Bulk GS1-128 Parser & Editor

Pasting from a PIM, Excel, or a hand scanner

The textarea at the top of this page accepts three input shapes, and it accepts all three in the same paste. No format picker, no upload dialog, no configuration. Paste whatever you have and the parser figures out the rest line by line.

From a PIM or ERP export

Most PIM and ERP systems can emit a list of GS1-128strings in paren notation as part of a label-run report. Paste one string per line, click anywhere outside the textarea, and you’ll see the parsed table below with one row per line.

From Excel

If your Excel column contains paren strings, copy the column and paste directly. Excel’s clipboard format puts one value per line, which is exactly what the parser expects. If you copy multiple columns Excel will tab-separate them, in which case the parser only uses the first column and ignores the rest.

From a hand scanner

Point a USB hand scanner at the textarea and trigger a scan. The scanner emits the raw FNC1-delimited form, usually prefixed with]C1, and the parser strips the prefix and walks the AI chain automatically. You can scan multiple labels in sequence, one per line, without switching modes.

From a Digital Link QR code

Scan a Digital Link QR with your phone, the URL opens, copy it from the browser bar and paste here. Or, if you already have a column of Digital Link URLs in a PIM system, paste those. The parser recognises any URL with a /01/ path segment as a Digital Link regardless of the resolver domain.

The inline-edit workflow

Every cell in the table is editable. There’s no edit-mode toggle, no save button, and no read-only state. Click any cell, type a new value, and the change commits when you click outside the cell or press Enter.

When a cell fails validation (wrong length, wrong character set, wrong check digit, invalid date) it flips to a soft red background and the error message appears on hover. Type a valid value and the red drops away immediately. The row’s overall status dot re-computes at the same time, so a row whose last error you just fixed turns green as soon as you leave the cell.

Empty cells are editable too. If a row doesn’t currently have an AI value but the table has a column for it (because another row does), you can click the empty cell and start typing. The parser creates a new Application Identifier on that row as soon as you commit the value.

Clearing a cell (deleting all its characters before blurring) removes the AI from that row entirely. The row still exists; the specific AI is gone. This is the reverse operation of adding a new AI: both work through the same cell input.

Bulk operations, by example

Select rows via the checkboxes and the selection toolbar appears beneath the top toolbar. Every bulk operation operates strictly on the selected rows — nothing is applied to unselected rows unless you deliberately select them.

Bumping expiry dates for a whole product line

You’ve extended the shelf life of a product line and need to reprint 120 labels with the new expiry. Paste the 120 paren strings, select all rows (top-left header checkbox), click Shift date…, pick column (17), type +30, click Shift. Every selected row’s expiry advances by 30 days, re-validated on the spot. Export to paren strings and hand the file to the label printer.

Fixing a typo in a batch number across 50 labels

Someone encoded LOT2O25A (letter O) instead of LOT2025A (digit 0) on a whole run. Select the affected rows, click Find & replace…, pick column (10), enter LOT2O25A as Find and LOT2025A as Replace, hit Replace. 50 cells get corrected in one click. Export and reprint.

Adding a serial number column to an existing batch

Your existing labels carry GTIN and batch. A regulatory change now requires per-unit serialisation with AI (21). Paste the existing labels, select all, click Edit AI…, operation Add if missing, AI code (21), and type a seed serial. Every selected row gets a new (21) column cell. You’ll still need to make each serial unique before reprinting — edit individual cells or use Find & replace iteratively — but the column scaffolding is now there.

Removing a GLN column that shouldn’t have been there

You pasted a batch and realise the (410) Ship To GLN column shouldn’t be on this particular label run. Select all rows, click Edit AI…, operation Remove, AI code (410), click Remove. Every row loses its (410) value and the column disappears from the table as soon as no row still has it.

Re-exporting to any format

Click Export in the top toolbar and pick the format that matches your downstream system:

• CSV. One row per label with columns for line number, detected format, status, raw input, parse error, and all three canonical serialisations. This is the right choice for spreadsheet workflows, PIM import pipelines, and audit trails.
• Paren .txt. One paren string per line, ok rows only. Drop this into a label designer that accepts human-readable GS1-128.
• FNC1 .txt. Raw FNC1-delimited strings with the ASCII 29 separator embedded. This is what a label printer expects when the upstream system encodes GS1-128 directly.
• Digital Link URLs .txt. One URL per line, ready to encode as a QR or Data Matrix by a label designer.
• QR codes as PNG ZIP. One 1024×1024 PNG per row, named by line number. Each PNG encodes the row’s Digital Link URL so phone cameras can scan it. Lazy-loads jszip + qrcode on the first click.
• QR codes as SVG ZIP. Same content as the PNG ZIP but in scalable SVG form, ideal for print workflows.

The per-row ... menu on the rightmost column of each table row gives you the same formats for a single row: copy any format to clipboard, download a single-row .txt, copy the QR as an image, download the QR PNG or SVG, or open the QR preview dialog with just that row inside.

Production checklist

Before you hand the exported file to a label printer or push the CSV into a PIM, run through this list. Each item covers a failure mode that has bitten real label runs.

Frequently asked questions