Creating UPC barcodes used to be a long, drawn-out process that could take weeks or even months. Once you were assigned a UPC barcode by GS1 US, you then would hire a company to typeset it, output the film, and send the finished piece to you. For duplicate copies, you'd use a service bureau to make PMTs for pasting into place on your layout. Today, with extension technology, it's far easier. In fact, you could have added a barcode to your project in less time than it took you to read this paragraph.

BarCoder XT for QuarkXPress 4.0, 6.1, and 7.1

BarCoder XT from ThePowerXChange.com BarCoder XT from XChange UK

BarCoder XT for QuarkXPress creates PostScript® bar codes for within QuarkXPress projects. There are several different symbologies and many options for each bar code. The bar codes are Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) files that provide high-resolution during output.

 

BarCoder XT for QuarkXPress

BarcodeMaker for InDesign CS, CS2, and CS3

Barcode Maker from ThePowerXChange.com BarcodeMaker from XChange UK

Create customized barcodes with the BarcodeMaker Plug-in for InDesign. The process is simple and fast and includes versatile options that allow users to make up to 19 different types of barcodes in a single user-friendly palette. Fully customize each individual barcode by adding numbers, changing fonts and font size, controlling barcode height, and including or excluding checksum digits.

BarCoder XT for InDesign

POSTools, a Stand-alone Application

POSTools is an easy-to-use, versatile solution for creating POSTNET barcode pieces designed for US mail delivery, such as a business-reply mail card. The flexibility of a stand-alone product means that you can use your favorite application — be it a desktop-publishing application, Excel® spreadsheet, or FileMaker® database — and POSTools generates POSTNET bar codes in just a few clicks.

POSTNET bar codes are used to encode ZIP codes on US mail. With POSTools, POSTNET bar codes can be created for both 11-digit delivery-point barcodes as well as 9-digit ZIP+4 codes. The United States Postal Service prefers the use of 11-digit ZIP codes and gives significant rate discounts for their use. With POSTools, it's a easy matter to create these and benefit from the discounts.

BarCoder XT Stand-alone Application

POSTools also includes graphics files that create the FIM (facing identification mark) bars, used on business reply mail.

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About the author:

Cyndie Shaffstall is publisher, editor, and contributing author to X-Ray Magazine. She began her career working in print and type shops. At the introduction of the Macintosh to the print industry in the mid-80s, Shaffstall became a corporate trainer helping print-shop professionals adopt and adapt to the Mac. She has authored or co-authored many books on computer software, and self-published her first, QuarkXPress: Making the Most of Your Negative Experiences and her most recent, QuarkXPress 8: production tricks and experts' tips. In 1995, Shaffstall founded ThePowerXChange, a software-distribution company dedicated to extensions technology. In addition to ThePowerXChange, Shaffstall is the managing member of StrappyArt, LLC, the distributor of StrappyArt, which she invented in 2006. She has recently joined Spider Trainers, LLC, as the SEO/SMO advisor. She is also director of QuarkAlliance at Quark, Inc