Scan to Excel with Scanlist
This page opens with Excel (XLSX) as the export and repeat scans adding to the quantity. Scan with the phone camera, check the list, then download an .xlsx where every code is a text cell, so Excel keeps zeros at the start and long numbers exactly as printed.
- Tap Start scanning and allow the camera when the browser asks.
- Point the camera at each barcode. A beep and a new row confirm every read; scanning the same item again later adds 1 to its quantity.
- Fix a quantity with the minus and plus buttons, or add a note to a row.
- Press Export, keep Excel (XLSX) selected and choose Download or Share.
- Open the file in Excel: the Code column is text, so 0012345678905 and 9780000000019 look exactly as scanned.
What to know
Excel stores numbers as floating-point values with 15 significant digits and shows long ones in scientific notation. A 13-digit EAN or ISBN pasted or opened from a CSV becomes 9.78E+12, and a UPC that starts with 0 loses it. Once that has happened the original digits cannot be recovered from the cell, which is why the export here writes the code column as text cells with the Text number format, the same as typing an apostrophe before each code.
The XLSX file has one sheet named after your list with a frozen header row: Code, Format, Qty, Note and Scanned at, plus any custom columns. On the free plan every cell is text. Pro writes Qty, Price and the GPS columns as numbers and the scan time as a real date-time cell, so you can sum quantities or filter by date straight away without converting anything.
If you already have a product sheet, join it to the scan list with XLOOKUP or VLOOKUP on the Code column. Keep the lookup column as text too; a lookup between a text code and a numeric code never matches, which is the most common reason a stock reconciliation shows every item as missing.
Updated · Cosmovex
Questions
Why does Excel show my barcode as 9.78E+12?
Excel treats a long run of digits as a number and switches to scientific notation past 11 digits; past 15 digits it also rounds. The XLSX export here writes codes as text cells, so this does not happen. With a CSV, use Data > From Text/CSV and set the Code column to Text.
Can I scan straight into an open Excel sheet?
Not from a phone camera. With a USB or Bluetooth barcode scanner on a computer you can scan into Excel directly, because the scanner types like a keyboard. Scanlist is for when you want to use the phone camera, or want quantities counted for you, and then move the result into Excel.
Will the 0 at the start of a UPC code be kept?
Yes. Codes are never converted to numbers. A UPC-A is saved as its 12 digits, for example 012345678905, whichever reader on the phone saw it.
Does it work with Excel on a phone?
Yes. Use Share in the export sheet and pick the Excel app, or download the .xlsx and open it from your files. The same file opens in Excel for Windows and Mac, Numbers and Google Sheets.
The free plan covers everything on this page. Scanlist Pro ($5/mo, billed monthly) is described on the Scanlist page.
