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Tip of the Week – Barcodes in Salesforce are that bleeping simple

Tip of the Week – Barcodes in Salesforce are that bleeping simple

Barcode Scanner

Whether you’re managing 100 faxed applications a day, trying to follow items as they circulate on your shop floor, or you just need an easy way to track your inventory, you’ve likely run into a situation where you said, “wouldn’t it be so much easier if we could just scan a barcode?” Yes. Yes it would. There’s a reason barcodes are so popular. Just pull a trigger, listen to the satisfying bleep, and you’re in business. Most USB and Bluetooth barcode scanners work like a keyboard – when you scan a barcode, they type in the number and click Enter. This means that whether you’re using a standard search or a complex custom system, you don’t have to worry about crazy code. You can even use a barcode scanner with a mobile Salesforce1 app! But getting the barcodes themselves is another matter. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just automatically generate a barcode straight in Salesforce? Well, you can – and it’s free!

Adding barcodes to Salesforce is really simple. You’ll just need two new fields. Start off by creating the field that will hold the actual number – I’d recommend an autonumber field, but if you need more control, it can be plain text. Let’s call it Barcode #. Now, create a formula field and add the following code:

IMAGE("//www.barcodesinc.com/generator/image.php?code="&Barcode__c&"&style=325&type=C128B&width=200&height=50&xres=1&font=3",Barcode__c)

Using barcodesinc.com, a cool free service, a barcode will be instantly generated for you. And that’s it! Now you can add that field to Reports or List Views for printing, add them to your page layouts, include them in email templates, and the list goes on. With just two simple fields, you have a barcode for everything you might need. Now go get yourself a scanner and have fun!

-Jared and the Salesforce Guys