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How To / Working with Fonts

EPSON BarCode Fonts

System requirements
Installing EPSON BarCode Fonts
Printing with EPSON BarCode Fonts
BarCode Font specifications

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.

System requirements

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.

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Installing EPSON BarCode Fonts

Follow these steps to install EPSON BarCode Fonts. The procedure described here is for installation in Windows 98; 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 CD-ROM that comes with your printer into your CD-ROM drive.

In the dialog box that appears, double-click Install Software.

Click Advanced.

Select EPSON BarCode Font, and click Install.

Follow the on-screen instructions.

When installation is complete, click OK.

EPSON BarCode Fonts are now installed on your computer.

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Printing with EPSON BarCode Fonts

Follow these steps 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, then set the font size and click OK.

Note:

In Windows XP, 2000, and NT 4.0, 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, then select your EPSON printer and click Properties. Make the following printer driver settings. EPL-N2500 is a monochrome printer. See the Monochrome Printer Driver section in the table below.

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.

Notes on inputting and formatting bar codes

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.

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BarCode Font specifications

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

EPSON EAN-8

• 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

EPSON EAN-8

EPSON EAN-13

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

• Because the check digit is added automatically, only 12 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

EPSON EAN-13

EPSON UPC-A

• 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

EPSON UPC-A

EPSON UPC-E

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

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

EPSON UPC-E

EPSON Code39

• 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.

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

• Left/Right quiet zone

• Check digit

• Start/Stop character

Print sample

EPSON Code39	EPSON Code39 CD
EPSON Code39 Num	EPSON Code39 CD Num

EPSON Code128

• 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

EPSON Code128

EPSON ITF

• 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

EPSON ITF	EPSON ITF CD
EPSON ITF Num	EPSON ITF CD Num

EPSON Codabar

• 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".

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

EPSON Codabar	EPSON Codabar CD
EPSON Codabar Num	EPSON Codabar CD Num

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