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Text QR code generator

Put a short piece of text in a QR code: a code, a note, a serial number.

Anything at all. This is stored in the code itself, so it works with no internet connection.

Your QR code appears here

Start typing and it updates as you go.

PNG is 2048px. SVG scales to any size, which is what print wants.

Design
Colours

Or start from a pair that scans well:

Module shape

The empty border around the code. 4 is the standard.

Recovers about 15% damage. The usual choice.

Centre logo

Optional. Keep it simple - a mark reads better than a wordmark at this size.

What is actually in a text QR code

A text QR code contains exactly the characters you type, with no scheme in front and no formatting around them. There is nothing for the phone to open, so the scanner does the only sensible thing: it shows the text and offers to copy, search or share it. That is the whole behaviour, and it is why this type is the right choice for an identifier rather than a destination.

Because the words are inside the pattern, the code needs no internet at all. It works in a basement, in a cold store, on a boat, and years after this site is gone. Nothing is looked up and nothing can be taken down. It also means the text is readable by anyone who scans it - a QR code is an encoding, not encryption, and any scanning app will happily display the contents.

The trade is size. Every character adds data, and the pattern gets finer to hold it. A twenty-character part number produces a chunky code that scans from across a workshop; two paragraphs of text produces a dense one that needs a bigger label, better light and a steadier hand. If you find yourself pasting more than a couple of sentences, the text belongs on a page and the code belongs on the link to it.

The text inside the code

BATCH 24-118 / packed 2026-03-14 / line 3

Good for

  • Asset tags in a workshop
  • A batch number on a label
  • Lab and sample identifiers
  • Care instructions on a garment tag
  • A shelf label in a stockroom
  • A caption card in a museum case

Worth knowing before you print it

  • Short text scans from further away

    A code holding twenty characters has far fewer squares than one holding four hundred, and at the same printed size each square is bigger. If the label has to be scanned from a metre away, or printed on a thermal label printer, keeping the text short does more for reliability than any other setting.

  • Line breaks are kept, but not always shown

    The line breaks you type are stored in the code. What the scanner does with them varies: some apps show the text laid out, others collapse it into one running line in a preview banner. Do not rely on layout to carry meaning - use a separator like a slash if the order of the parts matters.

  • A link inside plain text may not be tappable

    If you paste a web address into a text code, some scanners spot it and make it tappable while others show it as words the person has to retype. If the point is to open something, use the URL type instead: it puts the scheme in front, and every scanner then treats it as a destination.

  • It is readable, so do not put secrets in it

    Anyone with a phone can read the contents in a second, and a photograph of the code is as good as the code. Door codes, licence keys and passwords printed as a QR code are printed in public. Use it for identifiers, references and instructions - things you would be happy to write on the label in words.

Common questions

Yes. The text is stored in the code, so the scanning phone does not fetch anything. It works in a warehouse with no signal, on a plane, and long after this site has been closed. The only thing the phone needs is a camera.

The QR standard tops out in the low thousands of characters, but that is far past the point where the code is practical. Long text makes a dense pattern that needs a larger print and better light. As a rule, if it does not fit on the label in readable words, put it on a page and use a URL code.

No. A QR code cannot hold a file - not a PDF, not an image, not a spreadsheet. Upload the document somewhere it can live, then make a URL QR code pointing at it. That code stays small and scannable no matter how big the document is.

No. A QR code is a way of writing characters as a pattern, and any free scanning app will show them. Treat the contents as public. If something genuinely needs to be private, put it behind a login and point the code at that login page instead.

The phone shows the text. Depending on the app they will get options to copy it, search for it or share it, but nothing opens and nothing is sent. That is a feature when the code carries a reference number somebody needs to read or type into another system.

Yes. The text is encoded as UTF-8, which covers accented letters, Greek, Cyrillic, Arabic, Chinese and Japanese. Those characters take more space than plain ASCII, so the same sentence in Japanese produces a denser code than in English - keep it short and print it a little larger.

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