Creating asset tags for Atlassian Assets

Atlassian Assets is Jira Service Management’s native asset and configuration management tool. Asset tags or barcodes allow you to efficiently manage your inventory in Atlassian Assets. Barcodes can be used for physical tracking of assets, and searchability in Atlassian Assets

Preparing barcode labels

1. The package of barcode labels you intend to use will have an associated identification code. Using this code, find a Microsoft Word template for your labels Learn more about how to find templates for your labels. If your label brand is not available through Word templates you may also search, download and open a template from the web.

2. In the template, select the appropriate box for where you want your first barcode located. Press Ctrl +F9 (Windows) or Command+fn+F9 (Mac) to insert the barcode curly brackets. Within the curly brackets press Ctrl +F9 (Windows) or Command+fn+F9 (Mac) to create another set of curly brackets. Inside these curly brackets type MERGEFIELD “Key”.

3. There are 6 types of barcodes available in Word to choose from, EAN13, Code39, Code128, UPCA, UPCE. Select the type that best meets your needs, QR Code and Code 128 are the most common.

4. Insert the barcode type outside of the inner curly bracket but inside the outer set of curly brackets.

5. You may wish to customize the format of the barcode by adding switches following the barcode type. Learn more about all available switches. A common switch is “\t” which displays the text of the barcode.

6. Add this text to all areas you would like a barcode to appear on your labels. Regardless of the number of labels, you will only need to fill one page with this text as the mail merge step will duplicate the DISPLAYBARCODE for every entry in the CSV file.

7. At any time you can switch between the barcode view and the text of the barcode view. To do this right-click on the barcode text or barcode and select ‘Toggle Field Codes’.

Preparing barcode data

1. Create a new CSV file in Excel.

2. Add the text ‘Key’ to the cell in the first row in the first column. Fill the remainder of the column with the information you want to be returned when the barcode is scanned.

   1. This can be a URL or a series of letters and numbers. Using Jira Assets, you can download a list of assets based on their key value using the Export Objects feature. Learn more about how to export objects.

Merge barcode data into labels and print

1. In the Word document, select ‘Mailings’ from the menu header.

2. Select ‘Select Recipients’ from the mailings menu, then select ‘Use an Existing List’.

3. In the prompted file finder find the CSV file with your barcode data, select it, and select ‘Open’.

4. The barcodes will now have the value from the CSV file displayed. The first value from the file is displayed on every barcode, this is okay. To confirm this will print through the series of values in the CSV file you can select ‘Preview results’ from the mailings menu.

5. Move your text cursor so it appears beside a barcode. From the mailing menu select ‘Rules’ and select ‘Next Record’. Ensure this is applied to each barcode to ensure that Word applies the next cell value from your CSV file.

6. The file is now prepared for printing. From the mailing menu select ‘Finish & Merge’, then select ‘Print Documents’

Scanning barcodes in Assets

If you have used the Export Objects feature in Assets to have the barcodes connect to the key value you can search for the object by scanning the barcode.

In your object schema select the ‘search schema’ search box. Using a barcode scanner, scan the object. The object will appear in the search box based on the key value and you can select it.

If you are using Jira Service Management you can use an Assets object custom field to search for an asset in a form. Simply select the field from the form, scan the barcode, and the object will appear in the field. Learn more about Assets object custom fields.