To insert checkbox in word

Show the Developer tab

If the developer tab isn’t already visible, see Show the Developer tab.

Make your list

  1. Type the list.

  2. Go to Developer and select the Check Box Content Control at the beginning of the first line.

    Checkbox control in the Controls group on the developer ribbon.

  3. To change the default X to something else, see Make changes to checkboxes.

  4. Copy and paste the check box control at the beginning of each line.

  5. Select a checkbox to put an X (or other character) in the check box.

Add hanging indentation

If some list items are more than one line long, use hanging indents to align them.

  1. Select the list. Bullets or numbers won’t look selected.

  2. Go to Home and select the Paragraph dialog box launcher Dialog box launcher .

  3. Under Indentation, in the Left box, type 0.25.

  4. Under Special, choose Hanging.

  5. For By, Word sets a default value of 0.5 inches. Change this if you want your additional lines indented differently.

  6. Select OK when finished.

Lock the text and controls to prevent changes

  1. Select the list and checkboxes.

  2. Go to Developer >Group > Group.

    To unlock the list, select the list and choose Group > Ungroup.

Create a print only list

  1. Go to Home and select the down arrow next to the Bullets button.

    The bullets down arrow highlighted in the Paragraph group.

  2. In the drop down menu, select Define New Bullet.

  3. Select Symbol and find a box character. If you don’t initially see one, change Font to Wingdings or Segoe UI Symbol.

  4. Select OK twice, and create your list.

Example of a bulleted list with boxes.

Make a checklist you can check off in Word

To create a list that you can check off in Word, add content controls for checkboxes to your document.

Show the Developer tab

For more info if the developer tab isn’t already visible in Word, see Show the Developer tab.

Make your list

  1. Create your list.

  2. Place you cursor at the start of the first line.

  3. Go to the Developer tab, and then click Check Box.

    Click Check Box to insert a check box that you can mark in Word.

  4. If you want a space after the check box, press Tab or Spacebar.

    Use a Tab character if you want to format the list item with hanging indentation, like Word applies to bulleted lists.

  5. Select and copy (⌘ + C) the check box and any tabs or spaces.

  6. Place the cursor at the start of the each list item, and paste (⌘ + V ) the copied check box and characters.

  7. Paste the checkbox at the start of each line in your list.

Add hanging indentation

If some of the list items are longer than one line, use hanging indentation to align them.

  1. Select the list.

  2. Go to Format and select Paragraph.

  3. Under Indentation, type 0.25 in the Left box.

  4. In the Special list, choose Hanging.

    For hanging indentation of a list, set indentation for Left, and set Special to Hanging.

    For By, Word sets a default value of 0.5 inches. Change this if you want your additional lines indented differently.

Make a print only check list

You can replace the bullets or numbers in a list with another symbol, such as a box can be checked on a printed version of your document.

  1. Select the entire list.

  2. Select Home and select the arrow next to Bullets.

    Click the arrow next to the bullets icon to select or add bullets.

  3. Select Define New Bullet.

    Click Define New Bullet if Bullet Library does not have the symbol that you want.

  4. Select Bullet, and choose a symbol from the table of symbols.

    For more choices, in the Font box choose a symbol font, such as Wingdings.

  5. Select a symbol to use, such as an open box (A plain open box in the Wingdings font.) or a three-dimensional box (A shadowed open box in the Wingdings font.).

  6. Select OK, and then select OK again.

Word for the web supports only the on-paper form of checklist.

  1. Write your list, and then select it.

  2. On the Home tab, choose the down-arrow next to the Bullets list to open the bullet library, and then choose the checkbox symbol.

    Choose the checkbox symbol in the bullet library


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Want to add a check box or tick box to a list or form in Microsoft Word? It’s easy to do, and you can even make it checkable so you can click the box with your mouse. We’ll show you an easy way to add a clickable checkbox using Developer Mode in Microsoft Word.

Steps

  1. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 1

    1

    Open a new file in Microsoft Word. Do so by opening the app shaped like a blue W. Then click on File in the menu bar at the top of the screen, and click on New Blank Document.

