Free RS-232 to keyboard software

Virtual keyboard wedge Use 232key to capture data sent from a serial device and automatically enter it into any application as if you had typed it on your keyboard. Our software runs in the background, captures data sent from a device connected to a serial port on your PC, optionally converts and formats it and then types it at the cursor position (in any application). 232key can also add an additional key at the beginning or at the end (e.g. the "enter" key to jump to the next row in a spreadsheet). Serial ports are also know as RS-232, EIA-232 or COM ports. 232key also works with virtual COM ports, e.g. USB CDC (ACM) devices, RS-232 to USB converters (as shown in the photo below), scales which support the Bluetooth Serial Port Profile (SPP), many serial device servers, etc. See our FAQ or Wikipedia for further information on serial ports.

Compatible with many balances, scales, barcode readers and other serial devices 232key comes with many predefined profiles for popular devices. For devices which are not yet included, you can manually specify the interface parameters, terminator and even the regular expression used to match and capture data. Devices which may have serial connectivity: measuring instruments (scales and balances, digital calipers, etc.), microcontrollers, sensors, barcode readers and barcode apps with Bluetooth connectivity.



As an example, we used a counting scale to count LEDs. After pressing the "Print" button on the scale, 232key typed the quantity (number of pieces) directly into a Google Docs spreadsheet running in our browser:



Works with any application If you're currently manually typing data into an application, you can also use it with 232key! The target application cannot tell the difference between an actual key pressed on the keyboard and a key "pressed" by 232key. The keystrokes sent by 232key will go to whatever application has focus at the time.

Easy to use 232key is organized in 8 tabs: Start/Stop

Input

Process

Output

Settings

Event Log

About

License Get started in 7 steps Connect your device to your PC. Choose the correct port and other connection parameters in the input tab. Optional: Select further processing options in the process tab. Choose the desired output format in output tab. Press the start button in the start/stop tab to connect to your device and start the keyboard simulation. Switch to the target application (while 232key runs in the background) and place the cursor where you want 232key to type the data. Press the data transmission button on your device (usually labeled "print" or "data") to transfer data. 232key types the formatted data at the current cursor position. Please consult our documentation for further information. Steps 1 to 4 have to be completed only once, all settings are saved and loaded automatically. Step 5 can be automated in the Plus version (auto-start). 232key's event log can be extremely helpful when things don't immediately work as expected. Have a look at our support forum to see how we used it to help many of our customers. Our website also contains an extensive troubleshooting section which shows you how to solve all kinds of issues.