EPSON BarCode Fonts (Windows Only)

EPSON BarCode Fonts let you easily create and print many types of bar codes.

Normally, bar code creation is a laborious process requiring you to specify various command codes, such as Start bar, Stop bar and OCR-B, in addition to the bar code characters themselves. However, EPSON BarCode Fonts are designed to add such codes automatically, allowing you to easily print bar codes that conform to a variety of bar code standards.

EPSON BarCode Fonts support the following types of bar codes.

To use EPSON BarCode Fonts, your computer system should meet the following requirements:

Note:

EPSON BarCode Fonts can only be used with Epson printer drivers.

Follow the steps below to install EPSON BarCode Fonts. The procedure described here is for installation in Windows XP; the procedure for other Windows operating systems is nearly the same.

Make sure that the printer is off and that Windows is running on your computer.

Insert the printer software CD-ROM in the CD-ROM drive.

Note:

If the language section window appears, select your country. If the EPSON Installation Program screen does not appear automatically, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click the CD-ROM icon, and click OPEN in the menu that appears. Then double-click Epsetup.exe.

Click Continue. When the software license agreement screen appears, read the statement and then click Agree.

In the dialog box that appears, click Custom.

Select the EPSON BarCode Font check box and then click Install. Then follow the on-screen instructions.

When installation is complete, click OK.

EPSON BarCode Fonts are now installed on your computer.

Follow the steps below to create and print bar codes using EPSON BarCode Fonts. The application featured in these instructions is Microsoft WordPad. The actual procedure may differ slightly when printing from other applications.

Open a document in your application and enter the characters you want to convert into a bar code.

Select the characters, then select Font from the Format menu.

Select the EPSON BarCode Font you want to use, set the font size, then click OK.

Note:

In Windows XP, 2000, or Server 2003, you cannot use font sizes larger than 96 points when printing bar codes.

The characters you selected appear as bar code characters similar to those shown below.

Select Print from the File menu, select your EPSON printer, then click Properties. Make the following printer driver settings. Your printer is a host based black and white printer. See the Host Based Black and White Printer Driver section in the table below.

	Black and White Printer Driver	Color Printer Driver	Host Based Black and White Printer Driver	Host Based Color Printer Driver
Color	(not available)	Black	(not available)	Black
Print Quality	Text & Image*	Text & Image*	Text & Image*	Text & Image*
Toner Save	Not selected	Not selected	Not selected	Not selected
Zoom Options	Not selected	Not selected	Not selected	Not selected
Graphic mode (in the Extended Settings dialog box accessed through the Optional Settings tab)	High Quality (Printer)	(not available)	(not available)	(not available)
Printing Mode (in the Extended Settings dialog box accessed through the Optional Settings tab)	(not available)	High Quality (Printer)	(not available)	(not available)

* These settings are available when the Automatic check box is selected on the Basic Settings menu. When the Advanced check box is selected, click the More Settings button and set the Print Quality to 600dpi.

Click OK to print the bar code.

Note:

If there is an error in the bar code character string, such as inappropriate data, the bar code will be printed as it appears on the screen, but it cannot be read by a bar code reader.

Please note the following when inputting and formatting bar code characters:

• Do not apply shading or special character formatting, such as bold, italic, or underline.

• Print bar codes in black and white only.

• When rotating characters, only specify rotation angles of 90˚, 180˚, and 270˚.

• Turn off all automatic character and word spacing settings in your application.

• Do not use features in your application that enlarge or reduce the size of characters in only the vertical or horizontal direction.

• Turn off your application’s auto-correct features for spelling, grammar, spacing, etc.

• To more easily distinguish bar codes from other text in your document, set your application to show text symbols, such as paragraph marks, tabs, etc.

• Because special characters such as Start bar and Stop bar are added when an EPSON BarCode Font is selected, the resulting bar code may have more characters than were originally input.

• For best results, use only the font sizes recommended in BarCode Font specifications for the EPSON BarCode Font you are using. Bar codes in other sizes may not be readable with all bar code readers.

Note:

Depending on the print density, or on the quality or color of the paper, bar codes may not be readable with all bar code readers. Print a sample and make sure the bar code can be read before printing large quantities.

This section contains details on the character input specifications for each EPSON BarCode Font.

• EAN-8 is an eight-digit abbreviated version of the EAN bar code standard.

• Because the check digit is added automatically, only 7 characters can be input.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right margin

• Left/Right guard bar

• Center bar

• Check digit

• OCR-B

Print sample

• EAN-13 is the standard 13-digit EAN bar code.

• Because the check digit is added automatically, only 12 characters can be input.

