Before worrying about the bar code scanner and how it works, first identify if your new customer's the barcode symbology
is the same as it is for your other customer(s).

Your barcode scanner can be "programmed" to do certain things, but those things may/may not work the same on ALL various barcode symbologies.

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr

thank you for your response! unfortunately my bosses are more of a 'whatever the customer wants, that's how it's gonna be'. and we have to scramble around trying to work around it. that's the sad part. i just worry that if there is a way to program the scanner to read one way, we may lose the ability to scan all our other customers. again, thank you!

Quote:

unfortunately my bosses are more of a 'whatever the customer wants, that's how it's gonna be'.

I understand, but in the barcode world, that is not always possible.
Many times Yes, but not always - especially if a customer is using an non-standardized, in-house barcode 'catalog'

Quote:

The way we have our scanners set up now is it doesn't read the letters, only numbers

The safest (and most flexible) way is to NOT customize what you are doing to the barcode data for ANY customer, but instead to always use the barcode data "AS IS".

Quote:

is a way to program the scanner to read one way

Well there MAY be, but you first have to know what barcode symbologies you will be reading.

Check with your customers to find that out First.

Alternatively, get a sample of the customer's barcode (both existing and new) into files on your system and then use an on-line reader to get the information (one example: http://www.onlinebarcodereader.com/ )

Then, with that knowledge, you will be able to investigate the possibilities of programming within the scanner itself.

Good Luck,
JRB-Bldr