UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package DEMO
[NOTE: This package may only be used according to the License Agreement]

Our UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package enables you to print UPC, EAN, JAN, ISBN and Bookland bar codes from systems supporting TrueType, PostScript, PCL, BDF and FON fonts such as Windows, Macintosh and UNIX. Our UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package much more than just a few fonts! With this package you get 4 different font versions in 6 different font formats. You also get font tools, macros and source code to help you integrate the fonts into your application. Implementing solutions with our fonts provides a high level of scalability with operating system, application and printer independence. Learn more about the quality of our fonts. 

This demo of the UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package is provided for evaluation purposes only because it does not contain any symbols representing the numbers 1, 5 and 7.  If you want to test printing and scanning ability before you order, you will need to think of numbers that do not include 1, 5 or 7 in the symbol or in the check digit. After you order the UPC/EAN Font Advantage Package you will receive the fully functional font set with rights to use the font tools, macros and source code in your application. Below are two examples you may use to test the functionality of our font:

Please print out and review the UPC/EAN Data Sheet before you attempt to print out barcodes from this package unless you are using the font tools, macros or source code to automatically format the font. 

UPC / EAN Barcode Font Size

The UPC / EAN font characters are all represented in a single font named UPCEAN. UCC standards specify that the UPC / EAN barcode font should be printed at 20 points.  However, they allow a magnification factor of .8 to 2.0 which allows printing at 18 to 36 points.  For best results, print the UPC / EAN barcode font at the largest point size and height possible.  

UPC / EAN Barcode Font Height

Fonts with "s" in the name are "shortened height" fonts that are below what the UCC recommends but we have seen these heights in use with UPC-A and UPC-E barcodes and they do scan properly.  Fonts with "m" in the name are medium height fonts and are recommended for printing EAN-8 barcodes. Fonts with "t" in the name are the tallest with a height of approximately 22mm when printed at 20 points. This height is recommended for printing UPC-A, UPC-E and EAN-13 barcodes. Other various font heights are marked with a number that represents the height in MM of the barcode (minus the human-readable number) printed at 20 points.

About Print Quality

When printing the UPC / EAN barcode font at 18 or 20 points, a high quality laser printer with a 600 DPI or greater should be used; it may also be necessary to reduce the print intensity if you have increased this in the past to a value greater than normal. The proper output can be determined by examining the "normal guard pattern". The space between the two bars of the "normal guard pattern" should be approximately the same as the bar to the left or right of the space.

About Check Digits and Character Sets

To help users integrate barcodes into their applications, we provide font automation tools such as MS Office Macros for Word, Excel and Access, Visual Basic, ANSI C and JAVA Source Code, ActiveX DLLs for development platforms that support Microsoft's ActiveX / COM technology, Crystal Reports User Function Libraries (UFLs) and a check digit calculation application with Visual Basic source code as a free download for programmers and technical users. The DLLs, macros, UFLs and code provided automatically format the start, stop and check characters to the barcode font.

Barcode Plug-in Also Available - if your application is Microsoft Access, Excel, Word, Visual Basic, C++ or an application that supports ActiveX in Windows, we also sell an easy to use barcode plug-in called the Linear ActiveX Control that supports UPC and EAN as well as other barcode types and they automatically calculate everything so you don't have to be concerned with macros and source code.

Need a Scanner? - it is important to have the ability to test the barcodes you print with a barcode scanner. If you do not already have a barcode scanner, we also sell high quality complete barcode scanner kits at our IDAutomation.com site.

In order to represent all symbols of the UPC and EAN barcodes, we have mapped these to the standard PC keyboard. The layout for all symbols of the UPC and EAN barcodes is presented in figures 1-1 through 1-5. The following barcodes should be made up as follows, reading from left to right:

UPC-A:

1. The number representing the first digit from figure 1-3.
2. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
3. The number representing the first digit from figure 1-2.
4. 5 digits from character set A of figure 1-1.
5. A center pattern.
6. 5 symbols from character set C of figure 1-1.
7. The last (or 12th) digit from figure 1-2.
8. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
9. The last (or 12th) digit from figure 1-3.

Below is a sample of the UPC-A barcode encoding the number 20348934382 with a check digit of 2.  The check digit and characters were calculated using our Bar Code Check Digit Calculator & Printing Application. To print out this barcode, we chose the UPCEANs font and typed W(c03489*NONSMm(W to get the proper output. 

UPC-E: (also called the zero-suppression barcode)

1. The number representing the prefix digit from figure 1-3.
2. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
3. 6 symbols from character sets A or B.
4. Special guard pattern from figure 1-4.
5. The number representing the check character from figure 1-3.

