Create QR codes and barcodes from worksheet cells

Quick answer

In PlanMaker 2024 Professional or NX Universal, choose Insert > Objects > QR code/Barcode frame, select a code type, and use a cell’s content as the input. The result is a picture-frame object. Inspect its stored data and scan the output; do not assume a later cell edit automatically regenerates it.

Scope and practice values

This guide uses the paid Windows desktop version with the English ribbon. The 2024 help limits this feature to SoftMaker Office Professional and NX Universal. It does not establish availability in Standard, FreeOffice, or a later release. Mobile has separate locked-command rules and is outside this exercise.

Create a disposable workbook with A1 QR payload, A2 DEMO-ROOM-7, B1 EAN input, and B2 containing the twelve digits 400638133393. This is synthetic practice data, not a commercial product-registration exercise. A readable barcode does not establish ownership of an official product identifier.

The QR payload is plain text, deliberately not a website. Scanning it should reveal that exact text without asking you to open an unfamiliar destination. If you later encode a real URL, inspect its full domain and spelling before generating or distributing the code. A QR image can conceal an unwanted destination just as easily as a useful one.

Insert the QR object

1. Choose Insert > Objects > QR code/Barcode frame.
2. In Type, choose QR code.
3. With the dialog open, select A2 to use its content as the desired data, or enter DEMO-ROOM-7 directly in the input field.
4. Verify the input text, then click Insert.
5. Move the resulting picture frame into clear space away from the data by dragging it. Resize using its handles without crushing it into an unreadable shape.

Leave a separate human-readable label beside the picture: Practice code: DEMO-ROOM-7. That label is not evidence of the encoded payload. The next inspection step checks the object itself rather than trusting nearby text.

Right-click the object and choose Picture:Properties. Open the QR code/Barcode tab and inspect both the code type and stored data. They should match your intended QR text. Close the dialog without changing it, then use an approved scanner to read the image from the screen. Record the decoded text exactly. This is a proposed reader test; no scan was performed during authoring.

Check a changed source value

Change A2 to DEMO-ROOM-8. Inspect the picture’s stored payload again and scan it again. The source documents using a cell to supply input but do not promise a live cell-to-object binding. Therefore treat the object as needing explicit verification after any input change.

If its stored payload remains DEMO-ROOM-7, change it in Picture:Properties > QR code/Barcode to DEMO-ROOM-8 and confirm the dialog. Re-scan: the desired new result is DEMO-ROOM-8. If your exact build behaves differently, record that observed behavior rather than assuming it applies to every version.

Update the human-readable label only after the object passes the changed-payload check. A new label next to an old code is a common and particularly misleading failure. Restore the original payload if you want to retain the initial fixture.

Add a linear barcode with a check digit

Repeat the insert command and choose Barcode EAN-13. Supply B2’s twelve digits. The thirteenth digit is generated by PlanMaker, so do not feed it an already-complete thirteen-digit number in this dialog.

For 400638133393, the odd-position sum of the twelve input digits is 20 and the even-position sum is 23. The weighted total is 20 + 3×23 = 89. The digit needed to reach the next multiple of ten is 1, so the expected complete code is 4006381333931. Scan the result and compare all thirteen digits, not just the last one.

As a deliberate invalid-input check, try the thirteen-digit value only in the disposable insert dialog, observe the rejection or validation behavior, then cancel. Do not invent a particular error-message string. Return to the valid twelve-digit input. EAN-8 similarly takes seven input digits and adds the eighth check digit; it is not a way to squeeze arbitrary text into a smaller symbol.

If your task needs letters, choose a type that supports them, such as Barcode128. Its With text option can display the payload beneath the barcode. That option belongs to Barcode128, not every code type.

Save and verify the actual output

Save the workbook under a distinct practice filename. Close and reopen it, inspect both objects’ properties, and repeat a scan. For a separate image, the properties dialog’s Export button saves a PNG copy. Exporting creates a separate artifact: after changing the workbook object, generate a new PNG rather than assuming the old file updates.

If printing is part of the real task, inspect and scan the final printout at its intended size. Screen readability does not prove a low-resolution, compressed or resized print will work. Avoid placing text or graphics over the code. Retain readable labels for people who cannot scan it.

No native object, scan, print or PNG was generated for this manuscript.

Official references

The official source is SoftMaker’s PlanMaker 2024 QR codes and barcodes help.