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Release Notes: June 2021
Release Notes: June 2021

Integrated QR Code Scanner, Item Lineage Tracking and Linking Data to Materials

Barney Walker avatar
Written by Barney Walker
Updated over a week ago

At Labstep we believe that data should only ever have to be entered once, but be accessible wherever you need it. This month we've focused on making it easier to collect data on your inventory items from within experiments but surfacing that information on the item pages.

  • Use the integrated QR code scanner to quickly specify the items used in experiments.

  • Create new items from within experiments in one click.

  • See the lineage of items created in experiments.

  • See a summary of the data collected about an item from all experiments.

Integrated QR Code Scanner

It's now easier than ever to use QR codes with Labstep thanks to our new integrated QR scanner!

Use it to quickly select the items you are using in an experiment.

You can also use it to quickly navigate to the corresponding page on Labstep, to check or update the details about a particular item.

We've also introduced QR codes for Resources and Devices. Use Resource QR codes to allow users in the lab to quickly submit order requests for a particular resource.

Use QR codes on your Instruments and Devices to allow users to quickly pull up information about the device, such as instruction manuals, last calibration dates, or booking information.

Item Lineage Tracking

You can now automatically track the parents and children of your inventory items via the protocols used to create them.

If you have a protocol that involves the creation of new inventory items you can mark which materials are inputs (i.e. used in the protocol) and which are outputs (i.e. created in the protocol).

If you activate the 'Track Lineage' option, the items used in input materials will appear as the parents in the 'Lineage' tab of the items created in output materials. Similarly, the items created in output materials will appear as children in the 'Lineage' tab for each of the items used as input materials.

If there are consumables used as input materials in the protocol that you don't want to be considered as parents in the lineage, simply disable the 'Track Lineage' option.

Linking Data to Materials

You can now link data fields to materials in your protocols. When you run the protocol, the data collected in the data field will automatically appear in the 'Data' tab of the corresponding item used / created.


On the Resource page, you can also see and search all the data collected on all items of that resource across all experiments.

Something missing? If there's a feature you'd like us to add reach out to info@labstep.com or use the in-app chat function.

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