4 Common Pitfalls for Document Barcode Extraction

Summary: Barcodes are key to streamlining processes like inventory management, point-of-sale, and supply chain operations. In digital workflows, barcode extraction tools—often powered by barcode SDKs—automate data capture from scanned documents. By automating extraction, barcode SDKs reduce human error, ensuring more accurate data capture and eliminating the potential for mistakes that can occur with manual entry or misreads, ultimately enhancing overall efficiency and reliability in workflows.

In a variety of industries, barcodes play a critical role in streamlining inventory, point-of-sale, and overall supply chain management. However, when documents or images containing barcodes find their way into digital workflows, it’s important to have a solution to extract data from barcodes in digital files.

While barcodes are ubiquitously used in real-time scanning such as scanning UPC codes for inventory management or scanning shipping labels for logistics, barcodes also appear in digitized documents.

Extracting the data from digitized barcodes can enable faster, automated data entry in applications such as bringing information into relevant systems such as healthcare or inventory systems, supporting efficient and secure data management across workflows.

For example, in the financial industry, barcoded documents can be more easily indexed, improving quality. Barcodes on these documents may include details such as document type, account holder ID, account numbers, or dates. QR codes are commonly used for this purpose.

For accounts payable in many organizations, invoices and bills are scanned and processed for approvals. Using barcode cover sheets, invoices can be routed to the correct department for secure and reliable indexing. Automated barcode extraction speeds and enables this automated process, enhancing productivity.

In the insurance industry, QR codes and other barcode formats are used on claim forms, for example, to help automated systems route and index these forms, with information such as form type, user ID, and dates encoded. In addition, mailed documents may include generated QR codes for customers to scan and visit a webpage for additional resources.

Find out more about choosing a Barcode SDK.

In efforts to provide this functionality, users often face common errors related to barcode data extraction, which can lead to operational inefficiencies, delays, and manual interventions. Here are four common pitfalls that can arise using barcode extraction for images and PDF documents. When considering barcode SDK options, it’s important to consider these common issues to ensure the selected solution is up to the task.

Problem: This occurs when the barcode extraction module fails to detect the barcode or interprets data incorrectly. Common causes include damaged, poorly printed, or misaligned barcodes, as well as skewed, blurred or distorted digital images.

Possible Causes:

Mitigation Considerations:

To minimize these issues, your barcode extraction SDK must perform pre-processing of the file to deskew, despeckle and optimize the quality of the file to improve detection and extraction. In addition, some SDKs allow for file DPI or resolution to be adjusted to aid detection and processing.

Problem: Barcodes come in a massive variety of formats, depending on data requirements, industry standards, and use case. If the barcode extraction software isn't configured to support all relevant barcode types, it can lead to extraction failures.

Possible Causes:

Mitigation Considerations:

Ensure that your selected Barcode SDK supports the barcode types you need, as well as additional formats for future flexibility. Broad format support ensures compatibility across different industries and applications.

Problem: Adding extraction capability to your application may be needed to help enable document processing workflows, but using multiple SDK vendors in one application may lead to integration and compatibility issues. 

Mitigation Considerations:

Consider selecting an SDK which includes other document processing functionality, to streamline document workflows such as document generation, data extraction, PDF viewing, and OCR for a unified workflow.

Processing a high volume of documents and the barcodes they contain requires a scalable solution. Bottlenecks can arise from insufficient processing power or storage, as well as license issues.

Mitigation Considerations:

A server-side solution doesn’t require client devices to have processing power to quickly extract barcode data. In addition, a barcode SDK which exports data to a usable format such as JSON makes integration with other systems easier.

Check out the Beginner’s Guide to Barcode Extraction 

To mitigate barcode extraction problems in workflows involving barcodes contained in files such as images and PDFs, the right solution helps avoid these common pitfalls and set users up for success. Vendor consolidation is one way to ensure that your barcode SDK solution plays nice with other document processing tasks, such as viewing, digital signatures, document creation and editing, for example.

By addressing these challenges, developers can help users maintain smooth operations, reduce manual errors, and enhance productivity.

To learn more about our Barcode SDK solutions, visit our documentation page.