Moving from BarTender
starts with your workflow.

1. Choose one representative workflow

Start with a recurring product label and a real route from order to print station. Record who supplies the data, who checks it, who prints and who handles a damaged or missing label.

Include an ordinary order, a customer-specific variation and a case that should stop printing. A missing customer product code or an unreleased job is useful because it tests the decision to hold work as well as the ability to produce a label.

2. Make the hidden requirements visible

A label file is only part of the system. Write down the values and decisions that make each output correct.

• Artwork: label dimensions, text, barcode type, position and any customer approval requirements.
• Data: where the order, quantity, purchase order, product and batch values originate.
• Customer variations: product-code mappings, layout choices and information required for particular customers.
• Print behaviour: manual or automated triggers, copy counts, printer selection and what happens after a failed send.
• History: what operators need to find later, who can request extra copies and how long existing records must remain accessible.

Use an anonymised data example that preserves the original structure. Keep meaningful leading zeros and awkward cases; replacing every value with a simple number can hide the problem you need to solve.

3. Compare with the scope available today

SmartFACT early access focuses on a defined manufacturing CSV profile, saved customer mappings, 100 × 150 mm product labels, Code 128, prepared previews and reasoned exact reprints. Local attended printing uses QZ Tray.

Native Excel import, automatic BarTender file conversion, RFID, a broad barcode catalogue and unattended background printing are outside that scope. Template proofs and revisions exist, but current template publication is limited to a virtual station. Do not assume a newly recreated layout can be self-published to a QZ production station.

If a required capability is missing, establish whether it blocks the trial before scheduling a move. Use the dated BarTender comparison to compare the current offer with vendor sources. SmartFACT’s final Free and Pro offers are not published, so there is no established price-saving claim to use in a business case.

4. Prove the data, then the physical output

Agree the expected content for each test case before reviewing the new output. Compare resolved product codes, descriptions, purchase orders, batches, quantity and the selected layout. Include a blocked case and check that its reason is understandable.

Next, qualify the intended workstation, printer queue, driver and label stock together. Print a calibration label, measure the output and scan the barcode into the actual receiving workflow. Keyboard-input scanners fit SmartFACT’s current check.

A preview or accepted QZ submission does not prove print quality. Read the browser-printing setup requirements and record the physical result. Repeat relevant checks when the workstation, driver, printer or stock changes.

5. Plan a controlled first workflow

Choose who decides which system is authorised to print the selected work. Keep the existing process available for recovery, while avoiding duplicate production sends from both systems.

Agree how operators recognise a hold, reconcile an uncertain submission and request an exact reprint. Test those steps using the same representative workflow. A second source import is not a substitute for a recorded reprint.

Keep existing label files, configuration and history accessible according to your own operating requirements. Discuss any historical-data migration separately. Decide who supports the new station and what evidence is needed before extending the trial to another customer or product.

Bring a small assessment pack

• One representative label or readable artwork, with dimensions.
• An anonymised source export and the expected label values.
• A customer-specific variation and a case that should be held.
• The exact printer, operating system, driver and label stock.
• Your current print volumes, triggers and reprint procedure.
• A short list of capabilities that must work before any change.

Start by describing that workflow in the enquiry form. We can then agree how to review the example and whether the current product is a suitable starting point.