Forum Discussion
Bar Code label problems
The issue of barcodes not printing properly after updates is a common problem, especially with Office 365 (Microsoft 365)
After Office updates, sometimes specific fonts (like barcode fonts) are either corrupted, replaced, or even removed during the update process. (Reinstall barcode fonts and ensure embedding.)
Updates to Office 365 may create incompatibilities with printer drivers, leading to incorrect barcode rendering or misprints. (Update printer drivers.)
Automatic updates of Windows or Office can cause issues with how barcodes are rendered and printed.
Roll back or reconfigure Office updates.
Sometimes, updates reset or change print settings, such as print quality, which can affect how fonts are rendered. (Check printer settings for print quality.)
If your Office document is in Compatibility Mode (e.g., saved in an older Word format like .doc
(Ensure that font substitution is not occurring.)
Save the file in a modern format (e.g., .docx).
Repair Microsoft Office installation.
First, I am in Access, not Word. I cannot save as a .docx. Next, if this is a known bug, why isn't Access IT working hard to correct the problem? This is NOT something that users should have to live with!
Sorry for miss understanding as i was busy on lots of project at that time therefore miss understood in quick reading and apologize for that.
Can you please check the below:
The barcode fonts used (e.g., Code 128 or 3 of 9) might have been impacted by updates, similar to other Office products. Reinstalling these fonts on the machine can often solve issues related to rendering.
Make sure to install the fonts as an administrator to apply them system-wide.
Microsoft Access doesn’t natively support font embedding in the same way as Word or Excel. However, when using barcodes in reports, ensure that the barcode font is properly installed on any machine where the report will be printed.
If you are generating Access reports on a different machine than the one used to design the report, make sure that the barcode font is installed on all machines where printing is required.
Access relies heavily on printer drivers to generate its reports. A recent Office update could have affected compatibility with your current printer driver.
Ensure that your printer driver is up-to-date. Check your printer manufacturer's website and download the latest driver to ensure compatibility with Office 365 updates.
Sometimes Access reports are better printed indirectly to avoid rendering issues:
Export the report as a PDF and then print the PDF file. This can help eliminate issues where the printer isn’t correctly processing the barcode fonts directly from Access.
Test whether the barcode is correctly displayed in both Print Preview and Report View in Access. If it shows properly in one and not the other, it could indicate that the issue is specific to how Access is interacting with the printer driver in the preview mode.
Sometimes using a third-party Barcode Control Add-in can help alleviate issues with barcode fonts.
Controls like ActiveX Barcode Controls or third-party add-ins can be used to generate barcodes without relying on specific fonts, which could be impacted by font rendering changes during updates.
Sometimes issues are caused by the Windows Font Cache becoming corrupted or outdated:
You can reset or clear the font cache by navigating to the C:\Windows\System32\FNTCACHE.DAT file and deleting it. Windows will rebuild this cache on the next startup.
Check if your Access version is fully updated. Sometimes, missing patches can lead to incompatibilities between Access and Office’s most recent versions.
You could also try running Access in Compatibility Mode (e.g., Windows 8 mode) to see if this makes any difference in how fonts are rendered in reports.
Go to Devices and Printers > right-click your printer > Printer Properties > Advanced tab > change the Print Processor, sometimes changing from the default print processor to a different one helps with special fonts.
If the problem is specifically with label reports in Access:
Check the Label Layout: Ensure that the label height and width are set correctly for the printer.
Margins: Adjusting margins sometimes can improve barcode rendering quality.Please be more polite. It's not an Access Problem. We are not your IT support.
You didn't tell us which font is used and provided no details about how the printout looks (everybody has a smartphone nowadays). We can not help you if you don't describe your problem properly.
If you used the "Code 39 Logitogo" font, your Word may have used the wrong language.
Word 2013 and later can generate barcodes (with MERGEBARCOE or DISPLAYBARCODE) without external dependency.
To test if your Word can do this, press CTRL+F9, insert DISPLAYBARCODE "0123456789" Code39 and then press Alt+F9.Please back read first.
Maxine already mentioned that she is doing it in MS Access and not in Word.
I see. Sorry, Maxine.
Access reports can be tightly coupled to the printer driver used. Those might have been updated automatically by Windows Update or other software.
In the past, I have used Zint (open source) https://sourceforge.net/projects/zint/ or StrokeScribe (paid) https://strokescribe.com/ with Access reports.
Every Access DB, every report and every form has a theme. Office Updates can change the fonts used in a report by updating the default theme.
The theme name can be seen with VBA-Code in the report property ThemeResourceName. "[Use DB Theme]" is the default.The DB theme is stored in "%APPDATA%\Roaming\Microsoft\Access\System.mdw" Property "Theme Resource Name" and is a per-user setting that applies to all databases opened by the user.
