Help

Re: Bulk add barcodes

Solved
Jump to Solution
744 0
cancel
Showing results for 
Search instead for 
Did you mean: 
John-Paul_Kerno
7 - App Architect
7 - App Architect

I need to add 100 barcodes to physical objects. The objects are already in a database.

I can create 100 barcode numbers outside AirTable but then I need to scan each one to add to the barcode to the barcode field in AirTable. Time consuming.

Or I could add the numbers to the barcode field? No I can’t … then the AirTable barcode field will not generate the barcode image to be able to print and attach to the physical object.

Has anybody got any ideas?

1 Solution

Accepted Solutions
Nathan_Anderso1
Airtable Employee
Airtable Employee

Building this process involves using two separate tools outside of Airtable: an integration service called Zapier and a barcode generating API called www.barcodes4.me. By following these instructions, you’ll be able to take an input field, use Zapier to feed that value into a barcode generation API, then upload the resulting barcode directly into your Airtable base.

To start, you’ll need an input field – I used a barcode field in my example. This will be where you type or scan the value which should be encoded into the barcode. Additionally, create one attachment field (for the Zap output) and one formula field (for the Zap input).

Here is the formula in my formula field:

  • http://www.barcodes4.me/barcode/c39/"&{Barcode}&".png?height=300&resolution=4

Here’s how that would look:
Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 10.08.57 AM
This formula builds an API request using the barcode value we input into our barcode field, along with some other parameters.

To change the barcode type of the Zap output, you’ll want to adjust the part of the URL which says ‘c39’ in the formula above, if necessary. For a list of code designators, check this page: http://barcodes4.me/apidocumentation

This wraps up designing our table. Now we just need to make the Zap.

In Zapier, create a 2-step zap with the following steps:

  1. Trigger: New record in Airtable. Point this to the table you’ve just created in the steps above.

  2. Action: Update record in Airtable. As you’re setting up this step, be sure to set the value for ‘Record’ to ‘Use a Custom Value’. This will let us choose a value from the new record detected in Step 1, allowing this Zap to dynamically assign values according to the current record.


    Scrolling further down, we’ll want this step to update 1 field in the record – the attachment field we created in our table. Attachment fields can upload an image from a URL, which is what we generated with our URL formula field. By copying this URL from the formula field into the attachment field, our upload the resulting barcode image directly from the API.
    Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 10.12.43 AM

This Zap will run every 15 minutes or so on Zapier’s free plan, so it may take a few minutes to generate code once the record has been created.

See Solution in Thread

4 Replies 4
Nathan_Anderso1
Airtable Employee
Airtable Employee

Building this process involves using two separate tools outside of Airtable: an integration service called Zapier and a barcode generating API called www.barcodes4.me. By following these instructions, you’ll be able to take an input field, use Zapier to feed that value into a barcode generation API, then upload the resulting barcode directly into your Airtable base.

To start, you’ll need an input field – I used a barcode field in my example. This will be where you type or scan the value which should be encoded into the barcode. Additionally, create one attachment field (for the Zap output) and one formula field (for the Zap input).

Here is the formula in my formula field:

  • http://www.barcodes4.me/barcode/c39/"&{Barcode}&".png?height=300&resolution=4

Here’s how that would look:
Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 10.08.57 AM
This formula builds an API request using the barcode value we input into our barcode field, along with some other parameters.

To change the barcode type of the Zap output, you’ll want to adjust the part of the URL which says ‘c39’ in the formula above, if necessary. For a list of code designators, check this page: http://barcodes4.me/apidocumentation

This wraps up designing our table. Now we just need to make the Zap.

In Zapier, create a 2-step zap with the following steps:

  1. Trigger: New record in Airtable. Point this to the table you’ve just created in the steps above.

  2. Action: Update record in Airtable. As you’re setting up this step, be sure to set the value for ‘Record’ to ‘Use a Custom Value’. This will let us choose a value from the new record detected in Step 1, allowing this Zap to dynamically assign values according to the current record.


    Scrolling further down, we’ll want this step to update 1 field in the record – the attachment field we created in our table. Attachment fields can upload an image from a URL, which is what we generated with our URL formula field. By copying this URL from the formula field into the attachment field, our upload the resulting barcode image directly from the API.
    Screen Shot 2019-12-17 at 10.12.43 AM

This Zap will run every 15 minutes or so on Zapier’s free plan, so it may take a few minutes to generate code once the record has been created.

I am sure this is a solution but it is way too complicated for me! I am really asking why is it I can’t paste a string of numbers into the barcode field in Airtable and get a print out of the barcode?

paulo
6 - Interface Innovator
6 - Interface Innovator

To generate a barcode for each record of a table in your Airtable base, consider using a third-party app that integrates with Airtable. We have built an extension called Generate Barcode in Bulk, which processes barcode or string fields and produces a barcode image in an attachment field. For additional details, please visit the following page: https://miniextensions.com/airtable-barcode-images/

I enjoy using Make”s barcode and QR integrations for these purposes.

If you’ve never used Make before, I’ve assembled a bunch of Make training resources in this thread: https://air.tableforums.com/t/make-com-basic-navigation-tips/277

For example, here is how you would instantly trigger a Make automation from Airtable: https://air.tableforums.com/t/sending-airtable-data-to-an-external-webhook-such-as-make-com/159

And a great app to scan barcodes with Airtable is Fillout’s advanced forms for Airtable.

I’ve given some advanced barcode scanning tips in this thread: https://community.airtable.com/t5/automations/automation-to-update-a-field-based-on-a-barcode-scanne...

Fillout offers dozens of features that Airtable’s native forms don’t offer, including the ability to update Airtable records from a form, the ability to display Airtable lookup fields & Airtable rollup fields & Airtable attachments & formulas on forms, creating linked records on a form, creating multi-page forms, accepting payments on forms, and much more. So you could even display the record information that you’re scanning right on the form.

 p.s. If your company has a budget for your project and you’d like to hire an expert Airtable consultant to help you with any of this, please feel free to contact me through my website: Airtable consultant — ScottWorld