discussion Barcode Scanner for inventory using exel?

[sswilson]

Hrmmmm..... looks like including an "enter key" after each successful scan is part of the scanner's setup. Not sure if that's driver specific or if default windows settings for a generic barcode scanner would have the ability to toggle that on or off.

Almost makes me want to grab a scanner just to play with it.

 

[Izerous]

Thanks for the offer, but it's all good. No idea on model, it picked up the hardware as soon as I plugged it in.

Task was as simple as it sounded above, although mind numbing to say the least.

Open a blank excel, select the first cell, scan the ser# to fill the cell, hit enter to advance to the next cell, throw the item into the scanned bin and repeat for the next one. Multiply that by 172 items and you're done.

Oh, and don't forget to hit enter or it starts to get messy.

edit: If I knew enough about excel, there's probably a setting which would automatically advance to the next cell after getting the bar code info, but that's above my pay grade.

On the scanner could probably configure it to automatically attach a return character

 

[Marzipan]

Thanks for the offer, but it's all good. No idea on model, it picked up the hardware as soon as I plugged it in.

Task was as simple as it sounded above, although mind numbing to say the least.

Open a blank excel, select the first cell, scan the ser# to fill the cell, hit enter to advance to the next cell, throw the item into the scanned bin and repeat for the next one. Multiply that by 172 items and you're done.

Oh, and don't forget to hit enter or it starts to get messy.

edit: If I knew enough about excel, there's probably a setting which would automatically advance to the next cell after getting the bar code info, but that's above my pay grade.

hey, if you can figure out the make / model, I can probably find how you can set it so it drops down to the next field without you having to hit enter. make the workflow smoother, not to mention faster, amirite? though...faster may not be preferred if you're being paid by the hour. LoL!

 

[Marzipan]

You sure we shouldn't go back to calling you Mr. Friendly or maybe Mr. Helpful

I would love to continue being Mr. Friendly...but there are too many imposters out there taking the name, so I had to find something else that was original and unlikely to be taken. for the most part it's been pretty successful, only the odd time has Marzipan been taken by someone else. if it ever gets to the point that I need to find something different again, I'm thinking MassiveMasticatingMandibles would be a good one.

 

[lowfat]

IMO it is likely programmed wrong if you have to manually do a carriage return after. You should be able to correct this if you download the programming bar codes for the specific scanner. BUT you could easily mess it up too. So probably best not.

 

[sswilson]

Yeah, looking at the write-ups on scanners from amazon, it looks like many of them come with some form of driver package to do that kind of stuff with. One even looked like it had a card with codes you could scan which would trigger different programmed options, although it wasn't clear if that was driven by a proprietary driver package which had to be installed, or if it triggered something internal to the scanner itself.

Probably wouldn't have done me much good.... this was a basic scanner and I didn't have good enough internet access to try to spend time digging up drivers for it (typical call center..... limited guest access, and the cell reception for me to use my phone as a hotspot was dicey at best). I was just happy that the bloody thing worked at all using whatever windows 11 default drivers it could find.

In hindsight, the only thing I wish I'd thought to do was check the basic settings for the device in windows. It's possible that something like CR is a standard option and thus available to select.

They might have me back at a later date to do some more inventory and I'll double check the basic windows settings then.

 

[Marzipan]

often times there is a sheet of barcodes for that make / model that when scanned, changes a setting for whatever it is you're after.

 

[Solace]

I've never been a corporate MS Office user (outside of Word) so I've never played with Excel in any way shape or form.

I've got a temp job coming up and it sounds like they intend to give me a bar code scanner to do inventory, and expect me to import that info into a spreadsheet. I've done some quick searches and it looks like I can probably just create a new excel spreadsheet and then assign what the barcode scanner picks up to specific fields. Is it really as simple as that?

Thanks in advance....

There is open source software even if the stock/vendor software is crap. I did this for a startup a while back with an intern to do some office inventory. The protocol of most scanners is very generic like your gamepads these days.

 

[sswilson]

I'm tempted to pick up a cheap one to play with and to have my own on hand if the opportunity to use it ever comes up again.

 

[Marzipan]

when DVD's / CD's, etc. were still popular, I knew a guy who bought a LS2208 (Symbol...then Motorola...then Zebra) scanner to create a catalog of his collection because he had thousands of discs.