Excel QR Code Generator: Make One QR Code for Every Row

An Excel QR code generator reads each row of your list, gets a code for it from a QR code service, and puts the image link back next to the row. The route that keeps your list as the source is a Make scenario: it watches the sheet, creates one QR code per new row in CodeQR, and writes the code's ID and image link back to the row. The published template does this for Google Sheets, and the same scenario can be rebuilt for Excel.

What Excel can and can't do on its own

A spreadsheet is good at storing a list: a product code, a name, a page address for each row. What it doesn't give you is a hosted image and an ID for each code that you can look up later. To get an image for each row, something has to send the address to a generator and receive a picture back.

That leaves three setups: pasting rows into an online generator one at a time, uploading the whole list to a bulk tool, or connecting the spreadsheet to a generator so that it runs by itself. The first is fine for five codes and painful for five hundred.

Prepare the columns in your list

Whatever route you pick, the list needs the same few columns:

• A URL column with the full address, starting with https, that each code should open.
• A Title column with a name you will recognize later, such as the product name or a serial number.
• A QR Code ID column, left empty. The automation fills it in.
• A QR Code Image column for the PNG link, left empty. The automation fills it in as well.

Keep one row per code, and avoid blank rows in the middle of the list. If your records already have a unique ID, such as an SKU or an order number, keep it in its own column so you can match codes to records later.

Route 1: Google Sheets and the Make template

If you can move the list into Google Sheets, CodeQR has a published Make template for it. When a new row appears, it creates a QR code from the URL and Title columns and writes the QR Code ID and the PNG link back into the same row.

The codes it creates are static: the printed pattern holds the destination itself, so it opens directly and cannot be changed after printing. A static code is not counted when someone scans it, because the scan never passes through CodeQR. Our guide on whether QR codes expire explains the difference between static and dynamic codes.

Route 2: keep Excel and rebuild the scenario in Make

There is no Excel template. If your list has to stay in Excel, you can rebuild the same scenario in Make with its Microsoft 365 Excel modules, Watch Worksheet Rows and the matching update module, and keep the CodeQR step that creates the code. The Google Sheets template shows you which fields to map: the URL and the Title go in, the ID and the PNG link come out.

This takes more setup than starting from the template, so use it when moving to Google Sheets is not an option.

Route 3: the bulk API for a one-off batch

If you have a finished list and need the codes once, you can export the sheet and send the rows to the CodeQR API. The bulk endpoint creates up to 100 QR codes per request, so a list of 450 rows takes five requests. This route suits someone who is comfortable with scripts or has a developer nearby. Our post on the QR code API walks through the request, and the API reference lists every field.

For a list you will upload once and not touch again, our help article on creating links and QR codes in bulk from a spreadsheet is the shorter path.

Get the images back into your sheet

The PNG link in each row points to an image hosted online. Every code gets a PNG of 1024 pixels, and the link is the same Image URL you see in the Make module. You can open the link to download the file, hand it to a label or mail-merge tool, or paste it where a design tool asks for an image address.

Keep the link column in the sheet, so a reprint starts from the link that is already there.

Check what a code looks like before you print

By default, a code has a logo in the middle: the CodeQR logo on the Free plan, and your workspace logo on paid plans, or the CodeQR logo if the workspace has none. Paid plans can turn the logo off. Colors default to black on white, and that is the safest choice for scanning.

The error correction level is M unless you change it. Higher levels tolerate more damage but make the pattern denser, so a code for a small label usually does better at a lower level. Before you print a whole batch, print one code at the size you plan to use and scan it with two or three phones. Our guide to QR code size for print has the sizing rules, and the post on adding a logo covers the middle of the code.

Plan, limits and what the templates don't do

Static QR codes are unlimited on the Pro, Business, Scale and Enterprise plans. On Free and Starter they count toward the monthly QR code limit. The pricing page lists the plans. If you want to count scans, or change where a printed code leads, you need dynamic codes, which count toward the monthly limit on every plan.

Make counts each module run as an operation, so a long list needs a Make plan with enough monthly operations. The Google Sheets trigger checks for new rows on a schedule, every 15 minutes in the template, so a new row does not get its code the instant you type it. It also does not stop you from adding the same URL twice, so keep the list clean.

Create your account first

Make connects to CodeQR during setup, so you need a CodeQR account first. You can create a CodeQR account and then follow our help article on connecting CodeQR to Zapier, Make, n8n and IFTTT.

Use the Make template for your list

Open the Create a QR code for each new Google Sheets row template. The guided setup asks for your Google connection and spreadsheet, then your CodeQR connection: sign in to CodeQR and allow Make to access the project. Then you map the URL and Title columns, and the QR Code ID and the PNG link go back to the row.

When you turn the scenario on, Make asks where to start. Choose All to process the rows already in the sheet, or start from the next new row. If you need Excel instead of Google Sheets, replace the first and last modules with Make's Microsoft 365 Excel modules, Watch Worksheet Rows and the matching update module, and keep the CodeQR step as it is.