The IMB cannot be created w/o a populated barcode field
In order to print the intelligent mail barcode on your mail piece, you need to have data in the imbarcode and imbdigits fields at the time you either print or export. Adding the IMBarcode data occurs in the Print Settings window of AccuZIP6, when you check the Intelligent Mail box, choose All in the Scope area, and click Print or Continue.
In order for the imbarcode and imbigits fields to populate, this requires information to appear in the field named barcode. The barcode field gets populated during the validation event. Therefore, in order to print the intelligent mail barcode, you must validate your list prior to presorting.
If validation leaves some records with nothing in the field named Barcode, then those records will not get the IMBarcode or IMBDigits fields populated.