Add bar codes to your documents

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Add bar codes to your documents
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Adding a bar code font to your documents is quick and easy. The Amplios Bar code Filer comes with a free bar code font. The name of the font is Code39 Font.ttf. To install this font on your Windows computer simply use Windows Explorer to open the folder where the Amplios Bar code Filer is installed. On almost all systems it will be the "C:\Program Files\Amplios\" folder. There you will find the font file. Right click on the name of the font and select Install. If you are not restricted from installing new fonts on your computer, Windows will install this font for you. If you are restricted, then ask the person or department who has administrator rights on your computer to install it for you. Once you have this font installed you are ready to get started.

The Amplios Document Filer comes with a few example files that you can examine for ideas on how to add bar codes to your documents with a bar code font. The example files are located in the same folder you found the font in. The example file names are:

Microsoft Excel Examples
Bill of Lading.xls
Business Invoice.xls

OpenOffice or LibreOffice Examples
Bill of Lading.ods
Business Invoice.ods

If you have followed the instructions above and installed the font and you open the Bill of Lading file, you will see a bar code in the top row of the spreadsheet. If you click on the bar code and check the formatting of the cell you will see that the font used is CCode39. If you example the formula for the cell, you will see the following:

=CONCATENATE("*",YEAR(NOW()),TEXT(MONTH(NOW()),"00" ) ,TEXT(DAY(NOW()),"00" ),TEXT((60*HOUR(NOW())+MINUTE(NOW())/10),"000"),"*")

The asterisks contained in the formula are needed for the Amplios Document Filer to read the bar code on your document. If today is March 16, 2013, the number that is contained in the bar code will be 20130316NNN, where the value of NNN changes every 10 minutes. So at 10 AM in the morning the number would be 20130316600. At 10:10 AM the number would be 20130316601. This means that if your time between entering a bill of lading with this form is always more than 10 minutes, your document will always have a unique bar code number on it. Amplios Document Filer can use the information in the bar code to file bill of ladings which you save or scan into your Ready to File folder. Once your bills of lading are filed you will be able to easily retrieve them if you know the date and time they were created.

Open the Business Invoice file and you will see a bar code near the top of the document. In this case the formula for the cell is:

=CONCATENATE("*",E6,"*")

Cell E6 has the manually entered invoice number of 2013-05-02-0001 and this is the valued that is contained in the bar code. The asterisks contained in the formula are needed for the Amplios Document Filer to read the bar code on your document. Amplios Document Filer can use the information in the bar code to file this invoice for you with the file name being the invoice number. Once your invoices are filed you will be able to easily retrieve them if you know the invoice number.

Here are some areas of application you might want to consider:

SALES: Quickly link a customer's Purchase Order with your Quote and Sales Order, tied together by a unique Sales Order Number.

ACCOUNT OR SUPPLIER MANAGEMENT: Scan incoming correspondence and link to the relevant customer or supplier.

WORK ORDER MANAGEMENT: Scan and link customer drawings and plans to the relevant work order.

LOGISTICS: With a simple click of a button, scan signed Collections Notes, Delivery Notes and Proofs of Delivery so that bits of crumpled paper don't need to be filed.

RECORDS, TEST RESULTS, HISTORIES, ETC.: Documents can be automatically linked to a unique client number and the information encrypted with password protection.

ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE: Quickly locate files and send copies of signed documents with month-end statements to speed collections and decrease incoming customer calls.

ACCOUNTS PAYABLE: Store supplier invoices electronically to reduce storage requirements and automatically link with purchase orders