How to Create Badges with vCard QR Codes using OnMerge

Barcodes
Hold Ctrl+click to open sample

This will show you how to create mail-merged name badges that includes a
vCard QR Barcode with the persons contact information. The badges will be
printed on Avery 5392 name badge blanks. The merged result will look like this:

Best of all, we’ll show you a system for laying out professional-looking name
badges or ID cards that mail-merge perfectly and neatly every time!

To do this merge, you will need:

1. Data source of people’s names and contact information.
2. A layout template for name badges, which we’ll show you how to create.

Setting up the Master Badge Template

We will be using a sample database for this sample, but you can use your own
database, spreadsheet, or your Outlook Contact List.

We have included a pre-built template for the above name badges so you can
easily follow along these steps. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on this sentence
to open that template in another window.

Start with a blank Word document. Select Mailings +

Already know how to set up
Start Mail Merge + Step by Step Mail Merge
a merge?
Wizard to bring up the Mail Merge wizard on the right
Ctrl-click here to skip to badge
side of your screen. The wizard will guide you through
formatting instructions.
six steps to complete your merge.

How to Create Badges with vCard QR Codes using OnMerge Barcodes 1

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 Wizard Step 1 of 6, Select document type: this example creates labels,
so select Labels and click Next at the right, bottom of the screen.
These aren’t sticky labels; “Labels” is just Microsoft’s term for any
layout where several items (like badges) are printed N-up (i.e. 2-up, 3-
up, etc.) on one large page.

 Wizard Step 2 of 6, Select starting document:

o If you were typing in a document from scratch, you would select

Use the current document. If you already have a pre-existing
letter, select Start from template or Start from existing
document and select a document below.

o Click Label Option and select Avery 5392 or whichever blank

labels you have

o Click Next.

 Wizard Step 3 of 6; Select recipients. Here, we will use a pre-prepared

Access database.

o Select Use an existing list, press Browse, navigate to your

database and click OK.

o Click Next back in the Mail Merge Wizard.

 Wizard Step 4 of 6, Arrange your labels: This is where you will lay
out the labels

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o We strongly recommend that you always use a Word table as
shown below to lay out all small layouts like this. Once you
understand it, this approach gives much better control over the
formatting and merging than any other method we know of.

o Word’s badge label layout is itself a table with 6 cells, and we’ll
need to get rid of the internal margins in those cells. Make sure the
cursor is in the very top, left corner of the top, left label and select
Layout + Properties + Table tab + Options, set all the default cell
margins to 0.0, press OK, OK.

o Don’t miss the following unobvious tricks: making sure the cursor is
still in the same place as above, click Page Layout and set all of
Indent Left, Indent Right, Spacing Before to 0.

o Insert a 3 x 2 table in the top, left label: make sure the cursor is still
in the top, left label, then Insert + Table + Insert Table, 2 columns,
3 rows, OK.

o Place the cursor in the top, left cell of the new table, then hold down
Shift and click (i.e. Shift-click) in the top, right cell. The entire table
row will be selected. Select Layout + Properties (NOT Page
Layout).

 First, set the properties for the whole table. Make sure the
Table tab is the dialog box is active, check the Preferred
width box, enter 4.0 (the width of each badge) in the box to
the right. Set Indent from left to 0. To get rid of borders,
press Borders and Shading, None, OK.

How to Create Badges with vCard QR Codes using OnMerge Barcodes 3

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  To set the properties of the first row, click the Row tab,
check the Specify height box, enter 0.75 in the box to the
right, select Row height is: Exactly. Click the Cell tab, set
Vertical alignment to Center.

 Click the Row tab, click the Next Row button to access the
2nd row’s properties, repeat the above but use 1.75 as the
height

 Click the Row tab, click the Next Row button again to select
the 3rd row’s properties, repeat the above but use 0.5 as the
height

 Press OK.

o If you cannot see dotted-line outlines of the table cells, Layout +

View Gridlines

o To make the top row into a single wide cell, place the cursor in the
top, left cell of the table, then hold down Shift and click (i.e. Shift-
click) in the top, right cell. The entire table row will be selected.
Right-click on the row and select Merge Cells from the drop-down
list. The entire row will now be a single cell.

o To make the bottom row into a single wide cell, repeat the above
step in the bottom (3rd) row of the table.

