, and New Zealand for tracking trade items in stores.*

Labeljoy requires you to enter 11 digits to generate the barcode.
Enter the 11 digits in the text box.
The 12th digit (or check digit) is automatically calculated.

UPC-A symbol

To allow the use of UPC barcodes on smaller packages where a full 12-digit barcode may not fit, a 'zero-compressed' version of UPC was developed called UPC-E.*

Activate the "Use UPC-E when possible" check box to instruct Labeljoy to try to apply the compressing algorithm.
The symbol will then be automatically converted to the smaller UPC-E version if the combination of digits allows it.

UPC-E symbol

Text concatenation:
When an UPC-A barcode element is generated by concatenating fields or counters, the following rules apply:
- For the main barcode, only the first 11 digits found will be considered.
- For the add on, a dash (-) separator is required followed by 2 or 5 digits.
When a value not complying with the above rules is found, the barcode is not displayed.

UPC-A symbols may need to display the human readable digits is specific grouping. Use the Text style combo box to specify alternative ways to display the text:

UPC-A with then 5-5-2 text style applied UPC-A with then 5-4-3 text style applied

UPC-A and UPC-E barcodes can also encode 2 or 5 additional digits. Enter the additional digits in the right text box:

UPC-A with a 2-digit add-on UPC-E with a 5-digit add-on

The human readable text can also be shown above the symbol or hidden according to the setting specified in the Text combo box:

UPC-A with text above the symbol UPC-A with hidden text

* From wikipedia.