How to Use Zoner Barcode Studio 2

After you start Zoner Barcode Studio 2, the main window of the program will look like the picture below:

The window is divided into two sections. The first, top section consists of an editing area on the left and a preview on the right. The bottom section contains a list of user-defined codes.

Editing Barcodes

Creating a new barcode is a very simple process.

Enter the name of the product for which you wish to create a barcode in the 'Name' box. Your chosen name will normally appear above the barcode, but you can change its look and position through the Barcode Settings. The product name is purely informative and serves for ease of orientation in a list containing a large number of codes.
Choose the type of barcode. If you plan to use barcodes only in the framework of your own company, you can basically use a random barcode, and you will be limited only by its possibilities. If you would like to distribute your products with a barcode, you will probably have to use the same type of code as is used by your competition, which in all likelihood will be code UPC A or EAN 13.
Enter a number in the Data editing field. The program will stop accepting digits once the required length is reached. You will notice how the preview is continually updated during data entry. But it contains one additional digit, the check character, which safeguards the code against possible incorrect decoding.

There are also two buttons located under the edit box Data (or Addon). These buttons enable a quick increase or decrease in the value in the Data box.

Barcode Settings

By clicking the Change button, you can open the dialog box for changing barcode settings. It contains two sections:

Code - In this tab, you can change the size of the code. The program does not enable the use of a height less than 20 %.

Text - Because the EAN demands a specific font size and style, the upper part of this tab is gray for EAN. Other codes do not dictate standards for the text portion, and thus you can choose a random font, its size, and also whether the code will even have a text portion. In the lower part of the dialog, you can change the settings for displaying the name of your product. This is not a standard part of barcodes and is basically an informational aid to keep you from getting lost in a large amount of codes.

How to Import from a Database

The Import from Database function can be reached using File | Import from Database... In the dialog this shows, choose the ODBC data source to use and the database and table to search. A dialog will appear in which you can assign columns of the chosen table to individual elements of the code, for example, its data and description. Further options in the dialog enable you to adjust the downloaded data so that it assumes the required form. At minimum, the Code data column must be assigned. Click Finish to confirm the options you selected.

How to Import from XML

XML is a universal format for transferring data. Zoner Barcode Studio 2 can read and record documents with a precisely defined XML structure, and a description of XML import/export can be found in the program's Help. Importing these documents is very easy. In the folder list, choose the folder for bringing in the data and start the import using the XML | Import XML menu item. Choose the input file in the dialog that this displays. A progress indicator will be shown for the duration of the import process, and it can also be used to cancel the import at any time.

Copy, Export and Print

The intuitive Copy to Clipboard command copies the barcode to the Clipboard. You can change the formats used when sending the barcode to the Clipboard: use the Program Preferences item in the Barcode menu. Once you exit the program, any code on the clipboard will be deleted. After you copy your barcode, open any application where you can paste pictures, then use the Paste command in the Edit menu. The barcode you created will be pasted into the document.

Export provides similar functionality as Copy to Clipboard. The only difference is that the barcode is saved to a file in a format of your choice. If you saved the image beforehand as a bitmap with a resolution of 300 DPI, you will see that the size of the barcode does not correspond to the code that you originally created. This is because programs cannot read the dimensions of an image from the BMP format. It is therefore better to use a vector format. Also, when pasting to another application, use the WMF format instead of EMF, because it is not handled properly by many applications.

The Print command prints out the currently-edited code in the middle of a sheet of paper.

How to Print Multiple Barcodes

All codes found in a selected (highlighted) folder and its subfolders can be printed at once using the Print... command in the Folder menu. This takes you to the Export Settings dialog, which is also used for setting up this kind of printing. The settings are divided among three tabs (sections). The first contains classical print settings, where you can select a printer, as well as the format of the paper to be used for the printing. In the second part, Code Settings, you can configure the page layout - that is, the sorting of the codes, the direction for placing them on the page, the number of rows and columns and several other parameters. The physical placement of the codes can be modified using the third and last section. Click OK, and the codes will be printed with the settings you used.

How to Export Multiple Barcodes

An alternative to printing from this program is to export to Zoner Draw 4's ZMF format. Use the Export to ZMF... command in the Folder menu for this; here, too, you will see the Export Settings dialog. You can later double-check or even print the resulting file using the ZMF viewer that comes with Zoner Barcode Studio 2. If you own Zoner Draw 4, you can modify such documents any way you wish and create, for example, labels containing extensive information, including pictures, from the generated barcodes.