3 Ways to Make Your Barcode Labels Secure

3 Ways to Make Your Barcode Labels Secure

BY: ANTHONY BIENIEWSKI / DATE: 08/01/2026 / TOPICS: ENTERPRISE LABEL MANAGEMENT, PRINT AUTOMATION, LABEL TRACEABILITY

In today's digital world, security is built into everything we do—but are your barcode labels protected? You wouldn't give everyone a key to your house, skip password requirements, or lose track of important versions of a file. Yet many organizations leave barcode label security as an afterthought. Securing barcode labels requires the same principles: limiting access, enforcing approvals, and controlling versions.

Unsecure barcode labels can lead to mislabeling, compliance issues, recalls, production delays, and bad press. To make barcode labels secure, you need to protect your business long-term with a secure labeling process. Below are three proven ways to secure your barcode labels by enforcing labeling security and traceability and control to your barcode labeling environment.

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1. Enable user permissions by separating label design users from print users

One of the most effective ways to secure barcode labels is to assign users roles. This clearly separates who can design labels and who can print them. By limiting access based on responsibilities, you reduce the risk of unauthorized edits, inconsistent labeling, and costly production errors. Some ways user permissions can be enforced within a secure barcode labeling environment are:

• Click Print
  Click Print is a feature in LABELVIEW and CODESOFT that allows print users to simply preview and print approved barcode labels without opening the label design file. This ensures label templates remain protected while still enabling fast, accurate printing.
  
• Label printing forms
  Custom label printing forms allows you to design an ideal label printing process. Form Designer can be accessed without launching your label designer, helping enforce user roles across teams. Form Editor enables data-entry rules so print users can only enter data in the correct format, ensuring consistency and accuracy. Label printing forms not only help secure barcode labels, but also reduce errors, reprints, and production downtime.
  
  
• Print automation with SENTINEL
  Printing labels directly out of your ERP, WMS, or other business system eliminates manual data entry entirely. With SENTINEL, print jobs are automatically triggered (for example, a work order being sent to production) within a barcode labeling environment to reduce human interaction and significantly improve labeling security and reliability.
  
  
• Print-only licensing
  Not every user in your labeling environment needs the same level of access. If you have users who are only designated to print your barcode labels, utilizing a print-only license may be a good option for you. This license protects label templates from unauthorized changes while still supporting high-volume printing operations.
  
  
• Network User Manager
  Network User Manager ensures only authorized users have access to the labeling system. With a network license, permissions can be assigned based on Windows credentials. Designers can be limited to label creation, while print users can be restricted to printing only, and administrators to system-level controls, which helps strengthen label security.

Why enabling user permissions matters

Enabling user permissions is critical to maintaining a secure and scalable barcode labeling environment. Without clearly defined roles, organizations risk accidental label edits, compliance violations, and inconsistent labeling across locations. User permissions help you:

• Avoid unauthorized or accidental label changes
• Enforce consistent labeling processes across teams and sites
• Support regulatory compliance and audit readiness
• Reduce labeling errors, reprints, and operational downtime

By separating label design from label printing and enforcing role-based access, businesses can confidently make barcode labels secure while improving efficiency and long-term scalability.

2. Establish a paperless label approval process

A paperless label approval process is another effective way to make barcode labels secure. By enforcing structured approval workflows, you can clearly define who is allowed to design barcode labels, review and approve changes, and print approved labels, ensuring only authorized, approved labels enter production.

Only specified users can access the secure paperless label approval process. When setting up your workflow, you’ll define the approval steps the label file must pass through. This includes defining specific users, their permission levels, and password requirements. User management can be directly integrated with Windows Active Directory, making setup easy and ongoing administration secure.

Using label security and traceability software like LABEL ARCHIVE, organizations can implement an electronic label approval process that prevents unauthorized labels from entering production while remaining compliant. With label security and traceability software you also have access to features like:

• Secure user management integrated with Windows Active Directory
• Centralized label storage for your label files
• Permanent records of all label changes and approvals for maximum traceability
• Full track and trace on label template version history for design and printing

Why a paperless label approval process matters

A paperless label approval process is especially important for regulated industries like healthcare, life sciences, or pharmaceuticals. Regulations like FDA 21 CFR Part 11 require electronic signatures on label files. This process reduces the likelihood for companies to experience a labeling related recall, or in the unfortunate event that it does occur, helps them administer the recall much faster by having full label traceability.

A paperless label approval process is not only more secure, but faster, more efficient, and easier to manage. See how the electronic approval process can help secure your barcode labeling environment in this LABEL ARCHIVE key features video.

3. Enable label version control and print history

If you can't track label versions, it becomes hard to keep your barcode labels secure. Like trying to remind yourself why your file is labeled 25_project_Final_FNAL. Label version control and print history provide a complete audit trail of every label change, giving you visibility into who modified a label, who printed it, when it was printed, and which approved version was used in production.

By enforcing standardized label workflows and centralized label storage, organizations achieve full traceability of label design, approval, storage, and printing. This level of control ensures that only approved label versions are used, and that labeling processes are consistent.

Why label version control and print history matter

Label version control and print history are critical for identifying and resolving labeling issues quickly and accurately. With full visibility into label history, organizations can:

• Quickly identify which users made an error
• Determine exactly which label versions were affected
• See when and where affected labels were printed
• Act without interrupting production

This level of traceability reduces risk, minimizes downtime, and strengthens compliance readiness, helping organizations confidently make barcode labels secure while maintaining efficient labeling operations.

Secure your barcode labels before problems arise

Keeping your barcode labels secure shouldn’t be an afterthought; it should be a vital part of your labeling strategy. By separating design and print roles, implementing a paperless label approval process, and enabling label version control, you can make barcode labels secure, improve traceability, and protect your business from costly errors and compliance risks.

Get in touch with a barcode labeling expert today to learn how to better secure your barcode labels and build a future-proof labeling environment.

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