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In today’s article, you’ll learn how to use some keyboard shortcuts plus other methods to type the X in a Box Symbol (Text/Emoji – ☒) in MS Word/Excel using either Windows or Mac.
Just before we begin, I’ll like to tell you that you can also use the button below to copy and paste the X in a Box sign into your work for free.
However, if you just want to type this symbol on your keyboard, the actionable steps below will show you everything you need to know.
Quick Guide for Typing X in a Box Symbol [☒]
To type the X in a Box Symbol on Mac, press Option + 2612 shortcut on your keyboard. For Windows users, simply press down one of the Alt keys and type 9746 using the numeric keypad, then let go of the Alt key.
Note: These shortcuts can work only on MS Word.
The below table contains all the information you need to type this Symbol on the keyboard for both the Mac and the Windows PC.
| Symbol Name | Ballot Box with X |
| Symbol Text/Emoji | ☒ |
| Alt Code | 9746 |
| Windows Shortcut | Alt+9746 |
| Mac Shortcut | Option + 2612 |
| Word Shortcut | 2612, Alt+X |
The quick guide above provides some useful shortcuts and alt codes on how to type the X in a Box symbol in Word or Excel on both Windows and Mac.
For more details, below are some other methods you can also use to insert this symbol into your work such as Word or Excel document.
How to type X in a Box Symbol [Text/Emoji] in Word/Excel
Microsoft Office provides several methods for typing X in a Box Symbol or inserting symbols that do not have dedicated keys on the keyboard.
In this section, I will make available for you five different methods you can use to type or insert this and any other symbol on your PC, like in MS Office (ie. Word, Excel, or PowerPoint) for both Mac and Windows users.
Without any further ado, let’s get started.
Using the X in a Box Symbol Alt Code (Windows Only)
The X in a Box Symbol alt code is 9746.
Even though this Symbol has no dedicated key on the keyboard, you can still type it on the keyboard with the Alt code method. To do this, press and hold the Alt key whilst pressing the X in a Box Alt code (i.e. 9746) using the numeric keypad.
This method works on Windows only. And your keyboard must also have a numeric keypad.
Below is a break-down of the steps you can take to type the X in a Box Sign on your Windows PC:
- Place your insertion pointer where you need the X in a Box Symbol Text/Emoji.
- Press and hold one of the Alt keys on your keyboard.
- Whilst holding on to the Alt key, press the X in a Box Symbol’s alt code (9746). You must use the numeric keypad to type the alt code. If you are using a laptop without the numeric keypad, this method may not work for you. On some laptops, there’s a hidden numeric keypad which you can enable by pressing Fn+NmLk on the keyboard.
- Release the Alt key after typing the Alt code to insert the Symbol into your document.
This is how you may type this symbol in Word using the Alt Code method.
Using the X in a Box Symbol Shortcut
For Mac users, the keyboard shortcut for the X in a Box Symbol is Option + 2612. For Windows users, use the Alt Code Shortcut method by pressing down one of the [Alt] keys whilst typing the symbol’s alt code which is 9746.
You must use the numeric keypad to type the alt code. Also, ensure that your Num Lock key is turned on.
Below is a breakdown of the shortcut for Mac:
- First of all, place the insertion pointer where you need to type the symbol (☒).
- Now, press Option + 2612 simultaneously on your keyboard to insert the symbol.
Below is a breakdown of the shortcut for Windows (In MS Word):
- Place the insertion pointer at the desired location.
- Press and hold down the Alt key
- While pressing down the Alt key, type 9746 using the numeric keypad to insert the symbol.
Below is a breakdown of the shortcut for Windows (In MS Word Only):
- Click to place the insertion pointer where you want the X in a Box Symbol to be inserted.
- Type this code – 2612.
- After typing the code and whilst the insertion pointer is still next to the last digit in the code, press Alt + X to convert the code to the symbol.
These are the shortcuts you may use to type this sign in Word or Excel.
Copy and Paste X in a Box Sign ☒ (Text/Emoji)
Another easy way to get the X in a Box sign on any PC is to use my favorite method: copy and paste.
All you have to do is to copy the symbol sign from somewhere like a web page, or the character map for windows users, and head over to where you need the symbol (say in Word or Excel), then hit Ctrl+V to paste.
Below is the symbol for you to copy and paste into your Word document. Just select it and press Ctrl+C to copy, switch over to Microsoft Word, place your insertion pointer at the desired location, and press Ctrl+V to paste.
☒
Alternatively, just use the copy button at the beginning of this post.
For windows users, obey the following instructions to copy and paste the X in a Box Symbol using the character map dialog Box.
- Click on the Start button and search for Character Map. The Character Map app will appear in the search results, click to open.
- The Character Map dialog will appear. Click to check the Advanced view check-Box to expand the dialog box for more advanced options.
- On the advanced view, type Ballot Box with X in the Search box.
- You should now see the X in a Box (☒) Symbol on the character map dialog. If you can’t see it, then you should look through the library of symbols to spot it. When found, double click it to select. Alternatively, click on the Select button.
- After you select the symbol by double-clicking it, it should appear in the Character to copy: field, then click on the Copy button to copy the symbol.
- Switch to your Microsoft Word or Excel document, place the insertion pointer at the desired location, and press Ctrl+V to paste.
This is how you may use the Character Map dialog to copy and paste any symbol on Windows PC.
