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Use Cases & Workflows

Real-world scenarios and step-by-step solutions for common tasks.

Quick Barcode Generation

Scenario: You need a barcode quickly, no setup required.

Steps:

  1. Open SweepTag to Home screen (or skip setup wizard)
  2. Go to Codes tab
  3. Tap Create, then choose Standalone code
  4. Pick what the code should hold: Wi-Fi, Link, or Text
  5. Fill in the fields for that kind (Wi-Fi network + password, a URL, or free text) — a live preview of the QR code appears in the sheet as you type
  6. Tap Save code

The code's name is filled in automatically (the Wi-Fi network name, the link, or the first line of text). Standalone codes are always QR codes — if you need a Code 128 barcode with your own name and value, add the item as an asset in a collection instead.

Then:

  • Print: Tap print icon → Select printer (label size and content come from Settings › Printing)
  • Share: Tap share icon → sends the code's encoded value as text
  • Done: No collection setup needed!

Time: 1 minute

Print Barcode Labels and Share

Scenario: Generate barcodes and print them on labels.

Steps:

  1. Set up your label once in Settings › Printing:
    • Label size: Small (efficient), Medium (standard), or Large (easy scan)
    • What's printed: toggle Asset name, Barcode value, Collection / site, Field values, and Print date
  2. Generate or select a barcode (see above)
  3. Tap print icon 🖨️
  4. Select printer and copies (AirPrint or network)
  5. Tap "Print"
  6. Labels print to thermal label printer or paper

Pro tips:

  • Use 4" × 6" thermal labels for best results
  • Medium size is standard for most assets
  • Barcode + Name is most useful for identification

Sharing printed barcode:

  1. Take a photo of the printed label
  2. Send via email/messaging

Sharing digital barcode:

  1. After generating, tap share icon 📤 — this shares the barcode's encoded value as text (not an image)
  2. To send a scannable image instead, tap Print and share the label PDF from the print dialog, or use the file export described in Keep a Shared Drive of Barcode Files Up to Date

Time: 2-3 minutes

Create a Personal Tool Library Inventory

Scenario: You have 100+ tools and want to track them.

Steps:

Part 1: Create Collection

  1. Open SweepTag → Go to the Assets tab
  2. Tap New collection (also available under Settings › Data › New collection)
  3. Name it: "My Tools" or "Workshop Inventory", and pick the "Tools & machines" template on the same step
  4. Tap Continue, review the fields, then tap Save collection

Part 2: Add Your Tools

Option A: Manual entry

  1. Go to Assets tab → Select your collection
  2. Tap "+" button to add each tool:
    • Asset type: "Power tool"
    • Name: "Power Drill"
    • Location: "Garage"
    • Condition: "Good"
    • Purchase price: "$120"
  3. Repeat for all tools (or do in batches)

Option B: Import from spreadsheet

  1. Prepare a CSV file: 
    Name,Category,Location,Condition,Value
Power Drill,Power Tools,Garage,Excellent,$120
Hand Saw,Hand Tools,Shed,Good,$35
Ladder,Large Items,Garage,Fair,$75
  2. Go to Settings › Data and tap your collection
  3. Choose Import CSV / JSON and select your file
  4. SweepTag imports all tools at once

Part 3: Generate Barcodes

  1. Go to Assets tab → Select your collection
  2. Tap Select, then Select all (or tick specific tools)
  3. Tap Barcodes in the action bar at the top of the list
  4. Tap "Generate" to confirm — tools that already have a barcode are skipped (the dialog shows the counts)
  5. Barcodes generate in one go

Part 4: Print Labels

  1. Choose a label size in Settings › Printing (Small for efficiency)
  2. Go to Codes tab → Files view and open your collection's folder — the Select toolbar appears wherever files are listed
  3. Tap Select, then Select all (or tick specific files)
  4. Tap "Print"
  5. Print to label sheets

Part 5: Attach and Use

  1. Cut labels from printed sheets
  2. Attach to each tool
  3. Now you can scan tools for checkout/return tracking

Timeline: 3-4 hours (includes data entry)

Next steps: Use Scan barcodes for tracking to log check-outs

Barcode Lansweeper Assets

Scenario: You need to barcode your entire IT infrastructure via Lansweeper.

