Retail & Inventory

How to Print Barcode Labels for Your Shop

If you're still writing prices on stickers by hand, or your products came without barcodes at all, printing your own labels is simpler than it sounds - and it's the difference between billing taking seconds at the counter versus manually searching for every item.

You don't need special software to generate the barcode

A common misconception is that barcode generation requires expensive, specialized software. In practice, a barcode is just a pattern of lines representing text - your invoicing software can generate the image itself. What you actually need a dedicated tool for is turning that into a printed label, laid out at the right size for your label stock.

How "linking a barcode printer" actually works

This is the part that trips people up, since it sounds like it should involve some special connection or driver setup specific to your software. It doesn't - a barcode/label printer (Zebra, TSC, Brother, and similar brands) installs on your computer exactly like any other printer. It shows up in your normal printer list. Your invoicing software generates a page sized to match your labels, you hit print, and you pick your barcode printer the same way you'd pick any printer for a normal document.

Getting the label size right

Barcode labels come in standard sizes - common ones are around 50×25mm and 40×20mm, often on rolls or sheets. Your invoicing software should let you generate labels sized to match your actual stock, since a barcode printed too small to scan reliably defeats the purpose.

What actually goes on the label

At minimum: the scannable barcode itself, and the same value printed as readable text underneath it - useful for both double-checking by eye and as a fallback if a scanner ever fails to read it. Many businesses also add the product name so staff can identify items without scanning.

Invoice2Track generates scannable barcode labels directly from your product list - select products, print, done. See how it works →