[EASY] How to Insert Checkboxes in Word ☑

Checkboxes in Word provide the user the option of selecting or deselecting a value from a small set of choices.

Checkboxes (☑) can be inserted into Word in two ways:

A non-clickable checkbox
A clickable checkbox

Within the Word document, the user can access the clickable or functional checkbox by checking or unchecking it. A non-clickable checkbox, on the other hand, is merely a visual symbol that can’t be checked or unchecked.

Here’s how to create both of these checkboxes in Word.

Let’s begin the discussion now.

How to Insert Checkboxes in Word

A non-clickable tick box would make sense if the document is being printed. Either an empty or checked checkbox symbol can be used.

Word offers several options for inserting non-clickable checkboxes. However, I will show you two fast, easy, and convenient ways to carry out this task.

Make use of the Bulleted List Approach

This option is suitable if your document features a list of options for the user to select when printing.

Here are the steps you need to take to add a checkbox to a list in Microsoft Word. This approach won’t work if you do not have a list of options like in this example.

To perform this task, you should proceed to the next section in which you can insert a symbol and make a checkbox either empty or ticked.

List your options here. You should begin a new line for each item.

Make sure all options are highlighted or selected. Navigate to the Home tab. Choose the Bullets option by clicking the arrow to the left.

Just click on the checkmark symbol that appears in your Bullet Library to add it to your document.
To define a new bullet, select Define New Bullet at the bottom of the drop-down menu if you cannot find the checkmark symbol in the drop-down menu.

Click on Symbols in the Define New Bullet dialog box.

The dialog box for the Symbol appears. From the drop-down menu, select Webdings 2. Symbols in Word that are advanced are displayed.
You can insert a checkmark by clicking. The empty checkbox icon should be selected in this case. As the document’s user will choose from a list of options.

Click OK to close the Symbols dialog box.
In the dialog box that appears, click OK.

The checkbox box will appear next to each one of the items after following the above steps.

Your Word document will now have the checkbox unchecked

Here, the checkboxes are not checked or have been left empty. You can create non-empty checkboxes with the Symbols dialog box. Make sure the check box is checked by clicking on it.

Look at the checkboxes with ticks:

A clickable checkbox will allow you to check some of the boxes while leaving others blank. Then you can mark some checkboxes manually, leaving the others empty.

However, how to make Word’s checkboxes clickable is discussed in the next section. Don’t forget to read all the way to the end so you can learn more.

Using Insert Symbol to add Check Mark in Word

Checkboxes can also be added to Word documents using the insert Symbol option, as well as the bulleted list approach.

The method above will not work if you do not have any options listed. The method described here offers the benefit that you can position the checkbox anywhere within your document.

To create a checkbox in Word, follow these steps:

You can create a checkbox by placing the insertion pointer at the desired location.
Click Insert. Select Symbols. Next, More Symbols.

The dialog box for the Symbol appears. Word displays some advanced symbols when Webdings 2 is selected from the Font drop-down list.

The checkbox symbol should be selected.
Insert the symbol into your document by clicking the OK button.

In your document, you can copy and paste the checkbox symbol to other locations. The steps above do not have to be repeated to insert it again.

In Word, you can insert a non-clickable checkbox, using the two approaches discussed above.

Additionally, you can add a functional or clickable checkbox to Word. You will learn how to do it in the rest of the tutorials.

How to add a clickable checkbox in MS Word

Your document’s users can click on the clickable checkboxes to check or uncheck them.

If you want to make this type of checkbox appear in your Word document, make sure the developer tab is visible on the ribbon. The checkbox is inserted in Word using this tab, which contains the controls.

The tab is by default hidden. As a first step, look on the ribbon of your Word document to see if you can find a Developer tab.

You may use this tab if it is active. This section can be skipped.

The steps below can be followed to add this tab to your ribbon if this tab is not yet active.

I’ve put together a step-by-step tutorial on how to install Word’s Developer Tab.

How to ADD Developer to Word Ribbon

You can display a developer tab by following these steps.

On the ribbon, right-click on an existing tab.
Choose “Customize the Ribbon”.

Click on the Developer checkbox to enable the Developer option in Word Options. It will become visible if this is already checked.

Select OK.

Your Word ribbon should now display the Developer tab.

The next step is to use the Controls on the Developer tab of Word to insert a checkbox.

Creating the Clickable Checkbox

Following the steps below, you can add a checkbox to your Word document once you have the developer tab visible on your ribbon:

Insert the insertion pointer at the location where you wish to put the checkbox.

Select the Developer tab.

Click the Checkbox under the Controls category.

Checkboxes will appear in precisely the same place you put your insertion pointer.

Repeat the process for each of the remaining items. Alternatively, you may copy and paste the checkbox.

Checkbox symbols can also be copied and pasted wherever they are needed.

If this checkbox is clicked by default, an “X” symbol will be displayed in the box. The problem is, this isn’t what we want. As soon as we click on the tick box, we should see a tick mark appear inside.

Symbols can be added to it as you like. The following steps will guide you through the process of changing the checked symbol.

Click on the symbol to select it.
Navigate to the Developer tab. Click on the Properties link under Controls.

Choose the Change option next to the Checked symbol option from the Content Control Properties dialog.

The dialog box for the Symbol appears. From the Font drop-down menu, select Webdings 2. This will display some of the advanced symbols in Microsoft Word.
Click the tick symbol.

Using the symbols library, find the tick symbol. Click on OK to confirm
Click OK on the Content Control Properties dialog box as well.
Clicking your checkbox should now result in a tick appearing on it.

You can create a clickable check box in Microsoft Word using this method. Here is a video tutorial about how to insert checkboxes in word.

Final Words

This was all about how to insert checkboxes in word. In the comments section below, please feel free to ask any questions you have about inserting a checkbox in Word.