Create a QR Code for Your Catalogue
Print cannot say sold out. It cannot show the third colourway that arrived after the files went to the printer, and it cannot take an order at eleven at night. That gap between the page and the shop is the entire job a catalogue QR code does.
The tool encodes your link in the browser and uploads nothing, which matters more than usual here: product URLs, prices and SKU lists for an unreleased range are not things you want passing through somebody else's server. Download an SVG for the printer, and the contrast gets measured before the file leaves the page.
A Catalogue Is Not One Code, It Is Forty
Almost everything written about catalogue QR codes assumes you are making one. One code, back cover, points at the shop. That version takes ninety seconds and is not really worth an article. The version people actually need is one code per product, which is not a design job at all. It is a data job: forty links, forty symbols, forty files that have to land next to the right photo, and no realistic way to do it by hand without transposing two of them.
So the useful tool for a catalogue is usually not this one. It is the bulk QR code generator, which takes a spreadsheet, encodes every row, decodes each finished symbol before writing it, and names the files from a column you choose so they match your SKUs. It returns up to 500 codes in a ZIP with a manifest giving the module count and minimum print width per code. Use the tool above for the one code on the back cover, and the batch for everything inside.
The second thing is length, and it is the one that decides whether a code fits the caption at all. A real product link with a variant id and campaign parameters ran to 122 characters in our encoder, which came out at 61 modules and wanted 24.4mm of printed width. The same product page with the parameters deleted is 58 characters, 45 modules, 18mm. You are paying 6.4mm per product for attribution that a redirect can give you instead, and on a six-product spread that is the difference between fitting and redesigning.
What Each Link Costs in Printed Width
Characters become modules, and modules decide how small a code can be printed and still read. Every row here was encoded and read back by this site's own engine when the page was built, at error correction Q with a four module quiet zone.
| What you enter | What the scanner reads | Version | Modules | Print at least |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Product link with campaign trackingWhat a marketing team hands you. The parameters are half the symbol. | https://shop.example.com/products/merino-crew-neck-sweater-charcoal?variant=44821993&utm_source=catalogue&utm_medium=print122 characters | 9 | 61 | 24.4 mm |
| The same link, parameters removedSame product page. Sixteen fewer modules across. | https://shop.example.com/products/merino-crew-neck-sweater58 characters | 5 | 45 | 18 mm |
| Whole catalogue as a PDFOne code for the whole book. Fine on a cover, useless beside a product. | https://example.com/catalogue-2026.pdf38 characters | 4 | 41 | 16.4 mm |
| SKU redirect on your own domainSmallest, and you can repoint it when the product moves. | https://exmpl.co/p/MC-447126 characters | 3 | 37 | 14.8 mm |
The SKU redirect is the smallest at 26 characters, 37 modules and 14.8mm, and it is the only one you can repoint after the catalogue is printed. Setting one up is a short link on your own domain and a redirect rule. If your range gets renamed mid-season, that decision is what saves the print run.
These numbers are minimums for a code read at arm's length, which is right for a page in someone's hands and wrong for a showroom banner. The distance maths for anything read from further away is worked through in how small a printed QR code can go.
How to Make Your Catalogue Codes
Decide how many codes you are actually making
One code on the back cover pointing at the whole shop is a different job from one code per product. If it is one per product, stop using this tool and use the bulk generator, because doing forty by hand is where the typos come from.
Strip the tracking parameters
A product link with utm_source and a variant id runs to 122 characters and encodes at 61 modules, needing 24.4mm. The same page without them is 58 characters, 45 modules, 18mm. You are paying 6.4mm of caption width for attribution you can get from the redirect instead.
Set the colours against the paper, not the screen
Catalogue stock is rarely pure white and often coated. The tool measures contrast as you pick and refuses to hand you a code it cannot read back, so a cream page and a mid-grey module set gets caught here rather than at the printer.
Download SVG and place it at a known size
The preview prints the minimum width in millimetres for the exact code you made. Place the SVG at that size or larger. Scaling a PNG up in InDesign is how the module edges go soft.
Where Each Code Belongs
- Beside the product
- The caption block, the spec line, the price. The one that pays. A reader looking at a jacket can be on its page in a second, in the size they want, with the stock count that print cannot show. This is also the one that needs a code per product and therefore a batch.
- The back cover
- One code, large, next to the address. Point it at the shop, not at a PDF of the catalogue they are holding. Sounds obvious. It is the most common mistake on a printed catalogue.
- The order form
- The tear-out sheet, the reply card. A code to the online basket saves someone copying twelve SKUs onto paper. If you still take faxed orders, keep the form and add the code beside it.
- Trade and wholesale sheets
- The line sheet, the price list a buyer takes away. Wholesale prices change more often than the sheet gets reprinted. A code to a live page keeps the sheet honest for a season instead of a month.
- Shelf and showroom
- Shelf talkers, swatch cards, the sample in a showroom. Read at arm's length, so the same size as a catalogue caption. The difference is lighting: a showroom spotlight on coated stock throws glare a catalogue page does not.
What a Catalogue Actually Gets Out of It
- A printed page that shows live stock
- Print cannot say sold out. The page behind the code can, which is the single thing a catalogue is worst at.
- Batches, not one at a time
- The bulk generator takes a spreadsheet and returns up to 500 codes in a ZIP, each one decoded before it is written. Forty products is a paste and a click.
- Filenames that match your SKUs
- The batch names each file from a column you choose, so the artwork step is a place-by-name job rather than forty drag-and-drops in the wrong order.
- Nothing uploaded
- Product links, prices and SKUs stay in your browser. For an unreleased range that is not a small point.