Using insert Symbol dialog Box (Word, Excel, PowerPoint)
The insert symbol dialog Box is a library of symbols from where you can insert any symbol into your Word document with just a couple of mouse clicks.
Obey the following steps to insert this symbol (☒) in Word or Excel using the insert symbol dialog Box.
- Open your Word document.
- Click to place the insertion pointer where you wish to insert the symbol.
- Go to the Insert tab.
- In the Symbols category, click on the Symbol drop-down and select the More Symbols button.
The Symbol dialog box will appear.
- To easily locate the X in a Box symbol, select Segoe UI Symbol font type in the Font list at the upper left section of the window. Then type 2612 in the character code field at the bottom area of the window. After typing this character code, the X in a Box symbol will appear selected.
- Now click on the Insert button to insert the symbol into your document.
- Close the dialog.
The symbol will then be inserted exactly where you placed the insertion pointer.
These are the steps you may use to insert this Symbol in Word.
Conclusion
As you can see, there are several different methods you can use to type the X in a Box Sign in Microsoft Word.
Using the shortcuts for both Windows and Mac make the fastest option for this task. Shortcuts are always fast.
Thank you very much for reading this blog.
If you have anything thing to say or questions to ask concerning the X in a Box Symbol, please drop it in the comments.
1. Open Microsoft Word. Click the ‘File’ tab and select ‘Open.’ Locate the Word document with the box to put an ‘X’ into and double-click the file name.
2. Scroll to the first box to fill with an ‘X.’ Click the ‘Insert’ tab at the top of the page. Click the ‘Shapes’ button below the tab. Click the first line in the ‘Line’ section. The cursor changes to a plus symbol.
3. Draw a line from the top-left corner of the box to the bottom right corner. Repeat the ‘Shapes’ and ‘Line’ process once more, then draw a line from the top-right corner of the box to the bottom-left corner, forming an ‘X.’
4. Add a letter ‘X’ into a text box on the Word page by scrolling to the box and clicking into it. Type an ‘x’ or press and hold the ‘Shift’ key and type a capital ‘X.’
5. Insert a graphic ‘X’ into a box on the page by clicking the ‘Clip Art’ button under the ‘Insert’ tab. Type the letter ‘X’ (no quotes necessary) into the ‘Search for’ box. Click ‘Go.’ Scroll through the results and double-click one of the images that is just an ‘X’ with no other designs surrounding it. Drag the ‘X’ inside the box on the page.
6. Review the Word document for a dynamic check box — it may appear gray or have a shadow. These only appear on certain documents configured with them. Click anywhere in the middle of the box with the cursor and an ‘X’ will appear. Click the box again to remove the ‘X.’
I’m filling in a form in word and I need to put Xs into boxes — how do I do this please?
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This is how ILLUMINATED I felt when I figured out how to type statistical symbols in MS Word… the temple at Burning Man 2014. Image Credit: John David Tupper (photographerinfocus.com)
I use Microsoft Word to prepare documents. I do not like Microsoft Equation Editor. And I have to type equations and expressions not often (like every sentence or every other sentence), but definitely regularly. This has led me to apply what I like to call “agile shortcuts” — basically, I’ll write down the equation in my own handwriting, take a picture of it, and then use a paint program to crop and clean up my equation before inserting it into my document. This works nicely, and even though some people might think it’s a kludge, I kind of like the ability to retain the personality of my own handwriting in my technical documents.
However, I don’t want to be embedding images if all I have to do is make reference to a variable within a paragraph of text… and I’ve never had a good solution. UNTIL THIS MORNING when I really, really, really wanted to be able to use y-bar and p-hat in my paragraph, without having to do the even kludgier thing where you just call them “y-bar” and “p-hat” in the text. That doesn’t feel good.
Even Arial Unicode MS, the behemoth of fonts (it even contains tons of Chinese, Japanese, and Korean characters) does not have essential statistical symbols. But turns out, it DOES have this very useful capability called “combining diacritics” — and here’s how you can use it to type characters with their own hats and bars on them:
1. Open up Microsoft Word
2. Choose “Arial Unicode MS” as your font
3. First, type in a letter that you want to adorn with a hat. Say, for example, p.
4. Next, go to Insert -> Symbol, drop down to “More Symbols”, and in the window that pops up, make sure you have selected “Arial Unicode MS” as the font. In the bottom right, you’ll see a text area and a dropdown. To the right of the text area labeled “Character code:” type in 0302. That’s the code for a hat-on-top-of-a-letter. Going further right, there’s a dropdown that says “from:” and you’ll want to make sure that you see “Unicode (hex)” selected in that box. Click “Insert”.
5. Voila, your p has a hat!! Now, type a few spaces and let’s do this again.
6. Only now, type in a letter that you want to adorn with a bar. Say, for example, x.
7. Next, go to Insert -> Symbol, drop down to “More Symbols”, and in the window that pops up, make sure you have selected “Arial Unicode MS” as the font. In the bottom right, you’ll see a text area and a dropdown. To the right of the text area labeled “Character code:” type in 0305. That’s the code for a bar-on-top-of-a-letter. Going further right, there’s a dropdown that says “from:” and you’ll want to make sure that you see “Unicode (hex)” selected in that box. Click “Insert”.
8. Voila again! Your x has a bar.
Go forth into the world and enjoy the same liberation I have just felt… o, ye writers of statistical stuff in documents.