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March 28, 2026

Build orders by scanning books

Use your phone or a dedicated scanner to build an order quickly, update quantities as you go, and review everything before moving on.

Start an order and begin scanning

If you're building an order from books that are already in front of you, scanning is usually the fastest path.

Create or open the order you want to work on, and then start scanning books into it one by one.

Your regular phone camera works

You don't need special hardware to get started. Your regular phone camera can be used to scan book barcodes, which makes it easy to build an order from anywhere in the shop.

That is often the simplest option when you're working from the floor, checking a stack of books, or receiving a small shipment.

Dedicated scanners work too

If you prefer a dedicated scanner device, you can use one by selecting the Manual input mode.

That gives you a straightforward way to use scanner hardware while still building the order inside book by book.

Scan extra copies to update quantity

If a book is already in the order, you don't need to stop and edit it manually every time.

You can scan multiple copies of the same book, and book by book will update the quantity for the line item that is already in the order.

That makes it much faster to work through stacks where several copies of the same title are being added at once.

Review the order as you go

As the order takes shape, you can keep scanning and let the quantities build naturally.

When you're done, review the order to make sure the titles and quantities match what you intended to add.

You're done

The workflow is simple: open or create an order, scan books with your phone camera or with a dedicated scanner in Manual input mode, and scan additional copies of the same title whenever you need to increase quantity.

That keeps order building fast while still giving you a clean order to review afterward.

book by book

Helping bookstores get the most out of Square with faster imports, cleaner metadata, and workflows that match how bookselling actually works.

© 2026 book by book. Ligma Tech LLC.
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