Inserting a check in word

1. Place your cursor at the spot where you want to insert the symbol.

2. Go to Insert > Symbol.

   

3. Select a checkmark symbol to insert or do the following

   1. Select More Symbols.

   2. Scroll up or down to find the checkmark you want to insert.

   3. Different font sets often have different symbols. Use the Font selector above the symbol list to pick the font you want.

4. Double-click the symbol to insert it into your document.

5. Select Close.

Tip: If you want to make your checkmark larger or smaller, select it and use the Font Size setting.

1. Place your cursor at the spot where you want to insert the checkmark.

2. Go to Insert > Advanced Symbol > Symbols.

3. Choose the checkmark symbol that you want.

4. Select Insert.

5. Select Close

You can easily insert a check mark (also known as a «tick mark») in Word, Outlook, Excel, or PowerPoint.

These marks are static symbols. If you’re looking for an interactive check box that you can click to check or uncheck, see: Add a check box or option button (Excel) or Make a checklist in Word.

1. In your file, place the cursor where you want to insert the symbol.

2. Open the Symbol dialog box:

   • Word or Outlook: Insert, select   Symbols then   More Symbols

   • Excel: Insert, select   Symbols

   • PowerPoint: Insert, select   Symbols > Symbol

   The Symbols button is on the far right end of the Insert toolbar tab.

3. In the Font box, select Wingdings.

4. In the Character code box at the bottom, enter: 252

   In the grid of symbols, the check mark is selected. Another check-mark option is available two squares away from it (character code 254).

5. Select the check mark you want. Click Insert. Then click Close to dismiss the dialog box. 

6. Once the check mark has been inserted, you may change its size or color. Select the check mark, right-click it, and make your desired changes by using the floating toolbar:

   

More check marks to choose from

Another font, Segoe UI Symbol, has three checkmark options. You can opt for this font in step 3 of the procedure above, and you can substitute one of the following character codes in step 4.

Symbol	Character code
	2705
	2713
	2714

Is this article up to date?

Insert or Type a Check Mark or Tick Mark Symbol in Microsoft Word (with Shortcuts)

by Avantix Learning Team | Updated April 2, 2021

Applies to: Microsoft^® Word^® 2013, 2016, 2019 or 365 (Windows)

You can insert or type a check mark or tick mark symbol in a Word document in several ways. Check marks can be inserted using built-in commands or keyboard shortcuts. It’s important to note that there is a difference between inserting a static check mark and inserting a clickable check box which is typically used in a Word form.

Recommended article: How to Show or HIde White Space in Word Documents

Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word? Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom (in-person) Word courses >

In this article, we’ll review 5 ways to insert a check mark symbol in a Word document:

1. Insert check marks as bullets
2. Use the Insert Symbol command
3. Add and use a custom Word keyboard shortcut
4. Add and use an AutoCorrect shortcut
5. Use an Alt code shortcut by pressing Alt and then entering a number sequence

Do you want to learn more about Microsoft Word? Check out our virtual classroom or live classroom Word courses >

1. Inserting a check mark by inserting bullets

If you want to insert a check mark at the beginning of one or more paragraphs, you can apply custom bullets using the Wingdings font (or a similar font).

To apply check marks as custom bullets to paragraphs:

1. Select the paragraph(s) to which you want to add check marks.
2. Click the Home tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Paragraph group, click the arrow beside Bullets. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Click Define New Bullet. A dialog box appears.
5. Click Symbol. A dialog box appears.
6. Select Wingdings from the Font drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can select another font such as Wingdings 2 or Segoe UI Symbol.
7. Click the desired check mark.
8. Click OK.
9. Click Font. A Font dialog box appears.
10. Select the desired font color and size. This dialog box offers the same options as the regular Font dialog box.
11. Click OK twice.

The check marks will be added at the beginning of the paragraph(s).

In the Define New Bullet dialog box (below), you can select Symbol, Font or Picture:

The following characters appear when you select Wingdings as the Symbol font for bullets:

In the Define New Bullet dialog box, you can select Picture and then navigate to a picture you want to use as a bullet and then double-click it.

