Typing Check Marks into Excel

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:

1. Select the cell that you want to contain the check mark.
2. Using the Font drop-down list, select Wingdings. The cell is now formatted to use the Wingdings font.
3. Start the Character Map accessory included with Windows. (See Figure 1.) (Click on Start, then All Programs, then Accessories to find the program; you may need to look under System Tools to find it.)



Figure 1. The Character Map accessory.

4. In the Character Map, select the Wingdings font.
5. Scroll though the available characters until you find the check mark you like.
6. 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.)
7. Close the Character Map accessory.
8. 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:

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.)

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3201) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Typing Check Marks into Excel.