> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.clinikehr.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Scan barcodes at the till

> Use a wedge scanner, the search box or your webcam to add products by barcode, and scan a receipt to pull a sale back up.

export const StillStuck = ({topic}) => <div className="ck-callout ck-callout--note" role="note">
    <p className="ck-callout__body">
      <strong>Still stuck{topic ? ` with ${topic}` : ''}?</strong>{' '}
      Check <a href="/platform/help/troubleshooting">Troubleshooting</a> first —
      it covers the failures we see most often. If that does not resolve it,{' '}
      <a href="/platform/help/contact-support">contact support</a> and include
      your workspace name and the time the problem happened, so we can find the
      matching entry in your audit log.
    </p>
  </div>;

export const TaskHeader = ({before, time, after}) => <div className="ck-task">
    {before ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Before you start</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{before}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {time ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">Takes about</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{time}</p>
      </div> : null}

    {after ? <div className="ck-task__cell">
        <div className="ck-task__title">When you're done</div>
        <p className="ck-task__body">{after}</p>
      </div> : null}
  </div>;

export const Path = ({steps = []}) => <span className="ck-path">
    {steps.map((s, i) => <span key={i} className="ck-path__step">
        {i > 0 ? <span className="ck-path__sep" aria-hidden="true">
            ›
          </span> : null}
        {s}
      </span>)}
  </span>;

export const Availability = ({editions = ['all'], plans, roles, note}) => {
  const list = editions.includes('all') ? ['clinic', 'pharmacy', 'lims'] : editions;
  return <div className="ck-avail" role="note" aria-label="Feature availability">
      <span className="ck-avail__label">Available in</span>

      {list.map(e => <span key={e} className={`ck-pill ck-pill--${e}`}>
          {EDITION_LABELS[e] || e}
        </span>)}

      {plans ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Plan</span> : null}
      {plans ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--plan">{plans}</span> : null}

      {roles ? <span className="ck-avail__label">Who</span> : null}
      {roles ? <span className="ck-pill ck-pill--role">{roles}</span> : null}

      {note ? <span className="ck-avail__note">{note}</span> : null}
    </div>;
};

<Availability editions={['pharmacy']} plans="All plans" roles="Anyone with 'Dispense and sell at the till'" />

Scanning is the fastest way to build a cart, and it is the only practical way to work a catalogue bigger than the 100 tiles the grid shows. This page covers the three ways to scan a product, and the separate trick of scanning a customer's receipt.

<Path steps={['Sidebar', 'POS']} />

<TaskHeader before="Products with a barcode saved on their catalogue entry" time="Instant per scan" after="The product added to the cart, confirmed by a toast naming it" />

## Three ways to scan

<Steps>
  <Step title="A handheld or countertop scanner">
    A keyboard-wedge scanner — the ordinary kind that behaves like a very fast typist — is picked up **anywhere on the till page**. You do not have to click into the search box first, and you should not: just point and pull the trigger.

    The till recognises a scan by the speed of the burst, so a code typed by hand is never mistaken for one. See [Barcode scanners](/pharmacy/hardware/barcode-scanner) for setup.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The search box">
    Scan or type into "Search or scan (name, generic, brand, barcode)…" and press **Enter**. A value that looks like a code is treated as a scan; a value that looks like a name is treated as a search.
  </Step>

  <Step title="The camera">
    Select the camera button — **Scan barcode with camera** — beside the search box. The **Scan medication barcode** dialog opens: "Point the camera at the product barcode to add it to the cart."

    Use **Choose camera** to pick a lens on a device with more than one, and the torch button to light a dark shelf.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Check it worked

* A toast reads **Scanned: \{product name}**, and the line is in the cart. The toast appears only when the product was actually added, so a refusal never looks like a success.
* Scanning the same code again increases the quantity rather than adding a second line.
* After a scan, focus returns to the search box ready for the next one.

If nothing matches, the toast reads **No medication matches that barcode** and the code is dropped into the search box so you can look for the product by name without re-typing it.

## Make a product scannable

A product is only scannable once its barcode is saved on its catalogue entry. The inventory **Add item** sheet has a **Barcode / UPC (optional)** field with two helpers: **Scan pack**, which reads the code straight off the box, and **Generate…**, which mints an internal code for anything unbarcoded — a repackaged item, a local product, a bulk line you split yourself.

Print shelf and pack labels from the inventory row action **Print barcode label**, which takes a **Copies** count. See [Inventory](/pharmacy/inventory/index).

## Scan a receipt to find a sale

On the [Sales page](/pharmacy/money/sales), the same scanner pulls up a transaction. Scan the barcode at the bottom of a customer's receipt into "Search or scan receipt...", or use the camera button — **Scan a receipt barcode with the camera** — which opens **Scan receipt barcode**: "Point the camera at the barcode at the bottom of the receipt."

* A completed sale opens straight into its amendment sheet, ready for a return or a discount — see [Returns, voids and amendments](/pharmacy/pos/returns).
* A sale in any other state opens its receipt instead, with a toast naming the state: **Sale \{number} is \{status} — opening its receipt.**
* Anything that is not one of our receipts is refused with **That barcode is not a ClinikEHR receipt.**

<Note>
  An offline sale's provisional slip carries **no barcode**, because its number does not exist on the server yet. Scan the reprinted receipt after the sale has synced. See [Print and reprint receipts](/pharmacy/pos/receipts).
</Note>

## If something goes wrong

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="The scanner types into the box but nothing is added">
    The code is not on any catalogue entry — you will have seen **No medication matches that barcode**. Find the product by name, open it in Inventory, and save the barcode on it with **Scan pack**.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Scanning does nothing while a dialog is open">
    That is deliberate. Wedge capture stands down while any dialog, menu or picker is open, and while you are typing in a field other than the search box, so a scan can never fire behind a screen you are reading. Close the dialog and scan again.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="'Camera access requires HTTPS. Open this page over a secure connection to scan.'">
    The webcam scanner only runs on a secure connection. Use your normal ClinikEHR address rather than a plain-HTTP or IP-address shortcut.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="'Camera permission denied. Allow camera access in your browser settings to scan.'">
    The browser is blocking the camera for this site. Allow it in the site permissions, then select **Retry**. On a shared counter machine, check the permission is not blocked at the operating-system level too.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="'No camera device was found on this machine.'">
    There is no webcam attached, or another application has it open. Close the other application, or use a handheld scanner instead — it is faster at a counter anyway.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Every scan lands in the wrong field">
    Something else on the page has focus and is swallowing the keystrokes. Select an empty part of the till once, then scan; the till is listening at the page level and does not need a field to be focused.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<StillStuck topic="scanning" />