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ZipZapKit hasn’t been released yet. The API names on this page are provisional and may change.
Most people know what they’re scanning, products, shipping labels, IDs, but not which barcode types those use. Groups let you say the first and get the second: enable a group, and a field reads every barcode type in it. Groups work like tags, not folders. A barcode type can carry any number of them, and a group isn’t simply a subset of a bigger one. This page lists what’s in each group. Whether a particular reader can read each type is a separate question, answered on each barcode type’s page.

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How groups work

  • Groups overlap. A barcode type can be in several groups. GS1-128 is in Logistics and shipping, GS1, and 1D.
  • Enabling two groups gives you both. The field reads any barcode type in either group.
  • Narrower is better. Every extra barcode type a field accepts makes camera scanning a little slower and wrong reads a little more likely. Pick the narrowest group that covers what you scan.
See Barcode types for combining groups and choosing individual types.

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The groups

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Retail product

For the barcode on the thing a shopper hands you: every barcode that identifies a product by its GTIN. QR Code and Data Matrix are in this group only when they carry a GTIN, because products are starting to use them at checkout. See Sunrise 2027. Any other QR code, such as a link on a poster, isn’t a product barcode, and a field set to this group ignores it.

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How ZipZapKit tells whether a 2D barcode carries a GTIN

A QR Code or Data Matrix counts as a product barcode in two cases: The camera’s inference is rarely wrong, because ordinary text almost never parses as GS1 data with a valid check digit.

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Logistics and shipping

For cases, pallets and parcels: the barcodes on the outside of a box rather than the product inside.

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GS1

For barcodes that can carry GS1 data beyond a product number: Application Identifiers such as batch numbers and expiry dates, or a GS1 Digital Link. Use it with ZipZapKit’s GS1 parsing. See GS1 Application Identifiers.

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1D (linear)

Every linear barcode type. This group is defined by shape rather than purpose, so it’s rarely the right choice: a field that accepts every 1D barcode will happily read the wrong one. Prefer a group that matches what you’re scanning.

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2D (matrix)

Every 2D barcode type. Like 1D, it’s broad. It suits fields that scan codes you generate yourself, where you control the barcode type.

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Postal

The barcodes postal services print on mail for sorting and tracking.

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ID and documents

Barcodes and printed text on identity documents: the PDF417 barcode on North American driver’s licenses, and the MRZ on passports and ID cards. The MRZ is printed text, not a barcode, and needs a reader with text recognition. See AAMVA test barcodes for test data.

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Every barcode type and its groups