What's New in BarTender 12: Cloud and On-Premise in One System

For years, labelling software has forced a choice: keep everything on-premise for control and compliance, or move to the cloud for flexibility and remote access. BarTender 12 removes that trade-off. It's the first release to genuinely combine both models in a single system, and for organisations juggling multiple sites, remote teams, or strict IT governance, that shift is worth understanding properly.

The problem with choosing one or the other

Most labelling teams know this tension well. On-premise systems keep data and print servers inside your own network, which IT and compliance teams generally prefer, especially in regulated environments like the NHS or pharmaceutical manufacturing. But they're harder to scale across sites, awkward for remote or field-based staff, and every update or integration becomes an IT project.

Cloud systems solve the flexibility problem but raise a different set of questions: where is the data held, who can access it, and does it meet the same governance standards your organisation is used to.

BarTender 12's answer is hybrid labelling: on-premises control where you need it, cloud flexibility where it helps, in one connected system rather than two separate ones bolted together.

What's actually new?

Hybrid labelling architecture

This is the headline change. Rather than picking a cloud or on-premises licence and living with the limitations, BarTender 12 lets you run both side by side. On-premises subscribers can add cloud capabilities as they need them, without replacing existing infrastructure or retraining staff on a new system.

Intelligent Forms

Simple, web-based forms let anyone print the correct label from any browser, without opening the design application itself. Someone building the form does it with drag-and-drop, no scripting required. For teams where labelling isn't their day job, such as ward staff, warehouse operatives, or field engineers, this significantly lowers the chance of the wrong label being printed.

BarTender Designer Online

A browser-based version of the label designer, aimed at distributed teams, remote sites, and external suppliers who need to collaborate on label design without each having a full local installation.

Integrated item-level tracking

Labelling and BarTender's Track & Trace tool are now connected, so an item can be tracked from the moment its label is printed. This closes a gap that previously caused inventory errors and compliance blind spots between "the label was printed" and "the item was actually tracked".

Direct cloud printing and file drop automation

Zebra DNA printers can now connect via weblink or auto-discovery with no drivers needed, and printing can be automated simply by dropping a CSV, XML, or JSON file into a folder. Both reduce the IT overhead of getting new sites or printers up and running.

Expanded single sign-on support

New Microsoft Entra ID integration joins existing PingID support, alongside broader OIDC compatibility, making it easier for larger or multi-site organisations to manage user access centrally.

Why this matters beyond the feature list

For organisations already using BarTender, the practical benefit is choice without disruption. An NHS Trust or business running an on-premises system for compliance reasons doesn't need to abandon that setup to get cloud-based benefits like remote form access or easier multi-site collaboration. The two can now sit together, adopted at whatever pace makes sense.

For anyone still relying on manual processes, spreadsheet-based templates, or a labelling system that hasn't kept pace with how the organisation now operates, across multiple sites, with remote or field staff, under growing compliance pressure, this release is a natural prompt to revisit the setup.

There's also a time-limited detail worth flagging: eligible BarTender Labeling customers can currently add Track & Trace at no additional cost, which is a meaningful way to trial the new tracking capability without a separate purchasing decision.

Getting it right for your environment

Hybrid labelling gives you options, but the right configuration still depends on your specific compliance requirements, existing infrastructure, and how your teams actually work day to day. That's where getting proper implementation support pays off, rather than defaulting to whichever setup is quickest to switch on.

If you're already running BarTender and want to understand what BarTender 12 changes for your licence and workflow, or you're evaluating labelling software for the first time, we're happy to talk through what a hybrid setup would actually look like for your organisation.