2. Inserting a check mark using Insert Symbol

If you want to add a check mark in a line of text (or at the end of a line of text), you can use Insert Symbol.

To insert a check mark using Insert Symbol in the Ribbon in Word:

1. Position the cursor in the Word document where you want to insert a check mark.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Symbols group, click Symbol. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Click More Symbols. A dialog box appears.
5. If necessary, click the Symbols tab.
6. Select Wingdings from the Font drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can select another font such as Wingdings 2 or Segoe UI Symbol.
7. Scroll through the list of symbols until you find the check mark symbol you want to use and then click it.
8. Click Insert.
9. Click Close.

Once the check mark has been inserted, you can change its size or color using the Home tab in the Ribbon or by right-clicking and selecting formatting options from the mini-toolbar.

In the example below, Wingdings is selected in the Symbol dialog box:

3. Inserting a check mark using a custom Word keyboard shortcut

If you insert a check mark frequently, you can create your own keyboard shortcut for the check mark symbol.

To create a keyboard shortcut for a check mark:

1. Position the cursor in a Word document.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Symbols group, click Symbol. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Click More Symbols. A dialog box appears.
5. If necessary, click the Symbols tab.
6. Select Wingdings from the Font drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can select another font such as Wingdings 2 or Segoe UI Symbol.
7. Scroll through the list of symbols until you find the check mark symbol you want to use and then click it.
8. Click Shortcut. A dialog box appears.
9. Click in the box below Assign New Shortcut key.
10. Press the keys you want to assign (such as Ctrl + Alt + M). Don’t type any text, just press the keys. Be careful not to override a useful built-in shortcut such as Ctrl + C.
11. Click Assign. Typically the location for these shortcuts is the Normal (or default) template.
12. Click Close twice.

Test the shortcut in your document by pressing the assigned keys.

The Customize Keyboard dialog box appears as follows:

Since these shortcuts are typically saved in the Normal template, when you exit Word, if you are prompted to save the Normal template, click Yes.

4. Inserting a check mark using an AutoCorrect shortcut

You can also insert a check mark automatically using AutoCorrect.

To set up an AutoCorrect entry for a check mark:

1. Position the cursor in a Word document.
2. Click the Insert tab in the Ribbon.
3. In the Symbols group, click Symbol. A drop-down menu appears.
4. Click More Symbols. A dialog box appears.
5. If necessary, click the Symbols tab.
6. Select Wingdings from the Font drop-down menu. Alternatively, you can select another font such as Wingdings 2 or Segoe UI Symbol.
7. Scroll through the list of symbols until you find the check mark symbol you want to use and then click it.
8. Click AutoCorrect. A dialog box appears.
9. In the Replace box, enter the name of the entry (such as cm1).
10. Click Add.
11. Click OK.
12. Click Close.

To insert the entry in the document, type the entry (such as cm1) and then press the Spacebar.

The AutoCorrect dialog box appears as follows:

Since these shortcuts are typically saved in the Normal template, when you exit Word, you should be prompted to save it.

5. Inserting a check mark using an Alt keyboard shortcut

You can press the Alt key in combination with numbers on the numeric keypad to insert a check mark symbol.

To insert a check mark symbol in a Word document using Alt:

1. Position the cursor where you want to insert the check mark symbol.
2. Press Alt + 0252 or Alt + 0254 on the numeric keypad. If the sequence doesn’t work, press NumLock on the numeric keypad. Word will insert a different character.
3. Select the character, click the Home tab in the Ribbon and select Wingdings from the Font drop-down menu.

If you want to create clickable check boxes, you could create a Word form using controls or create a dynamic form using Microsoft Forms.

Subscribe to get more articles like this one

Did you find this article helpful? If you would like to receive new articles, join our email list.