Steps:

Part 1: Connect Lansweeper

  1. In your browser, go to app.lansweeper.com → click your name initials (top right) → Account settings → Developer Tools → Add New API Client
  2. Choose Personal Access Token (PAT) as the authentication method and copy the token (Lansweeper shows it only once)
  3. In SweepTag, go to Settings › Integrations › Lansweeper
  4. Tap Add connection — the setup wizard walks you through the same PAT steps in-app
  5. Name the connection and paste your PAT
  6. Tap Continue

SweepTag auto-discovers your sites — pick the ones you want, and the wizard finishes by letting you choose a barcode field

Settings › Integrations, showing the Lansweeper asset source

Part 2: View Your Assets

  1. Go to Assets tab → Select "Lansweeper"
  2. Select a site from your authorized sites
  3. Browse all assets or search for specific ones
  4. Tap an asset to see full details (30+ data points)

Part 3: Generate Barcodes

For a site's assets:

  1. Go to Assets tab → Select Lansweeper › your site
  2. Tap "Select" and tick the assets you want
  3. Tap "Generate N barcodes"
  4. All barcodes generate (progress is shown; can take a while for 1000+ assets)

For specific assets:

  1. Go to Assets tab → Select Lansweeper › your site
  2. Search to narrow the list
  3. Tap "Select" and tick the matching assets
  4. Tap "Generate N barcodes"

Part 4: Configure Barcode Encoding

Before generating, customize how barcodes encode:

  1. Go to Settings › Integrations › Lansweeper and find Barcodes link to
  2. Choose:
    • App link (a SweepTag deep link that opens the asset in the app)
    • Lansweeper web (direct link to the asset in Lansweeper)
    • Custom URL (your own system, e.g., https://inventory.company.com/asset/{assetKey} — {assetKey} is replaced with the asset's key; without it, ?assetKey=… is appended)

Your choice applies immediately — there's no separate save step.

Part 5: Print Labels

  1. Choose a label size in Settings › Printing (Medium is standard)
  2. Go to Codes tab → Files view and open your site — barcodes are organized into folders by asset type
  3. Open a type folder (e.g., Servers) — the Select toolbar appears where files are listed
  4. Tap Select, then Select all and Print; repeat per type folder (or use search to select across folders)
  5. To print a whole site in one go, switch the Codes tab to the List view instead, where Select all spans everything
  6. Print to your label printer

Part 6: Distribute Labels

  1. Attach barcode labels to physical assets
  2. Employees can now scan to see asset details instantly
  3. Barcodes link to Lansweeper for IT staff

Timeline: 1 hour setup + 2-3 hours printing & labeling

Scan Barcodes for Asset Tracking

Scenario: You generate barcodes and want to scan them to track assets.

Steps:

Part 1: Generate Barcodes (if not done yet)

See Create a Personal Tool Library Inventory or Barcode Lansweeper Assets

Part 2: Scan a Barcode

  1. Go to Scan tab in SweepTag
  2. The camera opens automatically (grant camera access on first use)
  3. Point at any barcode (QR code, Code 128, etc.)
  4. App automatically:
    • Detects the barcode
    • Decodes it
    • Logs the scan with timestamp
    • Shows asset details (if in your collection)

Part 3: Interpret Scan Results

The app shows:

  • Asset name (if barcode is linked to your system)
  • Barcode value (what was encoded)
  • Timestamp (when scanned)
  • Scan type (Asset, URL, Contact, Location, etc.)

Part 4: Log Asset Interactions

For tool library:

  • Scan when tool is checked out
  • Scan when tool is returned
  • Use scan history to track availability

For IT audits:

  • Scan to verify asset is physically present
  • Scan to check location matches records
  • Flag discrepancies for investigation

Part 5: View Scan History

  1. Go to Home tab
  2. The "Scans this week" chart at the top shows your scan activity for the last 7 days
  3. Below it, the "Recent scans" section lists your 5 most recent scans
  4. Tap any recent scan to open the full Scan History list, then tap a record there to see its details

Or tap See all next to Recent scans (also reachable via Settings › Scan History) to search and filter older scans

Timeline: 10 seconds per scan

Export Barcode Data for Reports

Scenario: You need to generate reports or backup your barcode data.

