Create your first QR code
About two minutes, start to finish. You will end with a dynamic code live at a short address like https://tap2u.link/summer-menu, an image you can send to a printer, and a destination you can change later without reprinting anything. If you have never done this before, read the whole page once · there is one step at the end that people miss, and missing it is why a brand new code appears not to work.
What it costs before you start
Prices
- Making the code · 1 credit, charged the moment you press Create link, not at publish.
- Each scan after that · 1 credit.
- New here · start with 30 free credits, which covers this whole guide and a few hundred scans on top. Those signup credits expire 7 days after you sign up, so do the first code today rather than next month.
- Credits you buy · valid 18 months, and any top-up rolls the whole balance forward. Nothing here renews.
The full rate card, the packs and what happens when a balance runs out are on Credits and billing.
Make the code
- Open your links list. Sign in and go to Links · it is the first thing the sidebar points at, and it is the app's home screen rather than a page called "links". A new workspace shows an empty state reading "No links yet".
- Press "New link". Top right of the Links screen. A dialog opens headed "What should this QR do?" with three answers under it.
- Choose "Send people to a URL". This is the answer for anything that already has a web address: your site, a menu PDF, a form, a video. The dialog moves on to a step headed "Where should it go?". If you do not have a website yet, pick "Build a page for it" instead and taproute hosts the destination for you · the rest of this guide still applies.
- Type the address into "Destination URL". Paste the full address,
including
https://. Above the field is a row of code types (URL, WhatsApp, vCard, and more behind More) · leave it on URL for a plain web address. - Optionally give it a name and a slug. Name (optional) is what you will see in your own list · "Lobby poster", "Table tent". It is not part of the address. Custom slug (optional) is the bit after the slash. Leave it blank and one is generated for you.
- Press "Create link". The dialog closes, a panel slides in from the right, and you can see the short link at the top with a copy button next to it. This is the moment 1 credit is spent.
- Press "Publish". The panel shows a bar reading "Not live yet", because a code made in the dashboard starts as a draft. Pressing Publish opens a review headed "Ready to publish?" · check the destination, then press "Go live". The bar changes to "Live" and the short link starts resolving.
Publishing is one-way
The product says it plainly in the review: "Publishing starts resolving the address, and from then on this code can be printed. There is no unpublish: taking it down later means pausing it, which keeps the address yours and shows scanners a notice." So publish when you are happy with the destination, not while you are still deciding.
The one choice you cannot change later
If your workspace has a custom domain connected, the create dialog also shows a Domain picker, and that choice is permanent. Slugs are unique per host, so a code created on https://tap2u.link cannot be moved to qr.your-brand.com afterwards · you would have to make a new code, with a new symbol, and reprint.
Connect your domain before you create codes on it
If you intend to print codes on your own hostname, set the domain up first and then create the codes. Doing it the other way round means reprinting. See Custom domains for the DNS record and the verification steps.
Everything else stays editable forever: the destination, the routing, the name, the folder and the design. Only the address · the domain and the slug · is write-once, because that string is the part that gets printed.
Get the image out
A published code is ready to print. Two ways to get the file, depending on how much you care what it looks like:
- Quickly · right-click the row in your links list (or use its actions menu) and choose Download QR (SVG) or Download QR (PNG). SVG is the one to send a printer, because it stays sharp at any size.
- Properly · open the code, go to the Design tab and press Open studio. Colours, a logo, a frame, a caption, and a live scan-safety check that tells you the smallest size it can be printed at. That is its own guide: Design a code that still scans in print.
Before you send anything to a printer, scan it off your own screen with a phone. It costs nothing and it catches the one class of mistake nothing else will · the wrong code in the artwork.
Which of the three answers you should have picked
The dialog's own subtitle is the short version: "Two of these you can repoint later without reprinting. The third is fixed on purpose."
- "Send people to a URL" · a dynamic code pointing at an address you already have. Repointable forever. This is the default answer for a printed thing.
- "Build a page for it" · also dynamic, but taproute hosts the destination: pick a template and edit it. The right answer when there is no website to point at. See Hosted pages.
- "Put the content in the code itself" · a static code. The content lives in the pixels, so the scan never comes through us: nothing to pay, nothing to count, and nothing you can change once it is printed. Right for a WiFi login or a contact card, wrong for anything you might want to redirect. Static vs dynamic has the full comparison.
What to do next
- Change where it points · the thing the printed code exists for. Change where a printed code points.
- See who scanned it · counts, countries and devices, without cookies. Read your scan analytics.
- Send one code to several places · by country, device, language or time of day. Send one code to different destinations.
Questions
Why does my new QR code not open anything?
Because it has not been published yet. A code you make in the dashboard starts as a draft, and the panel says so: "Not live yet · The address is reserved, but it will not resolve until you publish." Open the code and press Publish. That is deliberate · it gives you a moment to settle the design while changing it is still free.
What does it cost to make a QR code?
Creating a dynamic code costs 1 credit, charged when you press Create link, and each scan after that costs 1 credit. A new workspace starts with 30 free credits, so the first code and its first scans cost you nothing.
Can I change the destination after the code is printed?
Yes, for a dynamic code, which is what the "Send people to a URL" and "Build a page for it" answers create. The symbol encodes a short link, never the destination, so repointing it changes what opens without changing the printed ink. The third answer, "Put the content in the code itself", makes a static code, and that one is fixed forever.
Do I have to pick a slug?
No. Leave the Custom slug field blank and taproute generates one. The field only exists for people who want the printed address to read well. Whatever you choose, the slug is write-once once the code is live, because it is the part that ends up on paper.