Excel has a number of symbols in the list of options, so you can use more than just a check mark to add graphical content to your spreadsheets. You can use a check mark in any Excel spreadsheet including ones with some type of VBA programming inserted.
The tutorial shows six different ways to insert a tick in Excel and explains how to format and count cells containing checkmarks. There are two kinds of checkmarks in Excel - interactive checkbox and tick symbol.
A tick box, also known as checkbox or checkmark box, is a special control that allows you to select or deselect an option, i.e. Check or uncheck a tick box, by clicking on it with the mouse. If you are looking for this kind of functionality, please see. A tick symbol, also referred to as check symbol or check mark, is a special symbol (✓) that can be inserted in a cell (alone or in combination with any other characters) to express the concept 'yes', for example 'yes, this answer is correct' or 'yes, this option applies to me'. Sometimes, the cross mark (x) is also used for this purpose, but more often it indicates incorrectness or failure. There are a handful of different ways to insert a tick symbol in Excel, and further on in this tutorial you will find the detailed description of each method.
All of the techniques are quick, easy, and work for all versions of Microsoft Excel 2016, Excel 2013, Excel 2010, Excel 2007 and lower. How to put a tick in Excel using the Symbol command The most common way to insert a tick symbol in Excel is this:.
Select a cell where you want to insert a checkmark. Go to the Insert tab Symbols group, and click Symbol.
In the Symbol dialog box, on the Symbols tab, click the drop-down arrow next to the Font box, and select Wingdings. A couple of checkmark and cross symbols can be found at the bottom of the list. Select the symbol of your choosing, and click Insert. Finally, click Close to close the Symbol window.
As soon as you've selected a certain symbol in the Symbol dialog window, Excel will display its code in the Character code box at the bottom. For example, the character code of the tick symbol (✓) is 252, as shown in the screenshot above. Knowing this code, you can easily write a or in a selected range.
Using the Symbol command, you can insert a checkmark in an empty cell or add a tick as part of the cell contents, as shown in the following image: How to insert tick in Excel using the CHAR function Perhaps it's not a conventional way to add a tick or cross symbol in Excel, but if you love working with formulas, it may become your favorite one. Obviously, this method can only be used for inserting a tick in an empty cell. Knowing the following symbol codes: Symbol Symbol Code Tick symbol 252 Tick in a box 254 Cross symbol 251 Cross in a box 253 The formula to put a checkmark in Excel is as simple as this: =CHAR(252) or =CHAR(254) To add a cross symbol, use either of the following formulas: =CHAR(251) or =CHAR(253).
To get rid of the formulas, use the Paste Special feature to replace them with values: select the formula cell(s), press Ctrl+C to copy it, right-click the selected cell(s), and then click Paste Special Values. Insert tick in Excel by typing the character code Another quick way to insert a check symbol in Excel is typing its character code directly in a cell while holding the Alt key. The detailed steps follow below:. Select the cell where you want to put a tick. On the Home tab, in the Font group, change font to Wingdings.
Press and hold ALT while typing one of the following character codes on the numeric keypad. Symbol Character Code Tick symbol Alt+0252 Tick in a box Alt+0254 Cross symbol Alt+0251 Cross in a box Alt+0253 As you may have noticed, the character codes are the same as the codes we used in the but for leading zeros. For the character codes to work, make sure NUM LOCK is on, and use the numerical keypad rather than the numbers at the top of the keyboard. Add tick symbol in Excel using keyboard shortcuts If you do not particularly like the appearance of the four check symbols we have added so far, check out the following table for more variations: Wingdings 2 Webdings Shortcut Tick symbol Shortcut Tick symbol Shift + P a Shift + R r Shift + O Shift + Q Shift + S Shift + T Shift + V Shift + U To get any of the above tick marks in your Excel, apply either Wingdings 2 or Webdings font to the cell(s) where you want to insert a tick, and press the corresponding keyboard shortcut. The following screenshot shows the resulting checkmarks in Excel: How to make a checkmark in Excel with AutoCorrect If you need to insert tick marks in your sheets on a daily basis, none of the above methods may seem fast enough. Luckily, Excel's AutoCorrect feature can automate the work for you.
To set it up, perform the following steps:. Insert the desired check symbol in a cell using any of the techniques described above. Select the symbol in the formula bar and press Ctrl+C to copy it. Don't be discouraged by the appearance of the symbol in the formula bar, even if it looks differently from what you see in the screenshot above, it just means that you inserted a tick symbol using another character code. This formatting technique works only for the tick symbols with a known character code (added via the, or ). How to count tick marks in Excel Experienced Excel users must have got the formula up and running already based on the information in the previous sections. Anyway, here's a hint - use the CHAR function to detect the cells containing a check symbol, and the to count those cells: =COUNTIF(B2:B10,CHAR(252)) Where B2:B10 is the range where you want to count check marks, and 252 is the check symbol's character code.
Notes:. As is the case with conditional formatting, the above formula can only handle tick symbols with a specific character code, and works for cells that do not contain any data other than a check symbol. If you use Excel tick boxes (checkboxes) rather than tick symbols, you can count the selected (checked) ones by, and then counting the number of TRUE values in the linked cells. The detailed steps with formula examples can be found here:. This is how you can insert, format and count tick symbols in Excel.
No rocket science, huh?:) If you also want to learn how to make a tick box in Excel, be sure to check out the following resources. I thank you for reading and hope to see you on our blog next week. You may also be interested in:.
It is not unusual to use an Excel worksheet to create different types of checklists and forms that are used by other people. When you are developing your checklist, you may want to actually put a check mark into a cell.
There are several ways you can go about doing this. Both methods involve changing the font applied to a cell and then typing the character you want in the cell. For instance, try these steps:.
Select the cell that you want to contain the check mark. Using the Font drop-down list, select Wingdings. The cell is now formatted to use the Wingdings font. Start the Character Map accessory included with Windows. (Use the search capabilities of Windows to locate and run the Character Map accessory.) (See Figure 1.) Figure 1. The Character Map accessory. In the Character Map, select the Wingdings font.
Scroll though the available characters until you find the check mark you like. Copy the character to the Clipboard.
(The controls in the Character Map accessory allow you to do this, although the controls differ from one version of Windows to another.). Close the Character Map accessory. In Excel, press Ctrl+V to paste the character into the cell. This is quite a few steps to put in a simple check mark. There is a simpler way, however, if you simply remember that you need to pick a font that contains check marks, and then put in the character to produce that check mark. When it comes to fonts containing check marks, there are quite a few. The appearance of the check mark will depend on the font you use.
The following information shows what you would type (on the keyboard) in various fonts to achieve a check mark: Character to Type Font to Use a Marlett a Webdings b Marlett C Erilogo P Wingdings 2 Alt+129 Wingdings Alt+0214 Symbol Alt+0252 Wingdings For those instances where an Alt combination is mentioned, you simply need to hold down the Alt key as you type the three or four numbers on the keypad. There are undoubtedly numberless other character/font combinations that will result in a check mark in a cell. If you want to do your own exploring, you can use the Character Map accessory to look around through different fonts to find out what is available. (You can also find different fonts containing check marks at some Web sites, such as www.dingbatpages.com.).