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Overview

Barcode detection identifies and decodes barcodes found in document pages. Each detected barcode is returned as a structured page fragment with its decoded value, barcode type, and bounding box — allowing downstream processing to handle barcodes separately from text, tables, and other content. Barcode detection is available in the model03 OCR model and is enabled via a flag in ParsingOptions.

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Enabling Barcode Detection

Set barcode_detection="true" in your ParsingOptions along with ocr_model="model03":
Barcode detection requires Tensorlake Python SDK version 0.2.91 or later. Run pip install --upgrade tensorlake before using this feature.
from tensorlake import DocumentAI, ParsingOptions

doc_ai = DocumentAI(api_key="YOUR_TENSORLAKE_CLOUD_API_KEY")

file_id = doc_ai.upload(path="barcode_file.pdf")

parsing_options = ParsingOptions(
    ocr_model="model03",
    barcode_detection="true",
)

parse_id = doc_ai.read(
    file_id=file_id,
    parsing_options=parsing_options,
)

result = doc_ai.wait_for_completion(parse_id)

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How It Works

When barcode detection is enabled, the pipeline:
  1. Parses each page into fragments (text, tables, barcodes, etc.)
  2. Runs a barcode detector and decoder over the page image
  3. Emits fragment_type: "barcode" entries alongside other page fragments
  4. Includes bounding boxes and page dimensions so barcodes can be positioned or highlighted in a viewer

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Fragment Output

Each detected barcode is returned as a fragment with the following structure: 
{
    "fragment_type": "barcode",
    "content": {
        "content": "PDF417: 4QGDkVjpF7nuGhQiOgLHwc",
        "html": null
    },
    "reading_order": 9,
    "bbox": {
        "x1": 2,
        "y1": 444,
        "x2": 207,
        "y2": 475
    }
}
FieldDescription
fragment_typeAlways "barcode" for barcode fragments
content.contentThe barcode type and decoded value, formatted as "<TYPE>: <value>"
reading_orderPosition of this fragment in reading order relative to other page fragments
bboxBounding box coordinates (x1, y1, x2, y2) in page pixels

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Common Use Cases

Barcodes appear across many operational document types:
  • Shipping labels and packing slips — tracking numbers and carrier codes
  • Lab reports and sample labels — specimen and sample IDs
  • Insurance documents — claim IDs and policy references
  • Utility bills, tickets, and receipts — account numbers and confirmation codes
With barcodes returned as structured fragments alongside text and tables, you can:
  • Match barcode values to internal IDs (shipment, claim, order, patient)
  • Validate that a barcode value matches a printed text label on the same page
  • Flag documents where an expected barcode is missing or unreadable
  • Render barcode overlays in a document viewer using the provided bounding boxes