EAN-13, ISBN, Bookland, ISSN & JAN:

• The EAN-13 barcode for a book is generated from the ISBN number assigned to it. When encoding ISBN in an EAN-13 barcode, the ISBN number is preceded by the number 978 and the ISBN check digit is not used. When the ISBN number is encoded in the EAN-13 barcode in this way it is often called Bookland. A 5 digit add-on barcode is optional and can contain the price of the book.
• When encoding ISSN in an EAN-13 barcode, the ISSN is preceded by the number 977 and the ISSN check digit (the last of the 8 digits) is not used. A two digit number, usually the number "00" (a 2 digit price code) is added to the end, and then the normal EAN check digit is added. Periodicals may have a two digit add on representing the issue number.
• The JAN codes are the same as the EAN codes, except the first two characters are set to "49". 

1. The number representing the 1st digit encoded by variable parity, from figure 1-3.
2. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
3. 6 symbols from character sets A and B of figure 1-1. The difference between character sets A and B (called variable parity) is how the check digit is encoded. This can be automatically calculated with our font automation tools, or can be calculated manually by reviewing the variable parity section below.
4. A center pattern.
5. 6 symbols from character set C of figure 1-1.
6. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.

Variable Parity in EAN13:

In EAN-13, the leading digit is encoded into the left half of the EAN-13 symbol by using variable parity between character sets A and B according to the following VB source code:

Select Case LeadingDigit
 Case 0 Encoding = "AAAAAACCCCCC"
 Case 1 Encoding = "AABABBCCCCCC"
 Case 2 Encoding = "AABBABCCCCCC"
 Case 3 Encoding = "AABBBACCCCCC"
 Case 4 Encoding = "ABAABBCCCCCC"
 Case 5 Encoding = "ABBAABCCCCCC"
 Case 6 Encoding = "ABBBAACCCCCC"
 Case 7 Encoding = "ABABABCCCCCC"
 Case 8 Encoding = "ABABBACCCCCC"
 Case 9 Encoding = "ABBABACCCCCC"
End Select

EAN-8:

1. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.
2. 4 symbols from character set A of figure 1-1.
3. A center pattern.
4. 4 symbols from character set C of figure 1-1.
5. Normal guard pattern from figure 1-4.

Figure 1-1: UPC / EAN barcodes with human readable characters. These are the primary barcodes with the number representing the symbol printed at the bottom.

Figure 1-2: UPC / EAN barcodes without human readable characters below. Used for far left and far right digits of UPC-A symbols and other barcodes as required.

Figure 1-3: UPC / EAN numbers and characters without barcodes. These are used as required for human interpretation but are not printed as a barcode.

Figure 1-4: UPC / EAN guard patterns and special functions. 

Figure 1-5: Add-on UPC / EAN barcodes with human readable characters. These barcodes can be used for ISSN, ISBN bookland and others that require an add on barcode.  The human readable character is printed above the barcode.

About the UPC and EAN Numbers:

You must obtain a UCC or EAN company number before you can start barcoding. This company number allows a company to build ID numbers that uniquely identify products, assets, etc. Information on this can be obtained at the UCC website or EAN website.

JAN:

For more information on JAN barcodes visit the Japanese Standards Association website.

ISBN and Bookland:

For more information on ISBN and Bookland barcodes visit the ISBN website.

For the most up to date installation procedures for other operating systems please visit our Technical Support / FAQ site at http://www.bizfonts.com/fontfaq.htm

To install the font in Windows: 

• Click on Start, Select settings and click on Control Panel.
• Click on Fonts, Click on File in your main tool bar, Select Install New Font.
• Select the folder where you placed the font.
• The font will appear; select the font and Click on OK.
• Click Start and choose to shut down and restart your computer.
• The font should be active when you restart your computer.
• To create the correct output for the font you will need to type or print the corresponding letter.

To install the TrueType font on the Macintosh:

1. Download and install Stuffit Expander on your Macintosh if you do not have an expander utility that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files.
2. Open the ZIP distribution file that contains the fonts by dragging the ZIP file on the Stuffit Expander icon. The font files will be extracted from the ZIP distribution file and will appear in a subfolder of the folder you placed the ZIP file in. Open this subfolder to view the font files.  At this point, you may want to view the documentation supplied with the font files. To do so just drag the file "readme.html" to the Netscape or Internet Explorer icon.
3. Now we must decode the files from MacBinary format. Drag the font files that you wish to use that end with "mtt" to the Stuffit Expander icon.
4. Drag the decoded font files to the System - Fonts folder.
5. Restart the application you wish to use the font with.
6. The font will be active in the font menu of your application.
7. To create the correct output for the font, you will need to choose the font in your application and type in the corresponding letter.

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