Steps:

Export Barcodes as Files

Barcode files aren't exported from the Codes tab — the Codes tab's select mode offers Print and Delete. Instead, SweepTag writes barcode files (PNG, JPEG, SVG, or PDF, configured per source) to a folder or cloud drive:

  1. Set the file format and naming per source in each collection's File structure section (Settings › Barcode › the collection), or under Settings › Integrations › Lansweeper › File structure for Lansweeper sites
  2. Go to Settings › Integrations, choose a destination, then tap Run export → Export now

See Keep a Shared Drive of Barcode Files Up to Date below for the full walkthrough. For a one-off label, Print a barcode and share the PDF from the print dialog.

Export Asset Data as CSV

  1. Go to Settings › Data
  2. Tap your collection
  3. Choose Export CSV (or Export JSON)
  4. The share sheet opens with the CSV/JSON as text — send it to an app, or use Save to Files (or paste it into a note) to keep it as a file

Then:

  1. Open in Excel or Google Sheets
  2. Analyze, calculate, or format as needed
  3. Use for reports, audits, or sharing

Export Scan History

  1. Go to Home tab → Recent scans → See all (or Settings › Scan History)
  2. Tap the share icon in the header
  3. In the Export scan history prompt, choose Export CSV or Export JSON
  4. The share sheet opens — send the export to any app, or save it as a file

The CSV has one row per scan with these columns: Scanned at (ISO timestamp), Value, Name, Type, Classification, Confidence, Linked asset, Site, Batch, and Duplicate.

Use for:

  • Audit reports
  • Compliance documentation
  • Team sharing
  • Data analysis

Timeline: 1-2 minutes per export

Keep a Shared Drive of Barcode Files Up to Date

Scenario: You want the current barcode images and label PDFs to always be available on a network share or cloud drive — for a print station, a facilities team, or another system that reads files from a folder.

Steps:

  1. Go to Settings › Integrations and look under Choose a destination
  2. Choose a destination:
    • SMB / network share (direct) — connect straight to a NAS or Windows share; SweepTag speaks SMB 2/3 itself, no Files-app mount needed
    • Pick a folder — any folder from the system picker, including a share you've already mounted
    • iCloud Drive — reachable on all your Apple devices
    • OneDrive or Google Drive — sign in with Microsoft/Google; files land in a SweepTag folder in your account
  3. Tap Run export, then Export now — SweepTag writes everything into a managed SweepTag/ subfolder, organized like the Codes › Files view
  4. Re-run it whenever your assets change — only the new or changed files are written

Good to know:

  • It's a one-way mirror (app → destination), not a two-way sync. SweepTag only touches files it created and never overwrites files it didn't.
  • One device owns a folder. To feed one shared drive from several devices, give each device its own subfolder or destination.
  • Exports run while the app is open — there's no background upload.
  • If a run fails, enable Debug mode (Settings › Advanced) and read the activity log; it names the exact cause.

Use for:

  • A print station that always pulls the latest labels
  • Handing barcode files to a team that doesn't use SweepTag
  • An off-device backup of every generated code

Timeline: Under a minute per export after the first full run

Set Up Multiple Teams/Collections

Scenario: Multiple teams need separate inventories (IT, Facilities, Warehouse).

Steps:

Part 1: Create Multiple Local Collections

Create each collection from Assets tab › New collection (or Settings › Data › New collection):

  1. For IT: template "IT equipment" › Name: "IT Inventory"
  2. For Facilities: template "Facilities" › Name: "Facilities Inventory"
  3. For Warehouse: template "Blank" › Name: "Warehouse Items"

Part 2: Populate Each Collection

  • Assign team members to populate their respective collection
  • Each team adds its own assets, custom fields, etc.

