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Print Blank QR Labels & Assign Them on Site

Print a sheet of blank QR labels when you don't yet know which units they'll go on. Each label has a fresh GUID baked in. The label sits in your tech's truck until they're at a unit that needs one — they scan it from the work order page and the GUID is bound to that unit on the spot.

This is the right pattern for retrofits, take-overs, and any time the office can't pre-generate a code per unit.

Before you start​

  • You have the units.edit permission to print labels.
  • A field tech with the Work Orders edit permission and a phone with a camera does the scanning.
  • The work order has a unit attached and the unit doesn't already have a QR code. The scanner only appears for units in that state.

Steps​

Office: print the blank sheet​

  1. Open Units

    Select Units in the top navigation bar.

  2. Set how many labels you want

    Find the small input next to the green New button at the top-left of the page. Default is 10. Range is 1–100.

  3. Print

    Select the QR icon button next to the count input. A new tab opens with that many blank labels, each with a unique GUID.

  4. Send to the printer

    Select the green Print QR Codes button at the top of the new tab. Standard label stock or A4 both work.

  5. Stack the printed sheet in the truck

    The labels are interchangeable. Any blank label can become any unit's QR.

Field: assign a label to a unit​

  1. Open the work order

    Select Work Orders in the top navigation bar, then select the Edit action for the work order at this unit.

  2. Open the QR scanner

    Look in the unit details area for the orange warning icon — it appears next to the unit's name when the unit doesn't have a QR code yet. Select it. The scanner modal opens.

  3. Scan the label

    Point the camera at the label on the truck. The scanner reads the URL and binds the GUID to this unit.

    (If the camera won't start — say you're indoors with a bad camera — paste the label's URL into the Or paste QR code URL manually field at the bottom of the modal and confirm.)

  4. Stick it on the unit

    Mount the label on the unit's exterior. From now on, this label is this unit's QR.

What happens next​

  • The unit's qr_code_guid is set. The orange warning icon disappears from the work order page.
  • Any future scan of the label opens the unit's public page — service history, request a service call, etc.
  • The same label can be printed again from the unit's edit page if it gets damaged, using Generate & Print a QR Code.
  • The blank sheet you printed in the office stays valid until used. Unused GUIDs do nothing — they're not in the database, they're just paper.

Common situations​

SituationWhat to do
You're a one-truck operation and don't carry a printerPrint 50–100 blank labels at the start of each month. Stash them in the truck. You'll have plenty.
You ran out of blank labels mid-routeIf the work order has a unit attached, the office can Generate & Print a QR Code for that specific unit and text the URL to the tech. The tech taps Or paste QR code URL manually in the scanner modal and confirms.
The tech scanned the wrong blank labelDelete the unit's QR. (Currently a database operation — contact support.) Then scan the correct label.
You printed 100 blanks but only used 3The other 97 stay valid until you use them. They're just GUIDs on paper.
You want to assign blank labels in batch from the office (no field scan)Not currently supported. Blank labels are designed to be field-assigned during a work order. Use Generate & Print a QR Code for office-driven assignment.

Troubleshooting​

The QR scanner icon doesn't appear on the work order.

The unit already has a QR code, or the work order doesn't have a unit attached. Confirm in the work order's unit details area — if the GUID is showing under the unit name, you're done.

Scanning fails with "This QR code is already installed on another unit, try another one."

The blank label you scanned was already assigned to a different unit on a previous job. Pick a different blank label and try again. Mark the used one as spent.

Scanning fails with "This unit already has a QR code assigned."

Someone else assigned a QR to this unit since you opened the work order. Refresh the work order page — the scanner button will be gone, replaced by the existing QR.

The camera won't start in the scanner modal.

Either the browser doesn't have camera permission, or the page isn't on HTTPS. Use the Or paste QR code URL manually field at the bottom of the modal as a fallback. The label has the URL printed underneath the QR.

Manual paste fails with "Could not extract a valid QR code GUID from the input."

The URL you pasted isn't a TuffOps unit URL. The scanner expects either the full URL ending in /u/<guid> or just the GUID by itself.