Q: 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.
A: 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: