B-Coder works extremely well with all versions of PageMaker and all Microsoft Office applications however there is one important step that you will need to follow in order to insure that all your bar codes will print perfectly from the 32 bit versions of these programs.

The default graphic format used by B-Coder is the standard Windows MetaFile format. (B-Coder also supports many other graphic file formats however the standard MetaFile format is ideal for creating high quality bar code graphics). In all 32 bit versions of Windows, Microsoft has added support for a new MetaFile format called "Enhanced MetaFile". Most 32 bit Windows programs (including Word 97 and PageMaker 6.5) fully support both the WMF and the EMF file formats however Word 97, Excel 97 and all 32 bit versions of PageMaker automatically convert MetaFiles to Enhanced MetaFiles. When you paste bar codes from B-Coder into these programs by selecting "Paste" from their EDIT menu, the bar code will be automatically converted to an Enhanced MetaFile and subsequently may not print correctly. For these applications you must select "Paste Special" and in the "Paste Special" dialog box choose either "Picture" or "MetaFile" (instead of "Enhanced MetaFile") as the format. If you paste bar codes from B-Coder into Word 97 and PageMaker 6.5 using this technique, you will get perfect bar codes every time. Microsoft Access 97 does not support the Enhanced MetaFile format therefore you can simply paste bar codes into Access from B-Coder as you normally would by selecting Edit & Paste.

Technical note:

The Windows MetaFile format is ideal for creating bar codes however the new Enhanced MetaFile format has several major design flaws that render it inadequate for creating extremely high resolution graphics (as required when printing bar codes). Microsoft is purported to be working on a solution to the problems and it is expected that all will be corrected in the next release of Windows. Until the problems are rectified, B-Coder will not support the Enhanced MetaFile graphic format. As soon as they are, we will offer an update to B-Coder that fully supports Enhanced MetaFiles.
Please note that Microsoft has made it clear that it has no intention of ever removing support for the standard MetaFile format therefore you can rest assured that any bar codes that you create today with B-Coder will always print perfectly with any future versions of Windows.

Download our Free Macros for using B-Coder with Word 97/2000.

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