Unscannable

The adjective 'unscannable' describes something that cannot be read or processed by a scanning device, such as a barcode scanner, optical character recognition (OCR) software, or a medical imaging machine. This often results from factors like poor print quality, damage, obstruction, insufficient contrast, or the use of an incompatible format. It can also refer to data or information that is protected or intentionally obscured to prevent automated reading or analysis. An unscannable item therefore prevents information capture from these automated methods.

Unscannable meaning with examples

• The cashier struggled to scan the barcode on the worn package, sighing, "This is unscannable!" They had to manually enter the product details. The print was faded and damaged, making it difficult for the scanner to recognize the lines and numbers that constituted the barcode.
• Due to a printing error, the QR code on the flyer was blurry and unscannable, causing frustration for potential customers. The marketing campaign struggled because visitors were not able to automatically be directed to the website. The promotion failed to generate the anticipated traffic.
• Doctors faced a challenge with the patient's medical records, which, due to the age of the original document, the notes were handwritten and now were unscannable. The hospital was understaffed, so that the documents were not able to be digitized, causing delays and frustration for the staff.
• The government agency found the heavily redacted document to be largely unscannable, as the black bars of the redactions completely obscured the original text. They needed to attempt to review the document's sensitive information to respond to the legal request, but the process was slowed down.
• Attempting to read the magnetic stripe on the credit card, the point-of-sale terminal flagged it as unscannable. The card was then rejected for use. The merchant had to ask for another method of payment, thus delaying the purchase.