  2. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 2

    2

    Click on File in the menu bar and then Options in the menu.

    • On Mac, click on Word in the menu bar and then Preferences… in the menu.

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  3. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 3

    3

    Click on Customize Ribbon and then Main Tabs in the «Customize the Ribbon:» drop-down menu.»[1]

    • On Mac, click on Ribbon & Toolbar in the «Authoring and Proofing Tools» section of the dialog box, then click on the Ribbon tab at the top of the dialog box.
  4. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 4

    4

    Check «Developer» in the «Main Tabs» pane.

  5. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 5

    5

    Click on Ok.

  6. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 6

    6

    Click on Developer. It’s a tab in the upper-right part of the window.

  7. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 7

    7

    Position the cursor where you’d like to insert the check box.

  8. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 8

    8

    Click on Check Box. It’s in the menu bar at the top of the window.

  9. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 9

    9

    Add additional check boxes and text as needed.

  10. Image titled Insert a Check Box in Word Step 10

    10

    Lock the form. To do so, select the entire list, to be found in the Controls section on the Developer tab, then click on Group and Group.

    • On Mac, click Protect Form in the Developer tab toolbar.
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Add New Question

  • Question

    What should I do if the check box is grayed out in my ribbon?

    Community Answer

    It is grayed out for me too. However, if you click on the one icon that isn’t — Legacy Tools — then you will find the exact same checkbox, which you should be able to select.

  • Question

    How can I enlarge the size of a text box without enlarging the text?

    Community Answer

    In Word, just dragging the corner of the text box should be sufficient. If the text changes size accidentally, you can always highlight it and change it back to the desired size.

  • Question

    How do you make a drop box in word?

    Community Answer

    Download LibreOffice. Follow the manual on how to add a list or list/add or list/multiselect box (or just look under «insert» in the menu). You can add a data source for the dropdown menu items from a database, a spreadsheet or within the file structure itself.

See more answers

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About This Article

Article SummaryX

1. Open a document.
2. Click File.
3. Select Customize Ribbon and then click Main Tabs.
4. Check the «Developer» box.
5. Click Save.
6. Click Developer.
7. Click where you want to insert the check box.
8. Click Check Box.
9. Add additional boxes and text.
10. Lock the form.

Did this summary help you?

Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read 1,240,770 times.

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First, you need to customize Word’s ribbon and enable the “Developer” tab to show the option to add check boxes. Then, select “Developer” and click the “Check Box Content Control” button to insert a check box into your document. You can also transform Word’s bullets into checkboxes.

When you create surveys or forms with Microsoft Word, check boxes make the options easier to read and answer. We’re covering two good options for doing just that. The first is ideal for documents that you want people to fill out digitally within the Word document itself. The second option is easier if you’re planning to print documents like to-do lists.

Option 1: Use Word’s Developer Tools to Add the Check Box Option for Forms

In order to create fillable forms that include checkboxes, you first need to enable the “Developer” tab on the Ribbon. With a Word document open, click the “File” drop-down menu and then choose the “Options” command. In the “Word Options” window, switch to the “Customize Ribbon” tab. On the right-hand “Customize the Ribbon” list, select “Main Tabs” on the dropdown menu.

Select "Customize Ribbon," then make sure that "Customize the Ribbon" is set to "Main Tabs."

On the list of available main tabs, select the “Developer” check box, and then click the “OK” button

Notice that the “Developer” tab is added to your Ribbon. Just position your cursor in the document where you want a check box, switch to the “Developer” tab, and then click the “Check Box Content Control” button.

You should see a check box appear wherever you placed your cursor. Here, we’ve gone ahead and placed a check box next to each answer and, as you can see, those check boxes are interactive. Click a box to mark it with an “X” (as we’ve done for answers 2, 3, and 4) or select the whole form box (as we’ve done for answer 4) to move the check box around, format it, and so on.

You can add as many check boxes as you want.

