===========================
Set up your barcode scanner
===========================

Getting started with barcode scanning in Odoo is fairly easy. Yet, a
good user experience relies on an appropriate hardware setup. This guide
will help you through the task of choosing and configuring the barcode
scanner.

Find the barcode scanner that suits your needs
==============================================

The 3 recommended type of barcode scanners to work with the Odoo
**Inventory** and **Barcode Scanning** apps are the **USB scanner**, **the bluetooth
scanner** and the **mobile computer scanner**.

.. image:: media/hardware02.png
    :align: center

-   If you scan products at a computer location, the **USB scanner** is the
    way to go. Simply plug it in the computer to start scanning. Just
    make sure when you buy it that the scanner is compatible with
    your keyboard layout or can be configured to be so.

-   The **bluetooth scanner** can be paired with a smartphone or a tablet and
    is a good choice if you want to be mobile but don't need a big
    investment. An approach is to log in Odoo on you smartphone, pair
    the bluetooth scanner with the smartphone and work in the
    warehouse with the possibility to check your smartphone
    from time to time and use the software 'manually'.

-   For heavy use, the **mobile computer scanner** is the handiest solution.
    It consists of a small computer with a built-in barcode scanner.
    This one can turn out to be a very productive solution, however
    you need to make sure that is is capable of running Odoo smoothly.
    The most recent models using Android + Google Chrome or Windows +
    Internet Explorer Mobile should do the job. However, due to the
    variety of models and configurations on the market, it is
    essential to test it first.

Configure your barcode scanner
==============================

Keyboard layout
---------------

.. image:: media/hardware01.png
    :align: center

An USB barcode scanner needs to be configured to use the same keyboard
layout as your operating system. Otherwise, your scanner won't translate
characters correctly (replacing a 'A' with a 'Q' for example). Most
scanners are configured by scanning the appropriate barcode in the user
manual.

Automatic carriage return
-------------------------

By default, Odoo has a 50 milliseconds delay between each successive
scan (it helps avoid accidental double scanning). If you want to
suppress this delay, you can configure your scanner to insert a carriage
return at the end of each barcode. This is usually the default
configuration and can be explicitly configured by scanning a specific
barcode in the user manual ('CR suffix ON', 'Apply Enter for suffix',
etc.).
