Bar Codes:  

Azalea sells fonts in packages; we looked at UPC Tools which includes UPC A, UPC E, EAN 8, EAN 13, Bookland and ISSN.

Their other packages offer a variety of barcode fonts including Code 128s, Interleaved 2 of 5, Code 39s, Codabar, MSI-Plessy, 2 of 5, Code 93, OCRs, Postnet, PDF 417 and Data Matrix. The packages range from around $100 to $200 for one computer, just simply select the fonts you need. They also offer site licenses and redistribution licenses.

Compatibility:  

With this program you can easily copy a barcode and place it into Word or another Microsoft Office program, however it does not export as an image, but as a font. Nevertheless we were able to copy a barcode into Word and paste it into Photoshop Elements as an image and we were able to create designs with barcodes in Adobe Illustrator utilizing UPC Tools and Adobe’s fonts.

This program is available in versions that work with Windows, Macintosh, Linux and Unix. You can also buy barcode software that works with older Window versions and PCL versions upon request.

Label Design Tools:  

This program is a barcode creator or barcode generator, not a label creator. But you can of course easily use generated barcodes in a variety of programs that you may want to use to create labels.

Ease of Use:  

This product is exceedingly painless to use, just simply enter your data, select a barcode type and font type and you are done. You can also adjust point size and the program will tell you if you entered the wrong number of digits for the barcode type.

Help/ Support:  

Azalea software offers support by email and telephone, we received prompt replies to all of our email inquires. This software provider publishes FAQs, a blog and lots of information about bar codes in general. We rated this product a 3.5 in the area because it does not include embedded help inside the program, but please note that the software is so easy to use you really do not need it.

In general we liked UPC Tools because it is easy to use, as far as we are concerned the shorter the learning curve the better.