Barcode Macros — One Scan, Multiple Actions

What is a Barcode Macro?

Most shop-floor scan routines repeat the same handful of steps over and over: clear the screen, identify the employee, identify the job, identify the task. Each of those steps is normally its own scan. A Barcode Macro collapses a routine like that into a single printed label. Scan the macro label once, and Standard Time® automatically feeds each of the saved scan values into the scanner input, one after another, exactly as though the employee had scanned or typed each one individually.

The result is fewer labels to search for, fewer scans per clock-in, and less scan fatigue on a busy line — without changing anything about how the underlying scans are processed. Every item in a macro goes through the exact same validation, barcode rules, and required-scan checks as a normal scan. A macro is not a shortcut around the rules — it is a shortcut around the typing.

Comparison showing four separate barcode scans on the left versus one macro scan that expands into the same four scans automatically on the right

How to Open Barcode Macros

Barcode Macros are managed from the same Scan Barcodes page employees use on the shop floor. Right-click anywhere in the scan input, or tap the menu icon in the top-left of the toolbar, to open the context menu.

Admin only: The Barcode Macros menu item is visible to everyone, but opening the grid to view, create, or edit a macro requires an Administrator account. Non-admin employees can still scan a macro's trigger label on the floor and get the full replay — only setting up the macro itself is restricted.

Scan Barcodes page context menu showing Barcode Required Scans, Barcode Defaults, Barcode Macros, Barcode Rules, and Tap To Start menu items

Open the Scan Barcodes page — From the Home screen, click Scan Barcodes.
Open the menu — Click the menu icon in the toolbar (or right-click the scan input) to open the context menu shown above.
Choose Barcode Macros — This opens the Barcode Macros grid, listing every macro already set up.
Click the green "+" button — Creates a new, blank macro ready for configuration.

Creating a Macro

A Barcode Macro has exactly two properties. That simplicity is deliberate — a macro is not a scripting tool, it is a replay list. As noted above, creating and editing macros requires an Administrator account — non-admin users cannot open the Properties panel below to make changes.

Scan

The trigger text — what gets printed on the physical label (or typed into the scan box) to start playback. When Standard Time® sees an incoming scan that exactly matches a saved macro's Scan value, it does not process that text as a normal scan. Instead, it expands it into the macro's item list and begins replaying them.

Choose a Scan value that is short, easy to print, and will not collide with any real project name, task name, username, or inventory code — GO, START-WELD, or SHIFT-END are typical choices.

Macro

The list of scan values to replay, one per line. Each line is fed into the scan pipeline in the order it appears — top to bottom — exactly as if it had been scanned or typed by hand. Anything valid to scan manually is valid on its own line: a reserved keyword like CLEAR, STOP, or CANCEL; a username; a project, subproject, or task name or number; an inventory scan code; or any other scan value your shop recognizes.

In the example above, scanning GO replays four lines — CLEAR, John, 10200, and Weld — which clears the session, identifies the employee, opens the work order, and starts the timer on the Weld task. What would normally take four scans happens from one.

How Macro Playback Works

When a macro's Scan value is recognized, the server returns the full item list to the browser along with a flag marking it as a macro. The browser then queues the items and replays them one at a time on a short timer — waiting for each item's scan to fully finish (including any resulting toast, timer start, or barcode rule) before sending the next.

Flow diagram showing a scanned macro label being matched on the server, queued in the browser, and replayed item by item through the normal scan pipeline, pausing for any Required Scan prompt

Because every item runs through the same pipeline as a real scan, all of the usual behavior still applies during playback:

Barcode Rules still fire. If a line in the macro matches a configured rule, that rule's action runs exactly as it would on a manual scan. See the Barcode Rules guide.
Bad lines don't stop the macro. If one line isn't recognized, that item shows the normal "Unrecognized" error and playback continues to the next line.
Required Scan prompts still appear. If a line would normally pop up a Required Scan prompt, playback pauses on that prompt until the employee answers it — then the remaining lines continue automatically. See Barcode Required Scans.
Sounds, toasts, and the shot clock ring all behave normally for each item, the same as they would for a manually typed scan.

Tip: Because playback pauses on a Required Scan prompt and waits for a person to answer it, macros work best when every line resolves cleanly on its own — avoid building a macro around a step that always interrupts the sequence, unless you want that pause there deliberately.

Example Macros for Repetitive Scan Routines

Any sequence your shop scans the same way, every time, is a candidate for a macro. Here are common repetitive routines and how a macro replaces them:

Scan (label)	Macro (replayed lines)	Replaces
`GO`	`CLEAR` `John` `10200` `Weld`	A full clock-in sequence at a station permanently assigned to one job and task — clear, badge, work order, task — down to one scan.
`SHIFT-END`	`STOP` `INV-SUB` `Gloves` `INV-SUB` `Cutting Wheels`	End-of-shift wrap-up — stop the running timer, then deduct standard consumable usage — instead of four separate end-of-shift scans.
`CHANGEOVER`	`STOP` `Press-3` `Setup`	A machine changeover routine — stop the previous operation's timer, scan the machine, start the setup task — repeated dozens of times per shift on a busy line.
`QC-PASS`	`Pass` `Final Inspection` `Ready to Ship`	A quality sign-off combo that always logs the same status, task, and comment code together on a passing part.
`DOCK3-IN`	`INV-ADD-LOC` `Dock 3`	A fixed receiving routine at one dock door — the location never changes, so the location scan is baked into the label instead of scanned separately every delivery.

None of these are special barcode types — every line is a plain scan value your shop already recognizes. A macro just saves the sequence so employees don't have to locate and scan each label separately, every single time.

Best Practices

Start with a CLEAR when the macro should stand alone. Leading with CLEAR resets any leftover session state from a previous employee or scan, so the macro always starts from a known, clean state.
Keep Scan values unique. Pick trigger text that will never collide with a real project name, task name, username, or inventory code — a collision means the macro fires instead of the record you meant to scan.
Name macros for what they do, not just what they contain. A label printed GO only makes sense on the floor if it is posted at the one station it belongs to — use a more descriptive Scan value like PRESS3-SETUP when a macro could otherwise be ambiguous.
Test a new macro before posting the label. Scan or type the Scan value yourself and confirm every line replays the way you expect — including any timer, toast, or rule it should trigger — before handing a printed label to the floor.
Keep macros short. Every line adds roughly a quarter-second to playback. A handful of lines replays in under two seconds; a very long macro starts to feel slow and defeats the purpose.

Caution: A macro is a plain trigger-to-list mapping — it has no conditions, and it always replays the same lines in the same order. If the sequence needs to branch based on what else has already been scanned, or needs to run a script, use a Barcode Rule instead.

Related Resources

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