Print inventory and barcode labels on Zebra printers from Excel

Every warehouse and stockroom needs scannable labels: SKU barcodes on shelves, bin location tags, receiving stickers, cycle-count labels. Doing this in Word mail merge produces unscannable barcodes. Zebra thermal + proper symbology + spreadsheet batch = fast accurate inventory.

Prepare your inventory spreadsheet

sku,description,barcode,bin,qty
A-100,Widget Pro,012345678905,A-14,240
B-200,Gadget Lite,012345678912,B-02,85

Export as CSV UTF-8 from Excel. Barcode column as Text format (preserve leading zeros).

Design the inventory label

1. 2×1 in or 3×2 in artboard (common bin label sizes).
2. Add CODE128 or EAN-13 barcode, value = {{barcode}}.
3. Text: {{description}}, smaller line SKU {{sku}} · Bin {{bin}}.
4. Optional QR with {{sku}} for mobile lookup apps.
5. Load CSV, preview, batch print.

Choosing barcode format

• EAN-13 / UPC-A — retail products with valid check digits
• CODE128 — internal SKUs, alphanumeric, most flexible for warehouses
• CODE39 — legacy WMS systems

Bin/shelf layouts with shapes: warehouse labeling guide. Excel workflow: CSV batch print.