Part 3: Generate Barcodes

  • Each team generates barcodes for its collection
  • Organize by collection (different folder structures per team)
  • Print team-specific batches

Part 4: Coordinate Scanning

  • Each team scans its own assets
  • Scan history is a single device-wide list — scans of a collection's assets open that collection's asset details, but there's no per-collection scan history or per-team scan report
  • Data exports (CSV/JSON) are per collection, so each team still gets its own asset report

Benefit: Multiple teams, one app, completely isolated data

Timeline: Depends on number of teams and assets

Migrate from Spreadsheet to SweepTag

Scenario: You have assets in Excel and want to use SweepTag.

Steps:

Part 1: Prepare Your Data

  1. Open your Excel file
  2. Ensure columns match SweepTag field names:
    • Required: Name (asset name)
    • Optional: Serial Number, Location, Owner, etc.
  3. Save as CSV (File › Save As › CSV format)

Part 2: Import as a New Collection (fastest)

  1. In SweepTag, go to Settings › Data
  2. Tap Import a collection
  3. Select your CSV file
  4. SweepTag creates the collection with a field for every column (the first column becomes the asset name)

Settings › Data with the Import a collection entry

Part 3: Or Import into a Prepared Collection

Use this route when you want typed fields (dates, choices, checkboxes) instead of plain text:

  1. Create the collection first (Assets tab › New collection) — choose an appropriate template (or Blank) and add custom fields for your Excel columns
  2. Go to Settings › Data, tap the collection, and choose Import CSV / JSON
  3. Select your CSV file — SweepTag maps columns to your fields by name

All assets imported!

Part 4: Generate Barcodes

  1. Go to Assets tab → open the collection
  2. Tap Select, then Select all
  3. Tap Barcodes in the action bar, then Generate to confirm

Part 5: Verify Data

  1. Browse a few assets in Assets tab
  2. Check that data imported correctly
  3. Make any corrections needed

Timeline: 30 minutes (including data prep)

Audit Assets Using Barcodes

Scenario: You need to verify that physical assets match your records.

Steps:

Part 1: Prepare

  • Ensure all assets have barcodes (or generate them) — in a collection's asset list, tap the filter button next to the search box and set the Filter & sort sheet's barcode filter to No barcode to find any assets without one
  • Attach labels to physical assets
  • Bring mobile device with SweepTag

Part 2: Perform Audit

  1. Start at first location (e.g., Building A)
  2. Open Scan tab in SweepTag
  3. For each asset in the location:
    • Scan its barcode
    • Verify asset details match what you see
    • Note discrepancies (wrong location, missing, damaged, etc.)
  4. Continue through all locations

Part 3: Log Discrepancies

During audit, make notes:

  • "Asset A should be in Room 2, but found in Room 3"
  • "Asset B label is missing"
  • "Asset C is damaged"

Part 4: Generate Report

  1. After audit, go to Home tab → Recent scans → See all
  2. Review the scan history (shows what was scanned)
  3. Tap the share icon in the header → Export CSV (see Export Scan History)
  4. Combine with your notes

Report shows:

  • All scanned assets (verified present)
  • Scan times
  • Any missing assets (not scanned)
  • Discrepancies noted during audit

Timeline: Depends on asset count (1-2 hours for ~100 assets)

Create Barcode for Equipment Rental

Scenario: You're renting equipment and need to track rentals.

Steps:

Part 1: Create Collection

  1. Assets tab › New collection › template "Blank" › Name: "Equipment Rental"
  2. Create fields:
    • Equipment name
    • Equipment type
    • Rental rate
    • Renter name
    • Rental start date
    • Rental end date

Part 2: Add Equipment

  1. For each item you rent:
    • Name: "Projector #1"
    • Type: "AV Equipment"
    • Rate: "$50/day"
    • Location: "Equipment Storage"

Part 3: Generate Barcodes

  1. Go to Assets tab → open the collection
  2. Tap Select, then Select all, then Barcodes → Generate

Part 4: Track Rentals

  1. When equipment is rented:
    • Scan barcode
    • Update "Renter Name" and "Start Date"
  2. When returned:
    • Scan barcode
    • Update "End Date"
    • Note condition

Part 5: Generate Invoice

  1. Export asset data as CSV
  2. Use in spreadsheet to calculate rental fees
  3. Send invoice to renter

Timeline: Depends on number of rentals

Common Troubleshooting Scenarios

See FAQ for detailed troubleshooting.

Next Steps