RELATED: How to Create a Fillable Form With Microsoft Word

Option 2: Change Bullets to Check Boxes for Printed Documents

If you’re creating a document to print out—like a to-do list or printed survey—and just want check boxes on it, you don’t have to mess around with adding Ribbon tabs and using forms. Instead, you can create a simple bullet list and then change the bullets from the default symbol to check boxes.

In your Word document, on the “Home” tab, click the small arrow to the right of the “Bullet List” button. On the dropdown menu, select the “Define new bullet” command.

In the “Define New Bullet” window, click the “Symbol” button.

In the “Symbol” window, click the “Font” dropdown and choose the “Wingdings 2” option.

Set the font to "Wingdings 2."

You can scroll through the symbols to find the empty square symbol that looks like a check box, or you just type the number “163” into the “Character Code” box to automatically select it. Of course, if you see a symbol you like better—like the open circle (symbol 153)—feel free to choose that instead.

When you’ve selected your symbol, click the “OK” button to close the “Symbol” window, and then click the “OK” button to close the “Define New Bullet” window, too.

Scroll until you find the empty box character, or enter "163" into the "Character Code" box. Then hit "OK."

Back in your Word document, you can now type your bullet list. The check boxes appear instead of the regular bullet symbol.

You add new check boxes just like you would any other bullets.

And the next time you need the check box symbol, you don’t have to navigate through that whole set of windows. Just click that small arrow to the right of the “Bullet List” button again, and you’ll see the checkbox listed under the “Recently Used Bullets” section.

The "Bullet List" check boxes are not interactive, so only use them for printed documents.

Again, this method is really only useful for documents you want to print out. The check box symbols are not interactive, so you can’t check them off inside a Word document.

If you’re also creating spreadsheets and presentations, you may want to learn how to insert checkboxes in Excel and add checkboxes to PowerPoint too.

RELATED: How to Add a Check Mark or Tick Mark in Word

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Insert a Checkbox in Word – How to Add a Checkmark in Microsoft Word

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”:

ss-1

Next, click “Options”:

ss-2

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

ss-3

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

ss-4

Finally, click “Ok”:

ss-5

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.

insert-checkbox

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:

ss-6

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

ss-7

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.

ss-8

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

change-checked

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

change-unchecked

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:

remove-bounding-box

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:

ss-9

Step 3: Click “Define new bullet”:

ss-10

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

ss-11

Step 5: Select «Winding2» as the font.

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

ss-13

This is how its all done:

custom-bullet

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:

ss-15

Step 3: Click on “Options”:

ss-16

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

ss-17

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.

ss-18

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

checkbox-shortcut

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.



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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.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Ticking Very Dissatisfied Stock Video -  Download Video Clip Now - iStock

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

Online Survey Form Clicking Hand With Checklist Questionnaire List For  Feedback With Finger Ticking Survey Checkbox Voting Satisfaction Review  Isolated Report Icon Eps 10 Stock Illustration - Download Image Now - iStock

  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

Six reasons customer surveys are more important than ever | MyCustomer
  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.

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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?

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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.

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Its version control bliss!

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When you create forms or a survey with Microsoft Word, there are two ways you can get people to interact with it.

You can either print it and give it to them to read and fill in or you can ask them to read and answer it online.

In both cases, checkboxes are a great help to get feedback from your audience.

When used with a printout, your audience has the option of filling in the checkboxes with a pen or a pencil to add a cross or a tick mark to signify their disagreement or consent.

This type of checkbox is a visual symbol only, non-interactive and non-clickable, useful only when printed.

When online, you can present them with a digital document with functional or clickable checkboxes pre-filled with either a cross or a tick mark, and your audience has to click on the checkbox to toggle its contents to match their answer.

Microsoft Word allows you to insert both types of checkboxes in your document, and we will show you the two methods for inserting.

However, your document may have a long list making it tedious to insert checkboxes individually.

You may want to have a bulleted list with checkboxes acting as the bullets. However, Word allows you to have a bulleted list with only non-interactive checkboxes, but not with interactive checkboxes. Therefore, we will show you how to insert:

  • A single non-interactive checkbox
  • A bulleted list of non-interactive checkboxes
  • Interactive checkbox

Let’s start.