More resources

How to Create a Hanging Indent in Word (3 Ways)

14 Shortcuts to Quickly Select Text in Microsoft Word

How to View Word Count in Microsoft Word (4 Ways)

How to Insert the Not Equal Sign in Word (5 Ways to Type or Insert ≠)

10+ Great Microsoft Word Navigation Shortcuts to Move Around Quickly in Your Documents

Related courses

Microsoft Word: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft Excel: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft PowerPoint: Intermediate / Advanced

Microsoft Word: Long Documents Master Class

Microsoft Word: Styles, Templates and Tables of Contents

Microsoft Word: Designing Dynamic Word Documents Using Fields

VIEW MORE COURSES >

Our instructor-led courses are delivered in virtual classroom format or at our downtown Toronto location at 18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada (some in-person classroom courses may also be delivered at an alternate downtown Toronto location). Contact us at info@avantixlearning.ca if you’d like to arrange custom instructor-led virtual classroom or onsite training on a date that’s convenient for you.

Copyright 2023 Avantix^® Learning

Microsoft, the Microsoft logo, Microsoft Office and related Microsoft applications and logos are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in Canada, US and other countries. All other trademarks are the property of the registered owners.

Avantix Learning |18 King Street East, Suite 1400, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5C 1C4 | Contact us at info@avantixlearning.ca

Adding checkboxes to your Microsoft Word document gives you the functionality of a check list. Ticking off line items as they are complete, actioned or done.

Inserting a check list into your Word document is incredibly handy, most commonly used when creating surveys in word.

There are two ways to insert check boxes into Word, the first being more suitable for digital marking within Word itself and the second more suited to documents being printed and then checked off, such as a to do list.

In this post, we will show you how to insert both types of check boxes into your document with ease.

Inserting a tick-box in Microsoft Word

Option 1: Best for Digital Marking in Word itself

1. Open Word
2. Check that ‘Developer’ is turned on
   1. How to Turn Developer on
      1. Select the Customize Quick Access Toolbar dropdown
      2. Select More Commands
      3. Select Developer Tab
      4. Select Tick Box
      5. Press Insert

1. Once the Developer Tab has been activated:
2. Place your cursor where you would like to insert the tick box

1. Select the Tick Box in your Quick Access Short Cuts

1. Repeat for each line that you would like a tick box added in front of

Option 2: Best for Printing

1. Open Word
2. Highlight your list
3. Click the Bullet Point button
4. Click Define New Bulletpoint…

1. Click Bulletpoint…

1. Change Font to Wingdings 2
2. Select the Square Symbol

1. Press OK

You have now successfully inserted check boxes in front of all highlighted lines.

Is Version Control causing issues for you? We have a solution!

If you are collaborating on a Microsoft Word Document with others and are required to keep each version saved away for future reference, it is likely you are facing the same version control pain points that every other company is.

A very cluttered shared drive or cloud, one where each new version is saved every time one of your colleagues makes an edit. Leaving you with a shared drive full of documents looking something like ReportV4_updated_final_FINAL1 and no idea if that is actually the final version or not.

Then you face the challenge of naming your new document, do you add another _FINAL2 or is _JDsedits enough for everyone else to understand what’s going on?

If it wasn’t for the ability to sort your files in date order, I’m sure most of us would have given up on the search for the most recent file a decade ago and just rolled the dice on what looked like it was most recent. It must be _final_FINAL2_FINALFINAL right?

Or those days you don’t have shared drive access and do the drag and drop to your desktop and hope you remember to take that file back over into the shared drive next time you are in the office.

Its risky business. There must be an easier way!

Lucky for us all there is, companies such as Simul Docs offer purpose built tools to help us collaborate better and manage our version control for us.

Yep thats right, Simul docs will manage the version control for you. When you open your file, from the moment you start making edits Simul will save the document as the newest version giving it a version number such as 0.0.2 or 0.0.3.

You can then refer back to any version with ease, knowing at a glance which version is the most recent (goodbye _FINAL2_Updated) and hello simple numbered versions and clearly marked authors next to each.

Its version control bliss!

Not only that, but Simul Docs allows you to access your Word Document from anywhere, anytime. There is no need for remote shared drive access or the old clunky desktop saving. Simul gives you access to every version, anywhere, all you need is an internet connection.

Now that you have accessed your document from the comfort of the airport or your own home, you can add your tracked changes and comments, press save and let Simul notify the other collaborators that you have made some changes and they should probably jump in and check them out.

That means, no more emailing Word Documents back and forth with every edit.

