Barcodes & Label Printing

Barcodes turn slow manual lookups into a scan, and Knowledge ERP can print the labels to match.

What can carry a barcode #

Barcodes aren't limited to Products. Each of these records can carry a code of its own, which you can print, quote and search for instead of typing a name:

• Products — the thing you stock or sell. On a Product this code is the field labelled SKU: type your own or leave it blank and one is auto-generated.
• Units — a specific tracked unit of stock. Barcode auto-generated on creation.
• Bins — a storage location, for put-away and picking. Barcode auto-generated on creation.
• Kits — a bundled set of components. Barcode generated the first time you ask for a label.
• Sales orders and purchase orders — a code you can print on the order. Barcode generated the first time you ask for a label.
• Customers — a code of their own, for a membership card or a job sheet. Auto-generated on creation.
• Loan agreements and rental agreements — scan the agreement to pull it up for check-out or return. Barcode auto-generated on creation.
• Customer returns and vendor returns — scan the RMA when receiving or shipping returned goods. Barcode auto-generated on creation.

Each type has its own barcode prefix (S- for Products, I- for Units, B- for Bins, K- for Kits, PO- for purchase orders, SO- for sales orders, LA- for loan agreements, RA- for rental agreements, C- for customers, CR- for customer returns, VR- for vendor returns).

Scanning a code to open its record works for units, bins, Products, loan and rental agreements, and customer and vendor returns. Kits, sales orders, purchase orders and customers carry a code but the scanner does not resolve them yet — print and quote those, and find the record the usual way.

Scanning drives the everyday flows below — receiving, counting, transfers, and quick lookups — without typing.

Scan-driven workflows #

Several flows are built around scanning, so a handheld scanner (or a phone) can drive the work:

• Transfers — scan units onto a transfer between locations.
• Stock counts — scan stock as you count it for fast, accurate reconciliation.
• Shipping — scan a Product barcode on the Ship Sales Order page to instantly select the matching line for fulfillment.

Printing labels #

The label printing tool generates printable label sheets, so the barcodes you scan are the ones you produced — keeping the physical and digital records in lockstep.

What is waiting to be printed #

The Print Labels page opens on Waiting to print: the labels somebody has asked for and nobody has printed yet. That is also what the number beside Print Labels in the menu counts.

Only the things a sticker physically goes on ask for a label on their own:

• Units — the tool or the machine itself.
• Bins — the shelf or the box it lives on.

Nothing else puts a label in the queue on its own — Products, kits, orders, agreements, returns and customers all keep whatever code they have, and the ones listed above as scannable go on scanning. A Product describes the thing you stock rather than being one of them, so there is nothing for its sticker to go on; an agreement prints its barcode in the header of its own PDF instead.

Asking for one anyway #

For one record, open it and use Queue Label in the buttons at the top of its page. For several at once, tick them on the list and use Queue Labels in the bulk menu. Either adds the record's barcode to the Print Labels page, generating a code first if the record never had one. Nothing is printed at that point.

You will find both on units, bins, kits, sales orders, purchase orders, loan agreements, rental agreements, customers, customer returns and vendor returns — Queue Label on the record's own page, Queue Labels in the bulk menu of its list. Both need the Print Labels page to be reachable, which takes the Inventory module and the account-wide permission to view units, the same read the page takes. Somebody without that read sees neither button. The Products list does not carry them yet.

Queue Label used to sit on every row of those lists, next to View and Edit, and no longer does — it crowded out the buttons people press far more often. The single-record button moved onto the record's own page; the bulk one has not moved.

The Print Labels page has the same thing for codes already listed there: Add to Print Queue and Remove from Print Queue. Turn the Waiting to print filter off to see every code ever issued — which is also how to queue a Product's shelf label in the meantime.

Asking for a label that has already been printed puts it back in the queue, so a sticker that has come off a unit can simply be re-requested.

The barcode also prints on the document itself: the Print action on a loan agreement, rental agreement, customer return, or vendor return opens a PDF with the record's scannable barcode in the header, with your browser's print dialogue over it.

Mobile #

Barcode scanning is also available through the mobile app API, so the native mobile app can scan in the field to perform check-ins, check-outs, transfers, and rental operations offline.