Add Barcodes to Packing Slips

You can add many different kinds of barcodes to your packing slip template in ShipStation. Adding barcodes to your printed packing slips can be helpful when using Scan workflows or if you need a barcode to scan when using platforms outside of ShipStation.

The most common barcode to add to a packing slip is an order # barcode. However, you can encode other types of order data into barcode form on your packing slips by adding the appropriate field replacement in the packing slip code.

The instructions below show how to add an Order # barcode to your packing slip. Check the Parameters and Types of Barcodes sections for additional details on further customizing your packing slip barcodes.

Subscription Plan Requirement

To create and edit packing slip templates, your account must be on a subscription plan that allows this feature.

  • US and Canada accounts: Silver plan

  • All other countries: Accelerate plan

Add an Order # Barcode to a Packing Slip

To center the barcode, use the code below:

<p align="center"><barcode size="medium">[Order #]</barcode></p>

Tip

If you're having trouble getting ShipStation to read your order barcode, try the following:

  • Change the value for the barcode size to x-small. Sometimes a part of barcode code gets cut off if the print is too large causing an error when reading it.

  • Change the type of barcode to Code128A, Code128B or some other type (see options listed below).

Change Barcode Size and Type Parameters

To get your barcode to look right, you can adjust the barcode’s size and type. You make all these adjustments within the <barcode> tag. The table below shows the available attributes for adjusting barcodes.

Here's the packing slip HTML of a barcode that has a different size, type, and height than the default barcode (Code128Auto):

<barcode size="small" barcodetype="Code128C" height="4">[Order #]</barcode>

ShipStation supports the following optional parameters for barcodes:

Parameter & Description

Supported Values

barcodetype

The value of this parameter dictates the type of barcode which will be generated.

Code128Auto (default)

Code128A

Code128B

Code128C

Code39

Code39ASCII

Code93

CodeCodabar

EAN13

EAN8

EXT2

EXT5

I2of5

Industrial2of5

ITF14

ModifiedPlessy

POSTNET

UCCEAN

UPCA

UPCE

GS1Databar14

GS1DatabarTruncated

GS1DatabarLimited

GS1DatabarExpanded

size

The value of this parameter dictates the size of the barcode font.

x-small (font size: 12)

small (font size: 24)

medium (font size: 36)

large (font size: 60)

x-large (font size: 72)

Any numerical value between 10 - 100

height

The value of this parameter dictates the height of the barcode. It differs from size in that you can independently adjust the height of a barcode without affecting its width.

This parameter is not supported by all barcode types.

1 (smallest)

2

3 (default)

4

5

6

7 (largest)

humanreadable

The value of this parameter determines if the barcode should have human readable text embedded and where that text should be displayed.

This parameter is not supported by all barcode types.

none (default)

top

bottom

Note about HTML

Be sure to always include the value for an attribute between quotation marks, as illustrated in the above example.

Types of Barcodes

The table below lists the types of barcodes you can add to packing slips and related specifications.

Barcode Type

Characters

Max Length

Height

Bottom Human Readable Height

Top Human Readable Height

Code128Auto

alpha-numeric

None

1-7

None

None

Code128A

alpha-numeric

None

1-7

None

None

Code128B

alpha-numeric

None

1-7

3

None

Code128C

numeric

None

1-7

None

None

Code39

Alpha-numeric: upper case only

None

1-7

3

None

Code39ASCII

Alpha-numeric

None

1-7

None

None

Code93

Alpha-numeric: upper case only

None

1-7

None

None

CodeCodabar

Numeric w/ cap A-D

None

3

None

None

EAN13

Numeric

13

1-7

1-7

1-3

EAN8

Numeric

8

1-7

1-7

1-3

EXT2

Numeric

None

1-7

1-7

1-3

EXT5

Numeric

None

1-7

1-7

1-3

I2of5

Numeric

None

1-7

1-3

None

Industrial2of5

Numeric

None

1-7

None

None

ITF14

Numeric

14

1-7

None

None

ModifiedPlessy

Numeric

None

1-7

None

None

POSTNET

Numeric

None

1-7

None

None

UCCEAN

Alpha-numeric

None

1-7

None

None

UPCA

Numeric

10

1-7

1-7

1-3

UPCE

Numeric

6

1-7

1-7

1-3

GS1Databar14

Numeric

None

1-7

None

None

GS1DatabarTruncated

Numeric

None

3

None

None

GS1DatabarLimited

Numeric

None

1-7

None

None

GS1DatabarExpanded

Numeric

None

1-7

None

None

Additional Notes about Packing Slip Barcodes

You can include any field replacement or static value as a barcode on packing slips. However, order-level information and product-level information must live in specific parts of the template.

  • Order Level information (like Order #, Shipping Service, Custom Field #1, etc.) must remain in either the Order Header or Order Footer sections of the packing slip. 

  • Product Level information (like SKU, Item Title, Warehouse Location, etc.) must remain inside the Order Items table.

After you customize the packing slip, print a sample slip to ensure everything looks as it should. Remember to Save Changes before closing out the window.