Newland FM3281 programming: keyboard, Enter, codes, reset

This guide covers the settings most FM3281 users change: the keyboard layout, Enter or Tab after each scan, bar code types, the scan mode and the reset to factory defaults. Every bar code is named exactly as it appears in the FM3281 User Guide, with its chapter and section.

How programming works

By factory default the scanner ignores programming bar codes until you scan Enter Setup. Each page of the user guide prints Enter Setup at the top and Exit Setup at the bottom.

1. Scan Enter Setup. Newland uses a blue light by the logo to show configuration in progress.
2. Scan one or more setting bar codes.
3. Scan Exit Setup.

Some settings need a value. Then you scan the setting, the digits from the appendix section "Digit Barcodes", and Save from "Save/Cancel Barcodes". You can scan the bar codes from paper or from a monitor.

Check the keyboard layout on the PC

In USB keyboard mode the scanner sends key presses and assumes a U.S. keyboard. If Windows uses another layout, some characters change. Select the input language icon on the Windows taskbar to see the active layout, or open Settings › Time & language › Language & region in Windows 11. The Windows defaults for our markets are Estonian, Latvian (Standard), Lithuanian, Finnish, Polish (Programmers) and Czech.

Set the keyboard country

1. Open chapter 7, section "USB Country Keyboard Types".
2. Scan Enter Setup, then the entry from the table below, then Exit Setup.
3. In Notepad, scan a bar code with letters, digits and symbols and compare the result with the text printed under it.

Newland does not say which Windows layout its Poland, Czechoslovakia and Finland (Swedish) entries are based on. That is why the test in step 3 matters. If characters are still wrong, use Emulate ALT+Keypad.

If your layout is missing: Emulate ALT+Keypad

With this setting the scanner types every character as an Alt code on the numeric keypad, so Windows produces the right character whatever the layout. Newland notes that it is slower, because each character takes several key presses.

1. Scan Enter Setup.
2. In chapter 7, section "Emulate ALT+Keypad", scan Emulate ALT+Keypad ON.
3. Section "Code Page": if your bar codes contain national letters, scan the code page they were created with, for example Code Page 1257 (Baltic) or Code Page 1250 (Central and East European Latin). The default is Code Page 1252 (West European Latin).
4. Section "Unicode Encoding": Newland recommends Off for Notepad and Excel (the default) and On for Word.
5. Scan Exit Setup and test in the program you actually use.

Add Enter or Tab after each scan

The end-of-data key is called the terminating character, in chapter 11, section "Terminating Character Suffix". Newland's factory defaults list Return, so many scanners already send Enter. To set it explicitly:

• Enter: scan Enter Setup, Set Terminating Character to CR (0x0D), Enable Terminating Character Suffix, Exit Setup.
• Tab: scan Enter Setup, Set Terminating Character Suffix, the digits 0 and 9, Save, Enable Terminating Character Suffix, Exit Setup. 09 is the hexadecimal code for Tab.
• Nothing: scan Enter Setup, Disable Terminating Character Suffix, Exit Setup.

The terminating character can be up to two characters, for example Tab then Enter (digits 0, 9, 0, D). Prefer CR to CRLF in keyboard mode: in Newland's key mapping table the LF character is sent as a Down Arrow press, which can move the cursor in forms.

If Enter is still missing, scan Enter Setup, Enable All Prefixes/Suffixes (chapter 11, "Global Settings") and Exit Setup. This allows suffixes to be sent. Prefixes you have not switched on individually stay off.

Turn bar code types on or off

Most common types are on by default, including EAN-13, EAN-8, UPC-A, Code 128, GS1-128, Code 39, Interleaved 2 of 5, GS1 DataBar, QR Code, Data Matrix and PDF417. These are off by default: Aztec Code, ITF-14, ITF-6, Matrix 2 of 5, Micro PDF417, ISSN, ISBT 128, all postal codes and all OCR types, such as passport OCR.

1. Find the type in chapter 9, "Symbologies". Each type has its own section.
2. Scan Enter Setup, then the enable bar code, for example Enable Aztec Code or Enable ITF-14 and Transmit Check Character, then Exit Setup.

White-on-black QR codes need Decode Both in section "QR Inverse". Newland also recommends switching off types you rarely use, which makes the scanner more efficient.

Change the scan mode

In chapter 8, section "Scan Mode", scan Enter Setup, then Sense Mode (default, reads when a code appears) or Continuous Mode (reads non-stop), then Exit Setup. Our FM3281 setup guide explains which mode suits which place.

Restore factory defaults

1. Open chapter 6, section "Default Settings".
2. Scan Enter Setup, then Restore All Factory Defaults, then Exit Setup.
3. Set the keyboard country, the suffix and, on the NFC version, NFC again if you use them.

If you set up several scanners the same way, save your configuration with Save as Custom Defaults. Restore All Custom Defaults then returns to it, and a factory reset does not delete it. Newland's EasySet software can also save a configuration and print it as programming bar codes.