Method #1: Insert a Single Non-Interactive Checkbox

Step #1: Open your Word Document

Open the Word document that contains the form or survey to which you wish to add non-interactive checkboxes. 

Step #2: Open Symbol Dialog

Position the cursor where you want the first checkbox to appear. Click on the Insert tab in the top menu bar to change the ribbon. Click on Symbol to open a group of symbols and then on More Symbols to open the Symbol Dialog.

Step #3: Choose the Checkbox

Under the Symbol [1] tab, click on the down arrow on the right side of Font[2] and select Wingdings [3]. Word will display a large number of symbols, from which you can select the type of checkbox you prefer to use in your document. Click on Insert [4] to insert the checkbox symbol into your document. Click on Close [5] to close the Symbol Dialog. From now on, your chosen checkbox appears within the group of symbols under Symbol.

Step #4: Insert another Checkbox

Place the cursor where you want to insert the next checkbox. Click on Symbol under Insert tab (refer Step #2), and click on the checkbox symbol from within the group of symbols on display. This is how your document will now look like.


Method #2: Insert a Bulleted List of Non-Interactive Checkbox

Step #1: Open your Word Document

Open the Word document that contains the form or survey to which you wish to add non-interactive checkboxes. Select the list.

Step #2: Define a new bullet

Click on the Home tab on the top menu bar to change the ribbon. Within the section Paragraph, click on the small triangle beside Bullets to open the Bullet Library. Click on Define New Bullet at the bottom. This will open a Define New Bullet Dialog.

Step #3: Choose the checkbox

Click on the Symbol tab to open the Symbol dialog. Click on the down arrow on the right side of Font, and select Wingdings. Word will display a large number of symbols, from which you can select the type of checkbox you prefer to use in your document. Click on Ok, and you will return to the Define New Bullet dialog.

Step #4: Insert bulleted checkbox

Click on the down arrow under Alignment, and choose where you want to place the checkboxes in the gap preceding the list—on the left, centered, or on the right side. Click Ok to allow Word to place the checkboxes before the list.

This is how your document will now look like. Word has inserted a non-interactive checkbox against all entries in the list.


Method #3: Insert Interactive checkbox

Step #1: Open your Word Document

Open the Word document that contains the form or survey to which you wish to add interactive checkboxes. Place the cursor at the location where you want the checkbox to appear.

Step #2: Enable Developer Mode

Click on the small triangle in the Quick Access Toolbar to display a drop menu to Customize Quick Access Toolbar. Click on More Commands to open the Word Options dialog.

Click on Customize Ribbon. In the right column, under Customize the Ribbon, click on Developer, making sure a tick-mark appears on the checkbox immediately on the left. Click on Ok to close the dialog. Notice that Word has added a checkbox at the cursor position.

Notice that Word has also added a new tab Developer in its top menu bar.

Step #3: Insert the checkbox

Click on the Developer tab in the top menu bar to change the ribbon. Within the Controls section, click on the Check Box Content Control. You can place additional checkboxes at positions of your choice by placing the cursor there, and clicking on Check Box Content Control for inserting each checkbox.

Finally, this is how your document may look like. If you click on any checkbox repeatedly, its contents will change from blank to a cross and back.

Step #4: Modify the checkbox content properties

Word allows you to choose the default content of the interactive checkbox from blank, cross, and tick-mark. To modify a specific checkbox, click on it and then click on Properties within the Control section of Developer tab. This will open a Contents Control Properties dialog.

The Contents Control Properties dialog allows changing several properties of the selected checkbox. Under General, you may assign a Title [1] and a Tag [2] to the checkbox. You may also choose to Show as a Bounding Box, Start/End Tag, or as None [3]. You may also choose the color of the checkbox [4].

You may also choose to select your own text to appear within the checkbox [5] rather than a cross or tick-mark. You may also choose to make the checkbox contents blank when edited [6]. If necessary, under Locking, you can also choose to disallow deleting a checkbox [7] or prevent its contents from changing [8].