o To make the center, left cell slightly narrower than the right one,
place the cursor in the left, center cell and select Layout +
How to Create Badges with vCard QR Codes using OnMerge Barcodes 4
Copyright © 2013 OnMerge. All rights reserved.
 Properties, the Cell tab; set the Preferred width to 1.75, press
OK. The table will now look like this:

o We’ll now create our event’s simulated “logo.” Place the cursor in
the bottom row, select Design + Shading (the Design ribbon on the
far right; there are two of them), pick a dark color. Select Home +
<Font color icon>, pick White. Type the event’s name, then select
the text and pick a suitable large font and type size (e.g. Arial
Narrow, 28 pt.), click the <Center text> icon.

o We’ll now place the person’s name at the top of the badge in large
type. Some people have long names, so it’s important to use a
narrow or condensed font such as Arial Narrow to avoid overflow.
Place the cursor in the top row. Click Home, select Arial Narrow,
28 points, Bold. Click the <Center text> icon.

However, the narrow font won’t prevent overflow in 100% of cases,

so we must allow for the case where the name will break onto two
lines. Tighten up the spacing between lines by clicking on the small
icon to at the very bottom, right of the Paragraph section of the
Home ribbon to bring up a dialog box. In the Spacing section, set
Before and After to 0, Line spacing to Exactly, and At to 24 (or
about 85% of whatever font height you’re using). Press OK. This
will make the line spacing a little crowded, but makes (rare) 2-line
names fit in the limited vertical space we’ve reserved.

How to Create Badges with vCard QR Codes using OnMerge Barcodes 5

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 To insert the actual mail-merged name, click Mailings + Insert
Merge Field. In the popup dialog, double-click on First Name,
double-click Last Name, click Close. Insert a space between the
First_Name and Last_Name fields.

o Place the cursor in the right column of the center row and add
appropriate personal information (organization, job title, etc.) using
Mailings + Insert Merge Field. Format as appropriate (e.g. Arial
Narrow 18 pt).

o Now for the QR Code. Place the cursor in the left column of the
center row and click Mailings + OnMerge Barcodes. In the
OnMerge popup dialog:

 Select the Barcode Setup tab. Select Barcode Type as

QRCode, and set Barcode Width to 1.75

 Select the Barcode Data tab. Set QRCode Data is to vCard

Contact. You may now pick the contact data to include in
the barcode by setting the Type of data part dropdown for
each field to Merge Database and picking the appropriate
database field from the list to the right. You’ll need to use the
scroll control on the right of the data fields to see fields.
Under Notes, set the Type of data part to Text and enter
your event’s name in the column to the right.

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 WARNING: don’t go crazy filling in all contact
information fields for an event badge. Limit your choices
to the ones that are strictly necessary to event attendees.
Increasing the amount of data in a QR Code requires a
denser (finer) pattern of black and white dots which many
smartphones can have trouble scanning. Remember, the QR
Code on the badge is fairly small to fit in the limited space.
Scanning an overly-fine QR Code may require many
awkward seconds of “hovering” some smartphone over the
barcode, or may not work at all.

For most events, the following fields are sufficient: First,

Last, Job Title, Organization, Mobile Phone, E-mail
Address. It’s also useful to put the event’s name in the
Notes field to help the person scanning the information
remember where they met the person they scanned.

 To prevent generating barcodes in the otherwise-blank slots

at the end of the last printed sheet, select the Merge
Options tab, click Merge blank image under When all

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 database fields…

 Click OK.

o Click Update all labels in the Mailings

ribbon or in the Mail Merge Wizard area to What is
copy the information the remaining <<Next Record>>?
badges. Notice that Word inserts <<Next This is a non-printing
Record>> in each duplicate badge, which marker which Word
will alter the on-screen formatting. Please automatically puts into all
ignore this as it will not affect the final but the first record of a
multi-record page.
result. Normally, the Mail Merge
process will advance to
o Click Next back in the Mail Merge Wizard. the next data source
record only after merging
 Wizard Step 5 of 6, Preview your labels: you the entire template with a
may use the << and >> buttons in the mail data source record, but
<<Next Record>> causes
merge wizard to preview your finished labels. the mail merge process to
Click Next. immediately advance to
the next data source
 Wizard Step 6 of 6, Complete the merge: record.
Clicking Print will merge the labels with
barcodes directly to your printer. Clicking Edit individual labels will
create a new Word document that contains all the badges in the
completed mail merge; this option is useful for final verification before
printing.

 Be sure to TEST, TEST, TEST your barcodes with several phones.

How to Create Badges with vCard QR Codes using OnMerge Barcodes 8

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