A : A "Getting Started" manual is included with each package of software. This provides clear, concise information on how to get up and running with BarTender. If you have misplaced this manual or you have not yet purchased a license, you can download a PDF version from the link below:

Our website also provides numerous training videos that provide a step by step guide to walk you through common BarTender questions. These videos can be found at the link below:

BarTender Label Software Training Videos

Getting Started Manual

A : BarTender is compatible with Windows 7 and Server 2008R2 beginning with BarTender version 9.2.

BarTender is compatible with Windows Vista beginning with BarTender version 8.01.

If your version of BarTender is not compatible with the version of Windows you intend to use, you will need to contact our sales department for details on updating your software. Click on the link below for the contact details of our regional offices.

Contact Information for all offices

A : Yes, BarTender can be used with any printer that has a true Windows printer driver, including, for example, most laser and ink jet printers.

Seagull Scientific is the world's largest developer of Windows printer drivers for thermal printers, supporting over 2400 models from over 60 printer companies. "Drivers by Seagull" can help you maximize your printers' performance. For the details on Seagull's drivers, please follow the link below:

"The Advantage of Drivers by Seagull" Whitepaper

A : This is a limitation of Excel, which is not a true database application. The data is dropped by the ODBC or OLEDB connection when the actual data in the field does not agree with the data type given to that field by the connection.

The solution is either to export your data to a Microsoft Access database (.mdb file) using a delimited text file, or to "force" the data type used by the field by prefixing your data in Excel with a ' character. This forces the Excel ODBC/OLEDB driver to treat the data as string data type.

A : The Data Navigator feature in BarTender versions 9.4 and above allows you to view database records while in the label design view. This feature can be enabled and disabled using the Data Navigator toolbar in the lower left-hand corner of the label design window.

In older versions of BarTender, open the properties of the database-connected label objects and select the Data Source tab. Here you will find the database name and field as you see it in the Sample Data text box. You may actually change this text to be anything you like, such as example field data or X's to the length of the selected field. You will find that these objects are now much more manageable in your label design.

A : In the on-screen label design, the text objects can only be displayed with a Windows true type font. If you are printing your text objects with a printer based device font, it may look a bit different when printed. BarTender has the ability to simulate how the printer based font will look using true type fonts that are installed on the PC. Sometimes the printed results will look identical, other times they may appear slightly different. It purely depends on the true type fonts installed in Windows and how well they match the printer based font being used. Based on the information BarTender gets back from the driver and Windows about the printer based font, it does the best job possible in giving you a good representation of what the output will look like.

A : In the Professional (or higher) edition of BarTender, you can use the Share/Name feature that allows you to share the same data between objects. You can find this by opening the properties of an object, selecting the Data Source tab and then clicking the Advanced button, so that this dialog is displayed in the advanced mode. You should now see a Share/Name tab, where you can enter a name to share with other objects or, if another object is already shared you can choose that name from the drop down list, so that the same data value is used. You will notice that when the Data Source dialog is displayed in advanced mode, you can split the data of your object into one or many sub-strings. Each sub-string can have its own individual source of data, set of More Options, and of course, its own share name.

In version 7.75 of BarTender, we introduced the Label Object String data source. This is an additional method that allows you to share data between objects. Each label object has a unique name, which can be set in the object's properties under the General tab. Objects can source the data of other objects by using the Label Object String source type by selecting the name of the object whose data you wish to use. Note that by default all newly created objects are automatically given a name. This feature is available in all editions.

Please click here to learn which versions of BarTender are supported by which versions of Windows.

A : The X-dimension setting of a bar code specifies the width of the bar code. This in fact adjusts the number of dots a printer uses for the width of the narrowest element of the bar code. All other bars of greater width grow in ratio to the narrowest bar as you expand the bar code's width.

The size of the dot and the X-dimension are determined by the selected printer's resolution. A dot represents the size of the smallest mark the printer can print. Each step in the X-dimension increases the narrowest element by a single dot of the printer. The printer resolution is important because it's impossible to increase the narrowest elements by fractions of a dot. It can only increase by a full extra dot. Of course all wider bar code elements grow in ratio to this.

For example if the narrow element is 1 dot wide and the widest element is 10, when we increase the X-dimension by 1, so that the narrow element is 2, the widest element will now be 20. This accounts for the "jumping" in the bar code's width when you increase the X-dimension. The higher the resolution of the printer, the smaller these steps will be, because the size of a single dot will be smaller.