Under Check Box Properties, Word allows you to change the Checked Symbol [9] and the Unchecked Symbol [10]. Clicking on any of the Change tabs will take you to the Symbol Dialog, from where you can choose the Winding symbol of your preference (Refer Step #3 under Method #2). Click on Ok [11] to exit the dialog.

Finally, your document may look like this. Notice that items 1 and 3 have modified interactive checkboxes.

Conclusion

Obtaining feedback from your audience through forms or surveys is always easier when they have to check a few boxes, rather than express their answers. Word allows inserting checkboxes against a list of items, and allows the choice of presenting a printout or digital document to your audience for their feedback. We have shown you how to insert checkboxes in your document in a few simple steps.

In Microsoft Word, a checkbox (Also known as a selection box, tick box or check mark – ☑) is a small interactive box that allows users to select or deselect a value from a small set of options.

To insert a checkbox (☑) in Word, you have two options:

  • A non-clickable checkbox (not interactive)
  • A clickable checkbox (Interactive)
A clickable checkbox illustration

The clickable or functional checkbox allows the user to be able to check and uncheck the checkbox inside the Word document. And the non-clickable checkbox is just a visual symbol that doesn’t allow users to check and uncheck the checkbox.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to add these two types of check boxes into your Word document.

Without further ado, let’s get started.

How to insert a non-clickable checkbox in Word

Inserting a tick box which is not clickable makes sense if it is for a printed document. It can be an empty checkbox symbol or a checked one (i.e. with the correct tick).

There are several ways you can insert a non-clickable checkbox in Word. But I’ll show you these two easy and fast options you can use to perform this task.

Option 1: Using the Bulleted List Approach

This option is for you if you have a list of options where users will tick the applicable options when the document is printed.

Obey the steps below to add a checkbox to your list in Microsoft Word:

Note that if you are not dealing with a list of options as in this example, this approach will not work for you. Instead, you should jump to the next section where you can perform easily make an empty or ticked checkbox using the insert symbol dialog.

  • Type your list of options. Make sure each item begins a new line.
Define you list of Checkbox options
  • Highlight or select all the list options, go to the Home tab and select the down arrow next to the Bullets option.
Click the down arrow next to the bullets option
  • If the check mark symbol is already under the Bullet Library or Recently Used Bullets group, just click on it to insert into your Word document.
  • However, if you can’t find this check mark symbol from the immediate drop-down menu, Select Define New Bullet at the bottom of the drop-down menu.
Click on the Define New Bullet option
  • From the Define New Bullet dialog box,
    click on Symbols.
Click on the Symbols button
  • The Symbol dialog box appears. Select Webdings 2 from the Font drop-down to display some of the advanced Symbols in Word.
  • Click to select the checkmark you want to insert. In this case, select the empty checkbox symbol since the user of the document will be selecting from the list of options.
Select the Webdings 2 font and click on the checkmark symbol
  • Click OK for the Symbols dialog box.
  • Click OK for the Define New Bullets dialog box.

After obeying all the above steps, you’ll notice that a checkbox
box is added to each one of the items.

The checkbox will now be added to your Word document unchecked

In the above illustration, the checkboxes are empty or they are not checked (i.e. no tick symbol inside the checkboxes). If you want to add checkboxes that are not empty (or checked), in the Symbols dialog box, select the check box with the tick symbol in it.

check mark symbol in a checkbox

Now see the check boxes with tick symbols:

checkboxes with the checkmarks

If you want some of the boxes checked and others empty, you should consider adding a clickable checkbox instead. This way, you can manually check some checkboxes leaving the others empty. Though, how to make a clickable checkbox in Word is addressed later in this article. So make sure you read up to the end to learn more.

Option 2: Using Insert Symbol to add Check Mark or Checkbox in Word

Aside from using the bulleted list
to add checkboxes in Word, you can also use the insert Symbol approach.

