Windows users often ask the question if there’s any program that can scan QR codes on the PC. Yes, this is possible and there are many apps or programs that can help Windows users to scan QR codes directly on the PC.
For those who don’t know, QR codes are a form of barcode that can be read with a special barcode reader. You must have observed the barcode on the products of super stores or grocery stores. QR codes itself are a form of barcodes but they look different. They are in small square shape that look like the below image.
These QR codes also have the ability to carry many types of metadata such as product price, URLs, signature, phone number, business card, any custom message and many other things. QR codes have gained popularity thanks to increase in the usage of smartphones, like Android and iPhone. Android users can install an app like QR Barcode Scanner or QR Droid and iOS/iPhone users can install an app like QR Reader for iPhone.
But what if you don’t want to use your smartphone to scan a QR code? If you don’t have a mobile device, and you are on a on a Windows based PC, then here is an application named as CodeTwo QR Code Desktop Reader that can scan QR codes on your Windows PC.
The interface of this program is really very clean. This application can scan QR codes in two different ways. The first method is to scan QR code from an image file such as PNG, JPEG, BMP, TIFF, etc. To scan a QR code from an image, click on the “From file” button and then select your desired file. The decoded message/information appears in the bottom of the window. Once the information is displayed, you have the option to save this information as a TXT file by clicking on “Save to file” option or you can click on the “Copy to clipboard” option to copy the information to clipboard.
Don’t worry if you don’t have the QR code in an image file. You can still scan the QR code from any website, email, banner or anything that appears on the screen. If you don’t have the image file, then click on the “From Screen” option. Now, you can select the exact part from the screen by dragging the pointer from where a QR code is displayed. Once you have selected the screen area, release your mouse and the selected area will be displayed in the window of the application. The information extracted from the QR code is then displayed at the bottom of the screen.
The only minus point of this program is that it doesn’t have the ability to generate a QR code. Other then that, it works flawlessly.
CodeTwo QR Code Desktop Reader is a Desktop QR Code reader application for Windows. It is a freeware tool and it is compatible with Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8.
Leave a Reply