USPS Intelligent Mail Barcode Font Advantage Package

Demo Version Notices:

INDEX:

Package Features

This font package allows generation of all barcodes used by the USPS in a variety of operating systems, environments and applications. All barcode fonts require special formatting so that the data will create a readable barcode when the font is applied. Over 30 royalty-free font encoder tools, macros and plug-ins are provided to complete this automatically.

The Intelligent Mail barcode (IMb) is a tracing, routing, sorting and tracking symbology type based on the 4-State Barcode that is used for services including OneCode Confirm & OneCode ACS. This postal barcode is also referred to as the OneCode Solution, 4-State Customer Barcode, USPS4CB and 4-CB. Details of the package are as follows:

 

Installation Instructions

Several implementation examples are provided with the Windows installation executable included in the package. If problems are encountered with implementation, the examples may provide insight. Additionally, many of IDAutomation's Font Tools include tutorials.

To install the package in Windows, run the setup utility. This utility will install the most commonly used fonts. The following describes how to manually install a font in Windows:

Installing the fonts on Macintosh OS X:

  1. Drag or copy and paste the TrueType font file(s) ending in TTF to the Library/Fonts folder.
  2. To activate the fonts, restart the application - some applications may require you to restart the computer.
  3. The font should now be active in the font menu of your application.

To install the TrueType font on the Classic Macintosh (OS 7.1 - OS 9):

  1. Download and install Stuffit Expander on the Macintosh if the computer does not have an expander utility that can open ZIP files and decode MacBinary files.
  2. Open the ZIP distribution file that contains the fonts by dragging the ZIP file on the Stuffit Expander icon. The font files will be extracted from the ZIP distribution file and will appear in a subfolder of the folder where the ZIP file was placed. Open this subfolder to view the font files. At this point, view the documentation supplied with the font files, by dragging the file "readme.html" to the Netscape or Internet Explorer icon.
  3. Next the files must be decoded from MacBinary format. Drag the font files that end with "mtt" to the Stuffit Expander icon.
  4. Drag the decoded font files to the System - Fonts folder.
  5. Restart the application to use the font with.
  6. The font will be active in the font menu of the application.

PCL Fonts:
To obtain information about installing PCL fonts, refer to the PCLinfo.html document provided in the PCL folder of the package.

 Implementation of USPS Symbologies

Several postal barcode implementation examples are provided with the Windows installation executable file included in the package. These examples may be helpful to assist with initial set up. Additionally, many of IDAutomation's Font Tools that are royalty free include tutorials for the postal barcodes.

Obtaining Data to Encode

The first step in creating any USPS barcode is to obtain the data that is to be encoded. The links below will provide the information necessary to create a string of text that may be encoded in a function.

Formatting Data to Fonts

After the data is in the proper format for the function, the text is passed to the function and the result is a text string that the font is then applied to, to produce a proper barcode symbol. The functions are available in many font encoders to automatically format data to the font. When a font encoder cannot be used, it is recommended to access a database that contains the text string already formatted for the font. The Word mail-merge example included in this package works in this manner; a merge field in Word is linked to a column in Excel that contains the text string formatted for the font.

Postal Barcode Printing and Font Size

After the data is formatted to the USPS font and the appropriate font has been selected, it will display and print properly. The font size of 12 points should be used when printing all Intelligent Mail, Postnet and Planet barcodes. FIM symbols should be printed with a font size of 36 points. The Code 128 font used for GS1-128 should be printed at 16 points for USPS Special Services. More information about the sizing of fonts is provided in the Font Specifications.

 Specifications

IDAutomation suggests printing USPS fonts at the recommended point sizes specified in this section. When TrueType, PostScript or OpenType fonts are used, the size may be further adjusted by changing the font point size. For example, to print the 12-point Postnet barcode font slightly wider, increase the font size to 12.1 points.

IMB, Postnet & Planet Font Specifications

Parameter

Approximate Font Dimensions at 12 Points

USPS Specification Tolerances

X Dimension (width of bars) .017" .015" - .025"
Width of space between bars .026" .012" - .040"
Full vertical size of Intelligent Mail .135" .125" - .165"
Vertical size of Intelligent Mail tracker .041" .039" - .057"
Height of Postnet short bar .051" .040" - .060"
Height of Postnet tall bar .126" .115" - .135"
Number of bars per inch  23  22 - 24
IDAutomationOCRa Specifications

Font Name

Point Size

CPI

ANSI Size

IDAutomationOCRa 9 10 1
IDAutomationC128L Specifications

Parameter

Approximate Font Dimensions at 16 pt

USPS Dimension Standards

X Dimension .0135" .013" - .020"
Height of bars .75" .75" - .80"

Parameter

Approximate Font Dimensions at 21 Pt

X Dimension .017"
Height of bars  1"
Supported Implementations, Font Names and Compatible Functions

Implementation

Font Name

Font Encoder Function

IMB Barcode IDAutomationIMB
IDAutomationIMBn1 *
IDAutomationIMBn2
IntelligentMail(), OneCode()
or IDAutomation_Uni_OneCode()  **
Postnet Barcode IDAutomationPOSTNET
IDAutomationPOSTNETn1 *
IDAutomationPOSTNETn2
Postnet()
Planet Barcode IDAutomationPLANET
IDAutomationPLANETn1 *
IDAutomationPLANETn2
Postnet()
OCR-A Text IDAutomationOCRa na
Code 128 Barcode IDAutomationC128L Code128()
FIM Barcode IDAutomationFIM na

* Fonts ending with N1 or N2 signify different narrow intensities:

** Intelligent Mail barcode fonts are currently supported by Feature Level 7 or greater font encoder tools such as the Crystal Reports UFL, Microsoft VBA for Excel and Access and the Windows DLL. All OneCode() and IntelligentMail() encoding methods are identical and may be used interchangeably.

Intelligent Mail barcodes may be produced from IDAutomation's fonts and font encoder tools, as well as other encoders, such as the encoders provided by the US Postal Service. To accommodate both types of encoding, each 4-State symbol element is placed at two character locations within the Postnet font according to the following table:

4CB Symbol Element

Character Locations

Ascender A, q
Descender D, r
Full Bar F, p
Tracker T, s

The USPS uses uppercase letters for encoding while IDAutomation font encoders use lower case letters. The lower case letters used provide complete compatibility with the IDAutomation Universal Barcode Font, which allows generation of Intelligent Mail, Postnet and Planet, as well as Code 128, Code 39 and Interleaved 2 of 5 barcode symbols from a single font.

Other Barcode Software Products

IDAutomation offers many other similar products including:

 

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