- No expiry on the printed run
- A static code carries the address inside the symbol. The catalogue keeps working whether or not this site does, which matters when the print run outlives the campaign.
- You can see the size before you commit
- The minimum print width is measured per code, so a caption block that only has 15mm gets designed around a link that fits in 15mm.
Catalogue QR Code Best Practices
- Keep the code out of the gutter
- On a saddle-stitched or perfect-bound catalogue, a code near the spine sits on a curve that a phone camera reads as distortion. Keep it in the outer third of the page. On a perfect-bound spine, keep it off the inner 20mm entirely.
- The quiet zone is part of the code
- Four blank modules on every side, and the trim will eat them if you place the code near the edge. This is the failure that shows up after the print run, not before, because the PDF proof still had the margin.
- Do not reprint the catalogue inside the catalogue
- A back cover code pointing at a PDF of the same catalogue is a loop. Point it at the shop, a collection page, or a request form for next season's issue.
- Use a redirect if the range changes
- Product URLs move when a range is renamed or a platform migrates. A SKU path on your own domain is 26 characters, prints at 14.8mm, and can be repointed without touching the print run.
- Print the SKU as text as well
- Some readers will type it, some will phone it through, and a phone with a cracked lens will not scan anything. The text costs a line and rescues all three.
- Proof on the real stock
- Coated and uncoated paper take ink differently, and a matte varnish cuts glare that a gloss finish creates. Scan the printer's proof under the light the catalogue will be read in, not under an office panel.
What This Does Not Do
- No scan counts, so you cannot tell which product got scanned. A static code carries the address and nothing phones home. Counting needs a dynamic code pointing at a redirect you control, and then the count lives with whoever runs that redirect.
- It does not lay out your catalogue. You get an SVG to place, and the minimum width it needs. Where it sits on the page, clear of the gutter and clear of the trim, is still your call.
- It will not rescue a dead product page. The symbol keeps working forever, and the URL inside it is only as durable as your shop's routing.
- Nothing here is retail-only. The same batch-and-measure method runs a printed menu, where the codes are read across a table rather than in the hand, so the sizes come out larger.
- If a printed code refuses to scan, the cause is usually the trim, the gutter or the paper finish rather than the code. Why a QR code stops scanning walks through each one in order.
Catalogue QR Code Questions
How do I make a QR code for a catalogue?
Paste the link the code should open into the tool above, set the colours, and download an SVG for print. The code is encoded in your browser and nothing is uploaded. If you need one code per product rather than one for the catalogue, use the bulk generator instead and give it a spreadsheet.
How do I create QR codes for every product in a catalogue?
Paste or upload a spreadsheet with one row per product into the bulk generator. It encodes every row, decodes each finished code before writing it, names the files from a column you pick so they match your SKUs, and returns up to 500 codes in a ZIP with a manifest listing the module count and minimum print width for each one.
How big does a QR code need to be beside a product photo?
About 15 to 18mm for a link read at arm's length, but it depends entirely on the link. A clean product URL of 58 characters encodes at 45 modules and needs 18mm. Add campaign tracking parameters and the same product needs 24.4mm. The exact minimum for the code you made is printed under the preview.
Should the catalogue code open a PDF or a web page?
A web page, in almost every case. A PDF opens in a viewer, does not show stock or current prices, and on a phone it is a pinch-and-zoom document rather than a shop. The one place a PDF makes sense is a trade line sheet a buyer wants to keep and forward.
Why is my catalogue QR code too big to fit the caption?
Because the link is long, and length is the only thing that decides module count. Removing utm parameters and a variant id took a real product link from 61 modules to 45 in our own encoder, which is 24.4mm down to 18mm. If it still does not fit, put a short SKU path on your own domain and redirect: 26 characters encodes at 37 modules and 14.8mm.
Can I put a QR code near the spine of a catalogue?
Better not to. A code on the curve of a bound page is being read at an angle that changes across the symbol, and cameras that would read it flat give up on it. Keep codes in the outer third of the page, and off the inner 20mm of a perfect-bound spine.
Will the codes still work after the catalogue is printed?
The codes will. A static code holds the address inside the symbol, so it has no expiry and no dependency on this site. What breaks is the destination, when a product page is renamed or retired. Point the codes at a redirect you control if the range is likely to change mid-season.
Can I track which products get scanned?
Not with a static code, which is what this tool makes. A static code holds the address and nothing phones home. To count scans you need a dynamic code pointing at a redirect you control, and then the count lives with whoever runs that redirect.
Do I need a different code for each catalogue edition?
Only if the destinations change. If the codes point at product pages that survive the season, last year's catalogue keeps working, which is a quiet argument for pointing at stable URLs rather than campaign landing pages that get deleted in January.
More for work and admin
Contact cards, Wi-Fi, and forms people fill in.
- Google review QR codeThe review link forms measured side by side, including the one that opens the star form rather than the listing.
- Google Form QR codeTurn a Google Form link into a code that scans, and see which of your two links prints smaller.
- Wi-Fi QR codeShare a network without reading the passphrase aloud, with the separator characters escaped properly.
Guides worth reading
All guides- Comparisons
Static vs Dynamic QR Codes
What the redirect actually buys you, measured on real encoded codes, and which payloads are worse off for it.
16 min read - Printing
QR Code Sticker Size: The Circle Costs You 30%
The usable square inside a round sticker is 70% of its diameter. Measured minimum sizes for real links, against every common sticker size.
8 min read - Reference
Offline QR Code Generators for Every Device
What each platform already ships, the measured cost of each payload type, and how to check an offline claim yourself.
26 min read
