InDesign Can Create More Kinds of QR Codes Than You Think

When you launch InDesign’s command for making QR codes (Object > Generate QR Code), you get a dialog box listing five options: 

• Web Hyperlink 
• Plain Text
• Text Message 
• Email
• Business Card

So, you might think that those are the only things you can do with QR Codes generated in InDesign. But you can do lots more, if you know the proper syntax.

Here are some examples:

To make a QR code that dials a phone number, choose Plain Text and enter tel: followed by the phone number. (e.g. tel:+15558675309)

To make a QR code that opens your maps app to a specific location, choose Plain Text and enter geo: followed by the latitude and longitude coordinates (e.g. geo:40.748817,-73.985428)

To make a QR code that logs onto a wifi network, choose Plain Text and enter WIFI:S:[network name];T:WPA;P:[password];; If it’s an open network with no password, enter nopass after the P:

To make a QR code that creates a calendar event, use this syntax:

BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:CreativePro Week 2026
DTSTART:20260629T130000Z
DTEND:20260703T210000Z
LOCATION:JW Marriott Nashville, TN
END:VEVENT

To make a QR code that creates a new contact in the MECard format (simpler and easier to scan at small sizes than the Business Card option built into InDesign), use this syntax:

MECARD:N:LastName,FirstName;TEL:PhoneNumber;EMAIL:EmailAddress;NOTE:JobTitle;;

To make a QR code that sends a WhatsApp message, choose Web Hyperlink and use this syntax:

https://wa.me/15558675309?text=Hello

To make a QR code that launches a Facetime call, choose Plain Text and use this syntax: facetime:15558675309

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