Character type	Numbers (0 to 9)
Number of characters	12 characters
Font size	60 pt to 150 pt (up to 96 pt in Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0/Server 2003). Recommended sizes are 60 pt, 75 pt (standard), 112.5 pt, and 150 pt.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right margin

• Left/Right guard bar

• Center bar

• Check digit

• OCR-B

Print sample

• UPC-A is the standard bar code specified by the American Universal Product Code (UPC Symbol Specification Manual).

• Only regular UPC codes are supported. Supplementary codes are not supported.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right margin

• Left/Right guard bar

• Center bar

• Check digit

• OCR-B

Print sample

• UPC-E is the UPC-A zero-suppression (deletes extra zeros) bar code specified by the American Universal Product Code (UPC Symbol Specification Manual).

Character type	Numbers (0 to 9)
Number of characters	6 characters
Font size	60 pt to 150 pt (up to 96 pt in Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0/Server 2003). Recommended sizes are 60 pt, 75 pt (standard), 112.5 pt, and 150 pt.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right margin

• Left/Right guard bar

• Check digit

• OCR-B

• The numeral “0”

Print sample

• Four Code39 fonts are available, allowing you to enable and disable the automatic insertion of check digits and OCR-B.

• The height of the bar code is automatically adjusted to 15% or more of its total length, in conformance to the Code39 standard. For this reason, it is important to keep at least one space between the bar code and the surrounding text to prevent overlapping.

• Spaces in Code39 bar codes should be input as “_” underbars.

• When printing two or more bar codes on one line, separate the bar codes with a tab, or select a font other than a BarCode Font and input the space. If a space is input while a Code39 font is selected, the bar code will not be correct.

Character type	Alphanumeric characters (A to Z, 0 to 9) Symbols (- . space $ / + %)
Number of characters	No limit
Font size	When OCR-B is not used: 26 pt or more (up to 96 pt in Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0/Server 2003). Recommended sizes are 26 pt, 52 pt, 78 pt, and 104 pt. When OCR-B is used: 36 pt or more (up to 96 pt in Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0/Server 2003). Recommended sizes are 36 pt, 72 pt, 108 pt, and 144 pt.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right quiet zone

• Check digit

• Start/Stop character

Print sample

• Code128 fonts support code sets A, B, and C. When the code set of a line of characters is changed in the middle of the line, a conversion code is automatically inserted.

• The height of the bar code is automatically adjusted to 15% or more of its total length, in conformance to the Code128 standard. For this reason, it is important to keep at least one space between the bar code and the surrounding text to prevent overlapping.

• Some applications automatically delete the spaces at the end of lines or change multiple spaces into tabs. Bar codes containing spaces may not be correctly printed from applications that automatically delete spaces from the ends of lines or change multiple spaces into tabs.

• When printing two or more bar codes on one line, separate the bar codes with a tab, or select a font other than a BarCode Font and input the space. If a space is input while Code128 is selected, the bar code will not be correct.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right quiet zone

• Start/Stop character

• Check digit

• Change code set character

Print sample

• The EPSON ITF fonts conform to the USS Interleaved 2-of-5 standard (American).

• Four EPSON ITF fonts are available, allowing you to enable and disable the automatic insertion of check digits and OCR-B.

• The height of the bar code is automatically adjusted to 15% or more of its total length, in conformance to the Interleaved 2-of-5 standard. For this reason, it is important to keep at least one space between the bar code and the surrounding text to prevent overlapping.

• Interleaved 2 of 5 treats every two characters as one set. When there are an odd number of characters, EPSON ITF fonts automatically add a zero to the beginning of the character string.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

• Left/Right quiet zone

• Start/Stop character

• Check digit

• The numeral “0” (added to the beginning of character strings as needed)

Print sample

• Four Codabar fonts are available, allowing you to enable and disable the automatic insertion of check digits and OCR-B.

• The height of the bar code is automatically adjusted to 15% or more of its total length, in conformance to the Codabar standard. For this reason, it is important to keep at least one space between the bar code and the surrounding text to prevent overlapping.

• When either a Start or a Stop character is input, Codabar fonts automatically insert the complementary character.

• If neither a Start nor a Stop character is input, these characters are automatically input as the letter “A.”

Character type	Numbers (0 to 9) Symbols (- $ : / . +)
Number of characters	No limit
Font size	When OCR-B is not used: 26 pt or more (up to 96 pt in Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0/Server 2003). Recommended sizes are 26 pt, 52 pt, 78 pt, and 104 pt. When OCR-B is used: 36 pt or more (up to 96 pt in Windows XP/2000/NT 4.0/Server 2003). Recommended sizes are 36 pt, 72 pt, 108 pt, and 144 pt.

The following codes are inserted automatically and need not be input by hand:

Left/Right quiet zone Start/Stop character (when not input) Check digit

Print sample

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