Did your shared drive and inbox get a little lighter just thinking about these possibilities?

There really isn’t a downside to collaborating better with Simul Docs.

With free entry level packages on offer, its worth checking out.

In Microsoft Word, you can create digital forms, surveys, to-do lists, and printable forms. And you might need to add a checkbox in these forms so your respondents can select certain options.

In this tutorial, I will show you how to insert an interactive checkbox in Microsoft Word for softcopy documents, and a non-interactive checkbox for hardcopy (printed) documents. Then you can start using them in your forms, surveys, and lists.

I will be using the Microsoft Word 2016 desktop app in this guide because it’s my personal preference. If you are using a different version, things may not be entirely the same, but you can still follow along.

How to Insert a Checkbox in Softcopy Documents like Digital Forms and Surveys

To insert a checkbox in a softcopy document (like forms and surveys that you want respondents to fill out digitally within the Word document), you’ll use the Developer tab in the menu bar.

Unlike other tabs such as File, Home, Insert, Design, and so on, the Developer tab doesn’t appear in the menu bar by default. So I will start this guide by walking you through how to show the Developer tab in the menu bar.

How to Show the Developer Tab

To show the Developer tab in the menu bar, first click on “File”:

Next, click “Options”:

Then select “Customize Ribbon” in the pop up that shows up:

Under “Main Tabs”, check the “Developer” option:

Finally, click “Ok”:

How to Insert the Checkbox in your Word Document

First, place the cursor where you want to insert the checkbox.

Next, click on the Developer tab in the menu bar. You will see options such as Add-ins, XML Mapping Pane, and some others (you will not see their names until you hover on them).

Hover on the one that has a checkmark and select it.

This will insert your checkbox.

How to Change the Icon of the Checked State of the Checkbox

The checkbox becomes interactive immediately after you insert it. The only problem is that an «X» appears by default in the checked state, and you might want a checkmark instead of this.

So now I’m going to show you how to change the X to a checkmark.

Step 1: Select the checkbox, or place the cursor right next to it:

Step 2: Click on the Developer tab and select “Properties”:

Step 3: You will see the default symbols for checked and unchecked symbols. Right next to the “Checked Symbol”, click “change”.

Step 4: In the popup that shows up, look for “winding2” under font and select it. You will see the common checkmark icons used for the checked state of checkboxes. Just select one of them and click “Ok”, then “Ok” again.

Below is a gif demonstrating how to change the checked icon:

You can follow the same process to change the unchecked state, as I’ve shown below:

How to Remove the Bounding Box of the Checkmark

Another way you can make the checkbox look better and make it user-friendly is to remove the bounding box that appears when it is checked or unchecked, and when the cursor is placed on it.

Step 1: Place the cursor on the checkbox.

Step 2: Select the Developer tab in the menu bar and click on “Properties”.

Step 3: Right next to “Show as”, click the dropdown and select “None”.

Thee 3 steps above are demonstrated in the animated gif below:

How to Insert a Checkbox in Hardcopy (Printed) Documents

If you are dealing with printed documents, you don’t need to dabble around with the Developer tab to insert a checkbox. Instead, you can define a custom bullet point for the purpose.

Step 1: Make sure you are on the Home tab of the menu bar.

Step 2: Click the Bullets dropdown icon:

Step 3: Click “Define new bullet”:

Step 4: Select «Symbol» in the popup that shows up:

Step 5: Select «Winding2» as the font.

Step 6: Choose the checkmark Icon and click “Ok”, then “Ok” again:

This is how its all done:

How to Create a Shortcut to Add an Interactive Checkbox in Word

If you want to continue inserting more interactive checkboxes, you don’t need to waste time by doing it from the Developer tab all the time. You can create a shortcut with the steps below.

Step 1: Make sure the checkbox is being shown as a bounding box.
Refer to the steps under the «Remove the Bounding Box” part of this tutorial to get a refresh on how to do this.

Step 2: Highlight the checkbox and click on the File tab of the menu bar:

Step 3: Click on “Options”:

Step 4: Select “Proofing” in the popup that comes up and click on “Autocorrect Options”:

Step 5: You should see several options checked. Make sure “Replace text as you type” is checked too.

