Fixing Incorrectly Assigned QR Sticker Codes

If you've assigned a Shelf QR sticker to the wrong item — either by linking the wrong code in the app, or by physically placing a sticker on a different asset than the one it was registered to — you can fix it. No sticker is ever permanently burned. Once a sticker has been claimed by your workspace, your workspace owns it for good and you can move it to a different item as many times as needed.

The fix in one workflow

The simplest reliable approach is delete-and-relink:

1. In Shelf, open the asset (or kit) that the QR sticker is currently linked to incorrectly.
2. Delete that asset (or kit).
3. The QR sticker is now unlinked — still owned by your workspace, but no longer attached to anything.
4. Scan the physical sticker with the Shelf scanner or your phone camera.
5. You'll land on an Unlinked QR Code page with four options:
   • Create a new asset and link this QR to it
   • Create a new kit and link this QR to it
   • Link to an existing asset
   • Link to an existing kit
6. Pick the option that matches what you actually want the sticker to identify.

That's it — sticker reassigned to the correct item.

Need the deleted asset back too?

If you deleted the wrongly-linked asset and still need that asset record in Shelf, simply re-create it via Add asset or your usual CSV import. Shelf automatically generates a fresh QR code for any new asset, so the original item gets a brand-new code and the sticker you freed up is now living on the correct item.

If you'd rather keep the asset record intact and just swap the sticker off it, use Relink new code on the asset page (camera-scan a different QR). The previously-linked sticker becomes unlinked and is reusable on any other asset or kit. See Understanding QR Code Swapping and Management in Shelf for more on the swap flow.

A few things worth knowing

• Only your workspace can re-link the sticker. If someone outside your workspace scans a freed sticker, they're shown a "contact owner" page rather than the link flow. Lost or trashed stickers can't be hijacked by another organization.
• One asset can have multiple stickers. If you printed several stickers for the same item and then deleted that item, every one of those stickers becomes individually reusable. Each can be linked to a different new asset or kit.
• Scan history persists per QR code. Every scan of a given QR is recorded under that QR's identifier — across re-links. If you audit scan history for a specific code, you'll see scans from before and after the reassignment under the same QR ID. This rarely matters in day-to-day use but is worth knowing for auditing.
• Stickers and auto-generated codes behave the same after the first claim. Whether a QR came from a printed sticker batch you ordered from the Shelf store or was auto-generated when you created an asset inside Shelf, your workspace owns it equally. Both can be freed and reused via the same delete-and-relink workflow.

Need help?

If a sticker isn't behaving the way you expect, contact us at support@shelf.nu with the QR code's URL or ID and we'll take a look.