ISBN Barcode Generator

Making ISBN Barcodes

To create the ISBN barcode, first click the “plus” button at the bottom left corner of the window, then click the “ISBN–13” item in the popup menu. The barcode will be created:

To make ISBN barcode click the plus button and select the ISBN-13 item

Double–click the new barcode or press Enter to open the ISBN barcode generator with the newly created barcode. There will be a barcode preview and the parameters panel on the right side of the window. You can zoom the barcode in using Ctrl-+ key on Windows, or Cmd-+ key on Mac, or using the zoom options in the View menu.

ISBN barcode generator shows the preview and the parameters panel where you can setup the barcode

The “Content” panel at the right lets you configure the ISBN data encoded into the barcode. From the top to bottom you can adjust:

Let’s reconfigure the price to be 12.56 CAD and also show the ISBN text above the barcode:

Configuring the ISBN barcode to display the Canadian price and ISBN text on top

What I did is I entered the price as a decimal number “12.56” into the Price field and switched the Price type field to “Canada”. The addon displays “61256” which is the price representation for Canada. I also enabled the top text by changing the Text type field and configured the Text format control to display the ISBN number the proper way.

If for any reason the country–specific pricing doesn’t work for you, you can always switch the Price type selector to the Custom mode and enter the 5 addon digits “as is” into the Price field:

You can enter the custom addon data by selecting custom price type

Barcode generator detects if you enter incorrect data and displays an error message to help you fix the problem. There is a Fix errors button that sometimes helps to do things faster. For instance, you can enter the full ISBN code, including prefix into the Main data field. Barcode will report an error:

Barcode generator reports an error if too many symbols are entered

If you click the Fix errors button, Barcode will detect that the Main data field has enough digits and the first three look like a prefix. It will then setup the prefix and truncate the main data, so all the parameters become valid, and you get a proper ISBN barcode and proper barcode data:

Barcode generator automatically detects ISBN prefixes when fixing input errors

This is a useful feature if you need to copy and paste the ISBN number from a 3rd party application. You can also enter numbers with spaces or dashes — Barcode will sort it out, too.

If you don’t need the addon, simply switch the Price type selector to None. This will hide the addon, leaving just the main block visible.

Once the barcode data is configured, you can switch to the second tab in the right panel to setup the visual appearance of the barcode:

Now you can configure the visual representation of the ISBN barcode using the second tab of the right panel

As the ISBN barcode is based on EAN-13 barcode, the visual parameters are the same. From the top to bottom you will find:

When done, switch to the right most tab to configure the quiet zone around the barcode. There must be at least 5mm (0.2 inches) on both left and right sides of the barcode to make sure the scanner can detect and read it. You can adjust that with the margins parameters of the Marks panel:

Configure the quiet zone around the ISBN barcode using the marks panel on the right

You can also enable the light margin indicator on the second tab and then you will probably don’t need to add extra space on the right, at all.

When the barcode is finished, use the buttons at the top left corner of the window to save or print the barcode. Another option is to simply drag it with your mouse directly to the application where the barcode is needed.

Then click the Back button in the toolbar or press the Escape key to return to the barcodes list. Barcode generator automatically saves the changes you made, so the next time you will return to exactly the same barcode you’ve just configured.

Note that you may copy, rename and delete barcodes in the list. See the barcode management tutorial for more details.

Batch ISBN Barcodes Generation

If you have a list of ISBN numbers and need to generate barcodes, you can automate the process by clicking the batch processing button:

Click the batch processing button to switch to the bulk barcode generation mode

There you can enter the ISBN numbers you have and get your barcodes generated using the one you have as a reference. See the batch processing tutorial for more detailed instructions.

ISBN Barcodes Overview

International Standard Book Number (ISBN) codes are assigned worldwide to help publishers identify certain works, such as books or audiobooks. The original ISBN format was created in 1965, and ISBN–13 code has been used since 2007. Each country has its own specific entity that assigns ISBN codes, and does not have the right to assign ISBN codes to publishers outside of its own borders.

ISBN–13 is based on EAN–13 (International Article Number) code.

The ISBN codes, which are assigned as 1, 10, 100, 1,000, 10,000 or 100,000 numbers, identify individual publications and the publisher of the document. ISBN-10 format codes can easily be converted to ISBN–13 codes by simply adding the prefix 978.

Two– and five–digit add–ons may also be included on a given publication. Two–digit codes are often used to detail the issue number or release date of periodicals such as newspapers and magazines, while five-digit codes are used to provide the price of a book when it is scanned by a barcode reader. The first number of the five–digit price code informs users on the currency used in the price, while the remaining four digits name the full price. For example, 51399 would mean the price of a given book is U.S. $13.99.

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