Step 6: In the editor under “Replace”, type in the shortcut you would like to use to insert checkboxes and click “Add”. Click “Ok” and “Ok” again.

Now, to insert a checkbox, you can simply type the word you entered in step 6 and hit the space bar.

Conclusion

Checkboxes often play a crucial role in data collection using softcopy and printed documents. I hope this tutorial helped you understand how they work.

In this guide, you learned how to insert an interactive checkbox for fillable digital documents such as forms and surveys, and insert a non-interactive checkbox in printed documents.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice time.

---

---

Learn to code for free. freeCodeCamp’s open source curriculum has helped more than 40,000 people get jobs as developers. Get started

Microsoft Word has a rich collection of special symbols, operators and bullet styles. Out of these, the checkmarks and square bullets are frequently used in the office program for memos, applications, forms, letters, brochures, flyers, and online documents.

The following guide shows the easiest native ways to insert checkmarks and square bullets in Microsoft Word. These methods will work best in Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Word 2016 onward. They should also work in previous Word versions except for the Bing search engine.

Using these methods, we will illustrate how to insert uncommon and less-frequently used symbols, easily and repetitively. Anything written in Word can also be written in Gmail, Google Docs, and other document editors.

To add a checkmark at any place in the document, rest your cursor and click on “Insert -> Symbol -> More Symbols.”

Select “Wingdings 2” as the font. You may select any other font which displays the checkmark symbol, but with Wingdings 2, you will get a neat appearance symbol, which can be easily replicated anytime.

Click on “shortcut keys” for the checkmark symbols and type any key in your keyboard to assign a shortcut key. While you may use copy-paste, a shortcut key will save time when the symbol has to be repeated many times in the document. Make sure the shortcut key you designed is uncommon. Never use system shortcuts such as Alt + F4, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F to create shortcuts.

Another way to import the checkmark symbol is to open “Character Map” from the Start menu.

Select Wingdings 2 as the font style and locate the checkmark symbol, which will be used by selecting and copy-pasting it into your Word document. You can also select the x symbol to convey the opposite meaning.

Once the checkmark symbol has been inserted, you can select it to change its attributes through font “text effects,” available from a simple right-click selection. This will help you gain an amazing variety of checkmark symbols which are attractive and unique.

Add Square Bullets in Microsoft Word

To add square bullets in Microsoft Word, first select the entire text which has to be segregated by bullet-style listing. You can also create the bullet style first and use it throughout the document. The “bullet library” will have a collection of bullet styles including the square bullet.

Click “define new bullet” to proceed to the next step, followed by “symbol” and “OK.”

Here under the Wingdings font category, you can see a “hollow square bullet,” which is very common in many documents. Select “OK” to proceed.

Apart from the hollow square, you can also see a variety of hollow circular bullets, stars, diamonds, arrows, and negative bullets.

To get even more variety in bullet styles, select “Define New Bullet” one more time and select “Picture -> OK.”

In the next screen, you will get various options to insert pictures in lieu of bullet styles. You can either go with a chosen file or “OneDrive – Personal.” The smartest way to do it is to use “Bing image search,” which has an astonishing variety of square bullets and more symbols.

Make sure the bullet images you use are from Creative Commons only.

Using the Above Techniques for Other Symbols

Now that we have learned the methods to insert checkmarks and square bullets in a Microsoft Word document, let us apply this learning to insert more useful symbols. For example, Wingdings 2 has a huge variety of triangle, square, pentagon and hexagon bullet types.

“Webdings” is another useful font style to select many representative images in lieu of bullets. Whether you choose a man or woman, a pizza, or a bomb, there are many symbols representing many objects and people.

You can also use Font as “normal text” with a huge variety of currency symbols including Pound sterling £, Euro €, Yen ¥, and even uncommon types such as Hungarian Hryvnia ₴. If you are dealing with a given currency several times in a document, it’s best to use the assigned shortcut key.

Apart from currency symbols, you can use the international phonetic association (IPA) symbols directly in Word.

Other than inserting uncommon and degree symbols in Microsoft Word, did you know you can also transcribe audio in Microsoft Word 365?