A sequential counter is a special object that changes for each label when the label is printed. On the first label printed, the Counter field will have a starting value (for example, 1); for each subsequent label, the Counter field value is increased ("Incremented") by another value, and the new value appears in the location of the counter object on the printed label. What this means, practically speaking, is that every label has a counter on it which increases a specific amount for each label, i.e. the counter starts at, then goes to 2, then to 3, etc. Or, the counter could start at 0, then go to 5, then to 10, then to 15 and so on.

To place a sequential counter on a label, scroll to the Place Counter... option under the Object menu. Selecting this command activates a "Counter Specification" dialog box. The items in this dialog box and their impact on the presentation of the sequential counter are described as follows:
Preamble: Text placed in the text box next to this item will precede the number that is printed in the Counter field. For example, "A1."
Postamble Text placed in the text box next to this item will follow the num-ber printed in the sequential counter field. For example, "1A." Starting Number The number placed in the text box next to this item will appear on the first label printed. Increment by: The number placed in the text box next to this item will be added to the counter value whenever the counter is incremented.

Use Same Value: The number in the text box next to this item specifies the number of times the current counter value is used before it is incremented.
Padding Options : Select either None, Zero, or Space. The selection has the following effect:
None : No spaces or leading zeros are used to "pad" the size of the Counter field. The amount of space used by the counter number depends on its magnitude. For example, a "1" takes one space, whereas a counter value of "1000" takes four spaces on the printed label.
Zero : The number is padded on the left with 0's to create a fixed width field. The width of the field is the number appearing in the text box next to the Fixed Length Width option; i.e. if the Fixed Length Width is set to 4, "1" will be printed "0001."
Space : The number is padded on the left with blanks to create a fixed width field. The width of the field is the number appearing in the text box next to the Fixed Length Width; i.e. "1" is printed " 1."

You may change the counter into a bar code. This powerful feature may be useful for printing sequentially numbered bar codes for inventory items, tickets, etc. To do this, simply activate the Counter object by clicking on it, then select the Make Object a Bar Code option from the Object menu. You may then customize the bar code specifications through the "Bar Code Specification" dialog box, which may be displayed by either using the Bar Code button from the Label Tool Bar, or by double-clicking on the bar coded counter while the [Option] key is pressed. Be sure that the number can be legitimately turned into a bar code. For example, the counter "Pre001Post" can not be displayed as a UPS bar code, because UPS Bar codes require a certain number of digits ( 11, 13 or 16 ) for encoding, and you will be presented with an empty box instead of the bar code. But selecting Code128 or Interleaved in the Bar Code pop-up menu will make the counter into a bar code.