Forum Discussion
Strange GS1 barcode reading error on Excel (but not on Word!)
- I guess the codes are converted to scientific notation because they are more than the allowed maximum 15 significant digits in Excel. I hope that the GTIN, Lot Number, and Expiry Date could be exported to Excel in separate columns.
I haven't encountered the exact problem. I am wondering what is distinctive (unusual, setting them apart) about those 5% of the barcodes? Are they longer than the other 95%, for example? Are the barcodes all totally numeric or do some of them include letters or other figures?
Just from diagnostic experience, there has to be something different about those that aren't scanning properly, especially if they consistently scan with resulting scientific notation. Excel does have a limit of 15 digits in a number according to this page: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/excel-specifications-and-limits-1672b34d-7043-467e-8e27-269d656771c3
So it's likely that your 5% are exceeding that. Word is only dealing with them as text.
Thank you for your reply.
-Actually, the number of digits are almost identical across all barcodes (they're all more than 15 digits).
-They include letters and numbers PRIOR to being converted to the 2D matrix barcodes.
-They consist of 14-digit GTIN number, Lot number, and expiration date.
-Again, 100% of the barcodes scan perfectly/correctly in Word. But in Excel, about 5% have this strange issue. They show up as scientific notation with the last several digits (lot # and expiry date) showing up as all zeros (...0000000000000)- which is incorrect.