Generate Barcodes in Microsoft Access – StrokeScribe ActiveX Guide

Table of Contents

An example of how to create barcodes in Microsoft Access with ActiveX-based version of our barcode generator.

The example does not require any codig and does not use barcode fonts.

The example works fine for reports that contain less than 2000 barcodes.

Requirements

How to Proceed

To create barcodes in Microsoft Access using StrokeScribe ActiveX, you first need to add the control to a report. Open your Access report in Design View, then go to the "Controls" section and insert an StrokeScribe ActiveX control. From the list of available controls, select "StrokeScribe Control" and place it in the desired location on the report. Once added, adjust its size to fit your barcode requirements.

With the control selected, open the Property Sheet and navigate to the "Control Source" property to link it to a field in your database that contains the data you want to encode as a barcode.

After linking the control to your data source, configure the barcode type and appearance by modifying the StrokeScribe properties. Open the "Other" tab in the Property Sheet and set the "Alphabet" property to match the barcode format you need, such as Code 128, QR Code, or EAN-13.

You can also customize other settings like barcode size, text visibility, and error correction levels. When you switch to Print Preview, the StrokeScribe control will dynamically generate barcodes based on the linked data field.

This approach ensures that each record in your report displays a unique barcode, making it ideal for inventory management, asset tracking, and automated data entry applications.

Manually Inserting a Barcode in Access Using ActiveX

To create barcodes in Microsoft Access using StrokeScribe ActiveX, you first need to add the control to a report.

In Microsoft Access, on the Design tab, click the More button:

The Design tab in Microsoft Access

Select ActiveX Controls from the dropdown list:

Inserting an ActiveX control in Access

From the list of available objects select "StrokeScribe Control" and then press OK:

The list of available ActiveX controls

Right-click the inserted barcode object and select Properties from the context menu.

On the Property Sheet, switch to the Data tab.

Fill the Control Source property with a field name that contains your barcode data.

Specifying the data source for the barcode object

After linking the control to your data source, configure the barcode type and appearance by modifying the ActiveX properties.

On the Property Sheet, switch to the Other tab. Use the Alphabet property to choose the desired barcode type.

Selecting the barcode type

You can also customize other settings like barcode size, text visibility, and error correction levels. When you switch to Print Preview, the barcode will be dynamically updated based on the linked data field.

Making mobile readable barcodes

If you are planning to use national characters in 2D barcodes, make sure the CodePage property shows a Code Page Identifier value. For smartphone apps, use UTF-8 and specify CodePage=65001.

Choosing a code page for 2D barcode

A list of the most common barcode properties

To customize your barcode, look for these properties in the Property Sheet:

All barcode types

Quiet zones

Barcode-specific properties

I2OF5/ITF14

QR CODE

DATA MATRIX

PDF417

Last modified: 02/Apr/2026
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