An exemplary method of operating a hand held optical indicia reader includes: capturing in a setup mode a plurality of images of setup symbologies; displaying symbology representations of the symbologies on a graphic user interface (GUI); sorting at least two of the symbology images into a sequencing order utilizing the GUI; storing the sequencing order; capturing in a use mode an image of a target having at least one use symbologies provided thereon, the at least one use symbologies correlating with at least one of the setup symbologies; decoding at least two of the use symbologies; and, outputting the decoded use symbologies in the sequencing order.