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Two very different devices get called “the barcode scanner”, and mixing them up is the reason most of this goes wrong. Decide which one you have before you read any further:

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The till scanner: nothing to install

A keyboard-wedge scanner types what it reads. To your computer it is a keyboard, so there is no driver to install, no pairing inside ClinikEHR and no setting to switch on.
1

Plug it in

USB or its wireless dongle. If the operating system sees a new keyboard, you are done.
2

Open the till

3

Scan a product

You do not have to click into the search box first. The till listens for a scan anywhere on the page, so a cashier can scan while the cursor is nowhere in particular.
On a match you get “Scanned: {name}” and the product is in the cart. On a miss: “No medication matches that barcode” — which nearly always means the barcode is not saved against the product yet, not that the scanner failed.
Scanning is ignored while you are typing in another field — an amount, a reference, a note. The characters are already landing where you put the cursor, and adding to the cart as well would leave junk in the field. Click out of the field, then scan.

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Put barcodes on your products

A product cannot be scanned until its code is saved on its catalogue entry.
1

Open the item

— or edit an existing item.
2

Fill Barcode / UPC (optional)

The field’s placeholder is “Scan pack, or Generate…”. Put the cursor in it and scan the pack — that is the fastest way and it cannot mistype.
3

Or mint your own code

For a product with no barcode on the pack — a repack, a loose line, a service — select Generate in-house code. Camera scan reads a code with a webcam if you have no scanner to hand.
From an inventory row, Print barcode label opens a sheet with a Copies field. Print a strip for a shelf edge or one per repacked pack, and everything you have coded becomes scannable at the counter.

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Scan with a webcam

No hardware scanner? There is a camera button at the till and on the sales list. It needs two things a laptop usually already has: a secure connection (“Camera access requires HTTPS. Open this page over a secure connection to scan.”) and camera permission (“Camera permission denied. Allow camera access in your browser settings to scan.”). It is a genuine fallback rather than a counter tool — a phone camera on a crowded shelf is slower than a scanner, and it stops the till while it focuses.

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Scan a receipt to find a sale

On the sales list, the Search or scan receipt… box takes a scan of the barcode printed at the bottom of a customer’s receipt and pulls the sale straight up — the fastest route into a return or a query. Scan something that is not one and you get “That barcode is not a ClinikEHR receipt.” A receipt printed while the till was offline carries a provisional number and no barcode at all; find those by date and amount instead. See Print and reprint receipts.

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The count terminal is a different job

A portable count terminal — the CipherLab in its USB cradle — is for stock counts, not selling. It collects codes and quantities on the shelves, then hands them over in one upload. It needs Chrome, Edge or the desktop app, and a deliberate connect-then- upload sequence rather than a plug-and-scan. The full procedure is in Count stock with a CipherLab terminal. Do not try to sell with it, and do not try to count with the till scanner — see Stock counts.

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Check it worked

  • Scanning at the till toasts “Scanned: {name}” and adds a cart line.
  • It works with the cursor resting nowhere in particular, not only in the search box.
  • Scanning a receipt on the sales list opens the sale.

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If something goes wrong

The code is not saved against any product. Open the item in Inventory and fill Barcode / UPC (optional) by scanning the pack into the field. Every pack of the same product must carry the same code.
The cursor is in an editable field, so the characters are going there. Select somewhere neutral on the page and scan again.
Confirm the scanner types at all: open any text field, scan, and see whether characters appear. If they do not, it is the device or its dongle, not ClinikEHR. If they do but the till does not react, check whether a dialog is open over the page.
It needs a secure connection and camera permission. Allow the camera in your browser’s site settings and reload. On a shared till, a hardware scanner is the better answer.
You scanned a product barcode, another shop’s receipt, or a receipt from an offline sale that carries no barcode. Search by date and amount instead.
Both catalogue entries carry the same code. Fix the duplicate in Inventory, or give the repacked line its own generated in-house code.