If you are not dealing with a list of options, the above method will not work for you. Instead, you should use this method as it allows you to create the checkbox anywhere within your Word document.

Obey the steps below to create a checkbox anywhere in your Word document:

  • Place the insertion pointer at where you want to create the checkbox.
  • Go to Insert→Symbols→Symbol→More Symbols.
Go to Insert Tab>Symbols>Symbol>More Symbols
  • The Symbol dialog box appears. Select Webdings 2 from the Font dropdown list to display some of the Advanced Symbols in Word.

Using the Webdings 2 font, select the checkmark

  • Select the Checkbox symbol.
  • Click the OK button to insert the symbol
    into your document.

Once you enter the checkbox symbol into your document, you can copy and paste it to other places in your document, you don’t have to follow the above steps to insert it again.

The above two approaches will guide you to insert a non-clickable checkbox (whether empty or checked) into your Word document.

However, you can also add a clickable or functional checkbox in Word. The rest of the tutorials will teach you how to do it.

How to add a clickable checkbox in Word

With the clickable checkbox, users of your document can click to check and uncheck the checkboxes.

Illustration of a clickable checkbox in Word

To add this type of checkbox into your Word document, you’ll need the developer tab visible on the ribbon. This tab contains the controls that we need to insert the checkbox in Word.

By default, this tab is not visible. So, first of all, check
on your Word ribbon to see if you can see any tab labeled Developer.

Check and see whether the Developer tab is active

If you have this tab active, that’s fine. You can skip this
section.

However, without this tab active on your ribbon, just follow
the steps below to add it.

Here’s a step by step guide on how to add the Developer Tab in Word.

Adding the developer to Word Ribbon

 Obey the steps below
to display the developer tab on your ribbon.

  • Right-click on one of the already existing tabs
    on the Word ribbon.
  • Select “Customize the Ribbon”.
Rightclick on any of the tabs and select "Customize the Ribbon"
  • In the Word Options dialog box, click to check or tick the Developer checkbox. If this is ticked already, it means the Developer tab will become visible.
Check the Developer checkbox in the Customize the Ribbon section
  • Click the OK button.

You should now see the Developer tab on your Word ribbon.

Now, let’s look at how we can insert a checkbox in Word using the Controls in the Developer tab.

Creating the Checkbox (Clickable)

Now that you have the developer tab visible on your ribbon, follow the steps below to add a checkbox into your Word document:

  • Click to place the insertion pointer at where
    you want to add the checkbox.
Place the insertion pointer at where you want to insert the checkbox
  • Click on the Developer Tab.
Click on the Developer tab
  • In the Controls category, click Checkbox.
Click on the checkbox symbol in the Control category

The checkbox button will be added exactly where you placed your insertion pointer.

The checkbox will be added to your word document at where you place the insertion pointer
  • Follow the same steps to add the checkbox to the
    rest of the items. Or, copy and paste the checkbox at the beginning of each
    line.
You can also copy and paste the checkbox symbol anywhere you want.

By default, clicking on this checkbox will mark an “X” symbol in the box. But this is not what we want. We want to see a tick mark inside the tick box when it is clicked. You can change it to include any symbol you want (like this: ☑). Continue the steps below to learn how to change the checked symbol.

  • Click to select the symbol.
  • Go to the Developer tab, in the Controls category, click on Properties.
Go to Developer>Controls>Properties
  • In the Content Control Properties dialog,
    click on the Change button next to the Checked symbol option.
Click on the Change button next to checked symbol.
  • The Symbol dialog box appears. Select Webdings 2 from the Font dropdown to display some of the Microsoft Word Advanced Symbols.
  • Locate the tick symbol and click on it.
Find the tick symbol from the library of symbols and click on the OK button
  • Also, click the OK button for the Content Control Properties dialog.

Now you should have a tick on your checkbox whenever you
click on it.

Illustration of a clickable checkboxes in Word

This how you may create a clickable checkbox/tick box into Microsoft Word documents.

If you have any questions related to how to insert a checkbox in Word, please mention them in the comments below.

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