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Walkthrough: Creating ISBN Barcodes in Barcode Generator

This walktrough describes how to create ISBN barcodes using the BlitzTools Barcode Generator. If you don't have the software installed, please download the trial version using the link in the sidebar to the right. The trial is fully functional so that you can follow all steps of this tutorial. The screenshots below show the Barcode Generator V3 under Mac OS X. Handling of the software under Windows and in the older V2 version is identical.

Introduction to ISBN Barcodes

(Taken from our know how article about EAN / ISBN)

ISBN (International Serial Book Number) allow for the world-wide unique identification of books and other printed matters. For an explanation on how the numbers are constructed and the process of obtaining an ISBN for your products, please see ISBN.org. To encode an ISBN in barcode form, Code EAN 13 is used. By prepending the prefix of "978" and appending the EAN checksum, the 10-digit ISBN can be encoded using EAN barcodes (our software handles all necessary conversion steps automatically.)

ISBN barcodes are always a.) created with a check digit and b.) do only encode numerical data, i.e. the digits 0-9. The hyphens contained in an ISBN are not encoded into the code and will be stripped from the number by Barcode Generator automatically.

ISBN 13 codes are already correctly formatted with prefix and check digit so that they can be encoded into a barcode without further changes. With ISBN 10 codes, the last digit is the ISBN check digit, not the EAN 13 check digit. Likewise, the prefix is missing; therefore, to create a proper ISBN 10 barcode, the software will strip the ISBN check digit, prepend the "978" prefix and then calculate the EAN 13 check digit. Please see our know how article on EAN /ISBN for more info.

Launch Barcode Generator. All settings are made in the main window of the software:

Barcode Generator Main Screen

To create a Code ISBN set the properties as follows:
  • Select Code ISBN 10 or Code ISBN 13 from the list of barcode symbologies
  • Select the required size. SC2 is the normal size (100%) resulting in a barode that is approximately 26 mm high and 20 mm wide
  • If the code comes out too high for your situation (not uncommon with EAN) you can reduce the height without compromising the quality and readability of the code. The height reduction can be set between 0 and 80%. Rule of thumb: ISBN codes should at least be 15mm high.
  • Enter your ISBN into the field "data to encode".

    For ISBN 10: the 10-digit ISBN. Enter the complete number, including the hyphens, e.g. "1-123-12345-X".

    For ISBN 13: the 13-digit ISBN. Enter the complete number, including the hyphens, e.g. "978-1-123-12345-6".

    If so required enter the five digit add-on.

    Hit Enter.
  • Per the standard ISBN barcodes are always created with human readable text. The size and position of the text are determined from the selected SC size but the font can be chosen freely. For ISBN we recommend using an OCR B font.

    Barcode Generator provides dedicated support for this popular freeware OCR B font.
The upper half of the window should look like this:

Barcode Generator ISBN 1

A preview of the barcode is presented in the lower half of the application window:

Barcode Generator ISBN 2

You can now export the created code to a file. What file format to choose depends on your application. In most cases it's save to go with EPS (preset in the software) as it is a resolution independent vector format.

ISBN barcode tips
  • The barcode must not be resized after creation, if you need another size, delete the code and create a new one
  • EAN barcodes are always created black on white, it's not recommended to later change the color of the barcode
  • The code is created with a guard-zone of about 5 mm to all sides. Do not strip this zone or overlay it with other content
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