threadcount-community/docs/manual/apps/scanning-and-browsers.md

title, section, order, summary, role, keywords

title	section	order	summary	role	keywords
Scanning and browsers	apps	3	USB scanners, the barcode formats ThreadCount reads, which browsers can scan with the camera, the Android scanner, and what happens with a code it doesn't know.	Admin or Issuer	scan, scanner, barcode, usb, camera, counter, stock count, unknown barcode dialog, product lookup, chrome, edge, safari, firefox, iphone, ean, upc, code 128, unknown barcode, bind, label, print

ThreadCount reads a barcode from a USB scanner, the camera in a supported browser, or the scanner built into the Android counter app. Wherever you can scan, you can also type the code.

USB scanners

A USB scanner that types the code and then presses Enter works with any browser. In the portal these boxes accept one:

Screen	Box
Stock › Count	Scan to count +1
Counter, in Issue mode	Scan a garment, or type a name, in Add garments
Stock › Scan to add	Scan with a USB scanner, or type the code and press Enter
A garment's Scan sizes	The prompt names the size to scan next

Scan to add and Scan sizes bind codes, and only Admins see them.

You can also scan with no box selected. The portal takes 4 or more keys, each within 35 ms of the last and ending in Enter, as a scan. A staff number opens that person at the Counter. A garment goes into the pickup when the counter has a person open, adds 1 on Stock › Count, and otherwise opens the garment's page. See Keyboard and scanner.

Formats it reads

Camera scanning, in the browser and in the Android app, reads these formats only:

• EAN-13 and EAN-8
• UPC-A and UPC-E
• Code 128, Code 39 and Code 93

ITF and Codabar are left out: with no check digit, a partial read can pass as a different code. No 2D codes are read.

A USB scanner or a typed code isn't limited to that list. In Scan to add, a 13-, 12-, 8- or 14-digit code has its check digit tested. If it fails, you see check digit doesn't match — the scan may have mis-read.

Camera scanning in a browser

In a browser, the camera reads barcodes with the browser's built-in barcode detector.

Browser	Camera scanning
Chrome	Yes
Edge	Yes
Safari on iPhone or iPad	No
Firefox	No

Where the camera opens but the browser can't read barcodes, the screen says Live reading isn't supported here — type the code instead. With no camera access at all, it says This browser has no camera access — type the code instead. On an iPhone, type the code or use a USB scanner.

The Android scanner

Inside the ThreadCount Android app, the phone's own scanner reads the code. If the app can't load it, the browser detector is used.

When counting a shelf, scanning stays on until you press Stop scanning. The same code again within 0.9 seconds counts as the same garment still in view. Beep and buzz on a scan in More › Settings turns the sound and vibration on or off for that phone.

The ThreadCount Staff app has no scanner.

Codes ThreadCount doesn't know

A code is known once it is bound to one size of one garment. In the counter app, an unknown code gives:

• Counting a shelf: isn't a garment ThreadCount knows. Bind it to a size first. A known code from another shelf names that shelf instead.
• Issuing: isn't a garment ThreadCount knows. Nothing is added.
• Search: the code is put in the search box.

In the portal:

• Stock › Count: the Unknown barcode dialog opens. An Admin binds the code there; an Issuer is told only an admin can bind it.
• Counter: an Admin gets the same dialog; an Issuer sees No garment has and the code.
• Scanned with no box selected: the search panel opens with No person or garment has and the code, and Admins get Bind it to a garment.
• Scan to add: you can start a new product from the code, or attach it to a size you already have.

With Look up unknown barcodes in public databases ticked in Settings › Catalogue & suppliers, Scan to add first asks a public barcode database for a product name. With it off, nothing leaves the server.

A code can be on one size only. Binding one already on another garment is refused unless you choose to move it. See Barcodes.

Printing ThreadCount barcodes

For garments that arrived without a barcode, an Admin opens the garment from Stock and chooses Generate barcodes from its menu. Each size without a code gets one of ThreadCount's own. These are EAN-13 codes starting 29, a prefix for use inside one business, with a real check digit. A size with a supplier's code keeps it.

Print labels, in the same menu, asks you to confirm the count, then prints one label per garment on hand for each size with a code, two to a row on A4. With none to print, the sheet says why. A 13-digit code with a valid check digit prints as EAN-13, and any other code prints as Code 128.

Reprint a label in the counter app prints 1 to 24 copies of one size's label. It only lists sizes with a barcode bound to them. It prints from a phone browser. Inside the Android app the button reads Print it on the desktop, because that app can't print.

Careful A garment without a readable barcode drops out of every scanned count. Reprint worn labels before the next stocktake.