We do not advise that you try working around this physical limitation of the printer by exporting the bar code object as a graphic and then importing it back into your label as a picture object. Although a picture object can be scaled to any dimension desired, it will result in a poor quality bar code and may be unreadable for a bar code scanner.

BarTender allows you to specify the target x-dimension of your barcode. This feature can be found in the properties of the barcode in the barcode tab. Click on the Wizard button to the right of X Dimension. This feature still requires the printer to support the target x-dimension size of your barcode.

A : It is not possible to print a Code 128 check digit in the human readable portion of the bar code, because the check digit has the possibility of being a non printable character such as a space, tab or control character. If you need a check digit for your bar code to produce a visible character then you should create a custom check digit in addition to the symbology's built-in check digit. This custom check digit can be generated using a VB script, which takes the bar code data as its input.

A : Yes there are! In the BarTender "toolbox" you will find under the Standard Bar Codes section a number of folders that contain various bar codes and bar code standards grouped by type and application. These can be dragged and dropped directly onto the label design and modified to suit your needs.

A : When you create a bar code and specify the symbology as either "GS1-128" or "Code 128" (with the "GS1-128" UCC/EAN-128) bar code option checkbox checked) you will be able to click the Application Identifier Data Source Wizard button to launch a bar code creation assistant. This assistant steps you though the process of selecting application identifiers, followed by the data for each data item in the bar code. All necessary function characters, variable data terminators, validations and check digits will automatically be generated for you, with each application identifier and related data item residing in their own sub-string value in the object's data source.

For more information on the Application Identifier Wizard, please take a look at the following white paper:

Using BarTender's Application Identifier Wizard

A : The newest "Drivers by Seagull" are fully compatible with all editions of Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Server 2003 and 2008, and Windows 7, including 32 and 64 bit versions. Follow the link below to download:

Drivers Download Page - Latest Version

Older Drivers:
Our last driver release to support Windows 98 and ME was v7.0.6. Our last driver release to support Windows 95 and NT4 was v6.9.3. Both older driver sets, and also our final drivers for Windows 3.1, can be downloaded at the following link:

Older Drivers Download Page

A : Yes, all our Seagull printer drivers have been compatible with these two platforms for some time. However, it is recommended you always use the latest version available for the version of Windows in use to get the best performance and reliability.

For more information on our support for the Terminal Server and Citrix platforms, please take a look at the white paper found at the following link:

Using BarTender With Terminal Services and Citrix MetaFrame

A : To set the printing preferences for a particular label, you should open the Print dialog of the application in use, and then click the Document Properties button (assuming you are using BarTender). The settings for adjusting printer settings will be located in different areas in this properties window depending on the printer manufacturer, model, and printer driver in use. When printing with BarTender, make sure you save the label format, so that these settings are kept for the next time you wish to open and print the labels.

A : No it does not. You may use the bar code fonts of the printer driver in any application you want, without the need to install BarTender. We do however suggest you use BarTender for your bar code generation as the bar code fonts are limited in use and are not "WYSIWYG."

A : When you open the Printing Preferences dialog by right-clicking on the printer driver icon in the Printers and Faxes folder of Windows, you are able to simply change the default settings of the driver for that particular user of the PC. When a new document is created, the settings will start off using the same settings found in the Printing Preferences dialog.

BarTender saves a copy of these printing preference settings with the label design. In this way the settings can be adjusted on a per label design basis, without the different settings interfering with each other. When you make a change from within BarTender, you will only be modifying the settings embedded into the label design, rather than the general printing preferences of the Windows user. Because the print settings are considered part of the label design, they can be used by any computer that has an equivalent printer driver installed. The printer settings for each label in BarTender are accessed through the Print dialog by clicking the Document Properties button.

A : This is typically caused by having the wrong resolution printer driver for your printer. Many times, a printer manufacturer may have versions of the same model with different printer resolutions. If you have a lower resolution printer (i.e. 203dpi) and are using a higher resolution printer driver (i.e. 300dpi), the print on the label will be larger than what shows on the screen.

The opposite applies if you're using a higher resolution printer (i.e. 300dpi), with a lower resolution printer driver (i.e. 203dpi). In this case, the printer would print everything much smaller than what you see on the screen.

The solution for this problem is to make sure that the printer driver you've installed for your printer is the same resolution as your printer.

A : Many printing problems can be resolved by following the Printer driver self-help located in the Help system of your Seagull printer driver.

A : Commander currently supports the use of a file, email and TCP/IP socket trigger. Any data in the file, email or TCP/IP socket trigger needs to be in a delimited format that BarTender can read. This can include an SAP IDoc or Oracle XML in addition to standard ASCII text files such as CSV.

Optionally the trigger can contain BarTender XML Script, which allows you to dynamically insert commands, instructing BarTender which label format to load, which printer to print to, how many labels to print, etc. For more information on Commander, please take a look at the two Commander white papers found at the links below.

Commander Overview Whitepaper

Commander Examples Whitepaper

A : "Commander Variables" are used to provide specific information about the trigger at time of task execution.

Among other uses, these variables can be used to specify such things as the text file name, the IDoc file name, the trigger file contents, and additional command parameters.

Most commonly the "%Trigger File Name%" Commander Variable is used to specify to BarTender that the file that Commander detected and renamed is the same data file to use with the label format when printing. For more information on Commander, please take a look at the two Commander white papers found at the links below.

Commander Overview Whitepaper

Commander Examples Whitepaper

A : Commander has been designed to be fully scalable. Indeed the main limitation when using Commander is the limitation imposed by the hardware of the computer in use. You may create as many tasks as you wish, however you should bear in mind that each task runs in its own thread, each of which consumes processor time and memory.

If you are using more than 10-20 different tasks, you should instead consider using BarTender XML Script or Commander Script to dynamically write the BarTender commands in the trigger file when it is produced by the requesting system. For more information on Commander, please take a look at the two Commander white papers found at the links below.

Commander Overview Whitepaper

Commander Examples Whitepaper

A : By default the Commander service runs under the Local System account. This is a special Windows account that is used for internal processes of Windows including services. You will often find that this account does not have sufficient access or permissions to use network resources such as files, folders or printers.

On such occasions, within Commander you can have the BarTender command handler run the BarTender processes under a specified user account. Select the Detection>BarTender Command Handler Setup menu item. Under the Logon tab, enter an account for BarTender to use that has sufficient network access and permissions.

A : BarTender Automation editions (including Automation and Enterprise Automation) connect to the Seagull License Server (SLS) via TCP/IP network communication, in particular using the UDP protocol. This is the case even if BarTender and SLS are installed on the same PC.

When starting, BarTender contacts SLS, if SLS is not found then BarTender goes into "Grace Period" (see "Regarding Grace Period" immediately below). When printing, BarTender sends a message to SLS asking if it is licensed to print to the requested printer. SLS responds either with a "yes" or "no" depending on the current printer license status. If the answer is "yes", then the printer license is either added or updated with a new "Time last printed" date/time stamp, or if the answer is "no" then BarTender will go into "Grace Period" (see note just below). When printing, BarTender prints directly to the requested printer port.

Regarding "Grace Period": Grace Period allows the user to print from BarTender up to 72 hours since BarTender last made a connection with Seagull License Server. After the 72 hour grace period, if BarTender has not reconnected with Seagull License Server, BarTender will refuse to print, print-preview, or export. Reconnecting BarTender with License Server resets the 72 hour Grace Period and allows the user to print.

A : As BarTender Automation editions communicate with Seagull License Server (SLS) via TCP/IP network connections, it is necessary to allow the communications to pass through the Windows firewall. To allow this, open the Windows Firewall (found in the Windows Control Panel) and click the Exceptions tab, then click the Add Program button and add the BarTender application "bartend.exe". For the PC running SLS, add both the License Server application "sls.exe" and the service "slssrv.exe."

A : From the BarTender window, select the Administer>Licensing Setup menu item. Uncheck the Automatically find Seagull License Server checkbox and specify either the host name or IP address of the computer running the Seagull License Server.

A : Install a copy of the Seagull License Server on your remote PC from where you wish to administer the license server. Next select the Actions>Connect to remote Seagull License Server menu item, and select the address and port number of the PC on which the remote license server is running.

Alternatively, you could run a license server "command line" command using the "/remote" switch option. As the computer running license server is remote from where you wish to administer it, you should use a UNC path to specify the application's location. See the following example, which may be entered via the Windows Start>Run dialog.

\\ComputerName\ShareName\sls.exe /remote

A : Starting with BarTender 9.01, a "Grace Period" was introduced that allows the BarTender software to continue printing for 72 hours in the event that it loses communication with the Seagull License Server. For most customers, this allows for enough time to resolve a possible problem without losing the ability to produce labels.

If you are not comfortable with the grace period solution, you can purchase a second license to use as a backup or as a full separate license on another network. If you decide to run a second Seagull License Server as a backup on the same network, you need to specify the exact address of the "Preferred" and "Alternate" Seagull License Server under the "License Management" tab within BarTender.

A : Automation editions of BarTender (including Automation and Enterprise Automation) are licensed based on the number of printers to be used by BarTender on the network. Seagull License Server keeps track of the number of printers in use within a 7-day period. After each print request from BarTender, SLS adds or updates the date/time stamp for a printer in the Used Printer list. A printer that has been added to the Used Printer list remains there until it has not been used for 7 days, at which point it is automatically removed from the Used Printer list, thus freeing a printer license.

Once the number of used printers has already reached the maximum limit specified by an Automation or Enterprise Automation edition license and SLS receives a message that BarTender is attempting to use a printer not already in the Used Printer list, SLS will enter into the "30-day, Printer Limit Exceeded Grace Period" (See Licensing white paper for details). At this point the message "You have exceeded your maximum number of licensed printers" will appear. In such a case, you may consider purchasing a "Printer Add-on" upgrade. (Please contact your BarTender reseller or nearest Seagull Scientific sales office for details.)

You can get more information on Automation edition printer licensing from the white paper at the following link:

White Paper on Licensing for Bartender's Automation Editions

A : The device driver for the HASP hardware key (or dongle) sometimes may not install correctly. Also, from BarTender version 7.75 build 2003 and higher, the HASP key device driver is not automatically installed as part of the BarTender installation. You will need to install this separately if you are using a hardware key. The device driver can be found in the Key folder of the BarTender CD. The device driver installed by older versions of BarTender (v7.10 and below) might encounter compatibility problems with newer versions or updates of Windows, such as XP, 2003 server, Vista and later versions.

In such cases you should download and install the latest HASP device driver from the Seagull FTP site at the link below:

HASP Driver Download

A : Yes, we offer both USB and parallel keys. Be sure to specify your desired hardware key type at the time of your order. (Otherwise, by default, we will ship you a USB hardware key.)

If you already have a parallel key and wish to swap for a USB key this is possible also. In such a case, please get in touch with your local Seagull sales representative who will inform you of the costs involved.

Please note that the USB key device has no "pass-through" capability, so once plugged in, it will occupy a USB port on your PC. (A parallel port hardware key does offer "pass-through" capability, meaning you can plug another device, such as a printer, into the back of the hardware key so data will pass through. However, this may cause technical issues and therefore we do not recommend it.)

A : Make sure the latest device driver for the key has been installed and the key is securely connected to the PC. If the "Key not found" error still appears then it is possible that the key is faulty.

In such a situation, please contact our technical support department. A technician will determine whether the key is indeed faulty and if so, will arrange to send you a replacement key.

A : If you are using BarTender v7.10 or older, the software is activated by the activation code programmed into the key. Sometimes this code becomes corrupt, and can give incorrect information such as edition, number of users, or number of printers licensed. In such circumstances press the "F9" key in BarTender or Seagull License Server, and communicate to a Seagull technician the "Key ID" and "Current key settings" as displayed in the dialog that opens. With this information, the Seagull technician can provide you information to reprogram the key and fix it.

A : Either click the purple "RFID object" in the BarTender toolbar, or drag-and-drop a predefined RFID object onto the label from the Standard RFID tab of the toolbox. Both these actions will cause an RFID object to appear off to the side of your label and open the RFID properties dialog.

If there is a particular RFID standard you are looking for, please see the list of predefined RFID standards and formats in the Standard RFID tab of BarTender's toolbox. Alternatively, see the list of available RFID formats in the "Data Format Type" list box found in the RFID tab of the RFID Object Properties dialog box.

A : BarTender supports a whole range of tag types including the most up to date EPC Global "Gen 2" specifications. Whether or not BarTender can support a given tag type depends mainly on the printer model and the printer driver. We can only support those tag types that the printer supports and we can only do this through the use of a Seagull printer driver for that printer. Make sure the printer driver version is the latest available, as RFID specifications in printers are updated frequently.

Details of the currently supported RFID printers and tags are found at the link below:

List of Supported RFID Printers