QR Code & Data Matrix Labels for Shopify

LabelCraft - barcode labels for Shopify that print at exactly the size you set.

The guarantees behind every label

Exact to ±0.1 mm

Every label prints at the size you set - measured, not approximate.

Never a silent failure

Overflow or a missing barcode always raises a visible warning before you print.

Whole dots in native ZPL

Native ZPL puts every bar on whole printer dots. Bars under 2 dots wide, or PDF EAN/UPC bars thinner than the GS1 minimum, raise a warning.

Blanks filled, fixes on request

We only write to your barcodes that were empty when we read them, unless you ask us to fix them.

Most retail labels carry a one-dimensional barcode - an EAN-13, UPC-A or Code 128 - that a checkout scanner reads as a single number. A 2D code stores far more in a small square and can hold a web link, so a shopper or a staff member can scan it with a phone. LabelCraft prints two 2D symbologies on your Shopify labels: QR Code and Data Matrix.

QR code or 1D barcode - which should a label use?

Keep a 1D retail barcode (EAN or UPC, or Code 128 for an internal SKU) whenever the label is scanned at a till - that is what point-of-sale scanners expect. Reach for a QR code when you want the label to link somewhere: the product page, a how-to video, a reorder form, or a review request. A QR also packs more characters into a smaller space than a linear barcode, which helps on a crowded label.

Add a QR code to a label

Open a template in Templates and select (or add) a barcode element.
In the element's Format selector choose QR Code (or Data Matrix). A 2D code prints as a square with no human-readable number beneath it, so the "show barcode number" option doesn't apply to it.
Pick what the code encodes (see below) and save. The live preview redraws the code as you change it.

Make the QR open your product page

By default a QR code encodes the same value as the barcode - the variant's barcode number. LabelCraft adds a "QR code links to" choice so a scan can instead open your storefront: Barcode value (default), Product page, or Product page (this variant) - the last opens the exact size or colour. Scanning the printed QR with any phone camera then opens that page. If a product is not published to your online store, LabelCraft skips that one QR with a warning rather than printing a broken link. This storefront link is a QR feature; Data Matrix always encodes the barcode value.

Data Matrix for very small items

Data Matrix is a 2D code built for tiny labels - jewelry tags, cosmetics, electronics, and medical (UDI) marking - where a QR or a linear barcode won't fit. It packs the same kind of data into an even smaller square. Like a QR code it carries no human-readable line, so the whole element is the code itself.

Will it scan at this size?

A 2D code reads only when its smallest cell (its module) prints as a whole number of printer dots and the square is large enough for a scanner to resolve. LabelCraft puts every module of a QR code or Data Matrix on whole dots at the template's DPI, your printer's own when the two match, prints the label to within 0.1 mm of its size and never silently shrinks a code below the size it needs to scan: if a QR or Data Matrix is too small to scan, it is flagged before the labels print instead of printed as an unreadable square. The editor also flags a 2D code that drops below the smallest scannable size as you build it. See 203 vs 300 DPI and why a barcode won't scan.

Scanning by a customer's phone deserves one extra margin: a store-link QR that clears every hard floor can still be fiddly to scan if its modules print finer than about 0.4 mm - on a 203 dpi thermal label that means giving a product-link QR a box of about 16.6 mm or more, and bigger never hurts. A shorter link helps too: the product page encodes a coarser, more forgiving grid than the variant link. LabelCraft flags a store-link QR whose box makes even the shortest possible store link print finer than this, while you build the template and again before printing.

Install free - 200 labels per month →

More guides: GS1 barcodes, barcode won't scan, price tags - or contact LabelCraft support.

Related guides

Not ready to install? Try the no-install demo and measure a real label

Still stuck after this guide? Get help from a human