How to print barcodes from a CSV file on Windows

Prepare a spreadsheet the printer can trust

Export or save as CSV (comma-separated). Use a header row with short names you will recognise: sku, name, price, serial. Avoid merged cells, two header rows, or numbers stored as dates.

• One row per label.
• The barcode column contains the value to encode, not a picture of a barcode.
• Keep SKUs as text if they have leading zeros. Excel will drop them unless you format the column as text before you export.

Design the label once

Set the physical size to match your stock. Place the text and barcode where they should print, with enough quiet space around the barcode to scan. For product labels, Code 128 is a safe default for SKUs; EAN-13 or UPC-A if you are putting goods through retail checkout that expects those symbologies.

Bind columns in Label Studio

Label Studio can import a CSV and fill text and barcode fields from each row.

1. Design the template on the canvas.
2. In text or barcode elements, use placeholders such as {{sku}} or {{price}} that match your column headers.
3. Open Data Merge (Import CSV) and load the file.
4. Check the preview against a few rows, especially the first, last and one with a long name.
5. Print one label and scan it. Only then batch print.

If a barcode will not scan, it is usually too small, the wrong symbology, or the value still has a space or a missing leading zero. Fix the CSV or the field, not the printer darkness, until a phone camera can read it.

Printer choice

Batch jobs on Zebra-class thermal printers are faster over ZPL II on the local network. Desktop printers with a Windows driver still work; they rasterise each label, so a long run is slower. Details: ZPL versus Windows drivers.

Templates save as .label files on your PC. Nothing is uploaded. Label Studio is on the Microsoft Store for Windows 10 and 11.