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How does a barcode scanner know what product it is scanning? - Sophia♥ Ok so I really dont want people telling me how a scanner reads actual barcodes I already know how they do that What I want to know is this: When you have software that the scanner is communicating with, and you use the barcodes and scanners to alter stock levels, how does it know, when you install and use the software for the first time, what the products are? Wouldn't there have to be some kind of database of barcodes for each company already in existance? My company has stock from a variety of sources so there is a huge range of barcodes that will be used for this. Please tell me I do not have to manually enter every single different barcode into the database.

Best Answer: The system would be pretty useless if every user had to manually enter every detail. If the barcodes are UPC or EAN standard, you can download a database of them here: - epidavros

Well as far as I know you can enter each item separately into the data base or in big firms they now scan the new item into the data base. You might however have to give each item a product name so people who were using the system and customers would recognise it as being what it is. Regarding stock levels and reordering that is done in the original program that was set up for the company according to their requirements. - sewrobb

yep you have to manually tell it what the barcode is related to, sorry. It's for this reason why most little corner shops just know how much things cost, make it up, or put little sticky pprice things on everything - gembolatino

I work in a warehouse and every time we receive a new product, we have to manually enter what the item is, how much it costs, how many we have in stock, and so on. We sometimes have to do this if a customer is trying to return something that we have taken out of the system, so it won't scan in. - Nicole L

Yes you will. When shops start stock a new line they will enter many attibutes into a database ie manufacturer, price, barcode, and more. So, when installing a new system all the stock that pass through the system will have to be added on. - adam d®

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