A checkmark/tick mark is a special symbol or character that can be added in a spreadsheet cell to indicate that is ‘correct’ or ‘yes’ or while ‘x’ mark usually indicates ‘no’ or ‘incorrect’.

A Checkmark (also known as a check symbol) is mostly used for confirming tasks, managing lists, and for different purposes. A checkmark can be easily inserted into Excel, Outlook, Word, and PowerPoint.

In this article, we will show you how to insert a ‘checkmark’ in a cell, not a ‘check box’, which is an object (control). They may look similar, but they are very different. A checkmark is a static symbol that can be inserted in a cell, while a checkbox, on the other hand, is an interactive special control that is placed above the cells.

Now let’s explore the five methods to insert checkmark or tick mark in Excel.

Method 1: Copy and Paste

We’ll begin with the easiest and quickest method for inserting a tick mark in Excel. Simply copy and paste the following characters below.

Tick Marks:

✓  ✔ √ ☑

Cross Marks:

✗  ✘  ☓ ☒

To copy and paste a tick mark or cross mark, select one of the ticks or cross symbols above, press Ctrl + C to copy it, then open your spreadsheet, choose your destination cell, and press Ctrl+V to paste it.

Method 2: Keyboard Shortcuts

You can also insert tick mark or crosses through keyboard bindings in Excel.

First, go to the ‘Home’ tab and change the font style to either ‘Wingdings 2’ or ‘Webdings’ of the cell(s). A Checkmark can only be displayed as a symbol in Wingdings format.

Then, press any of the keyboard shortcuts in the below image to get the corresponding tick or cross mark:

Method 3: Symbols Dialog Box

Another method for inserting a checkmark or cross mark is using the Symbol dialog box from Excel’s Ribbon.

First, select a cell where you want to insert a checkmark symbol, switch to the ‘Insert’ tab, and click the ‘Symbol’ icon in the Symbols group.

A Symbol dialog box will appear on your sheet. Click the ‘Font’ drop-down list and select ‘Wingdings’. Scroll down till you find the checkmark symbols, select the symbol of your choosing, and click the ‘Insert’ button to insert it.

Note: When you select a symbol in the Symbol dialog box, it will show its respective code in the ‘Character code’ box at the bottom of the window. You can also use these codes to write a formula to insert a checkmark in Excel.

If you don’t like the above symbols under ‘Wingdings’ Font, then select ‘Wingdings 2’ from the Font drop-down list, choose the symbol and click on the ‘Insert’ button (or double-click on it) to insert the symbol to the selected cell.

Finally, click ‘Close’ button to close the Symbol dialog box.

Method 4: CHAR function

The CHAR function is a built-in text function in excel. It can be used to return a symbol or character. As we mentioned in Method 3 when we select a symbol in the Symbol window, Excel displays a ‘character code’ for each symbol. You can use that code as an argument for the CHAR function to return a symbol.

The Formula:

=CHAR(character code)

When you use character code (252) as the argument in the above formula it returns the equivalent ASCII character (ü) for your current font type.

To display the tick and cross symbols properly, you need to change the font type to ‘Wingdings’ for the cell.

You can use the following character codes for inserting different symbols using the CHAR function.

Method 5: Alt Code

You can also add a tick mark by entering its character code directly in a spreadsheet cell while holding the Alt key in your keyboard.

First, select the cell where you want to insert a tick mark, and set the cell font type to ‘Wingdings’. Then, while holding the Alt key, type the following codes.

Note: You will need the numerical keypad on the right rather than the numbers at the top of the keyboard.

Method 6: AutoCorrect

You can also use Excel’s AutoCorrect feature to insert a checkmark. This is one of the easiest and fastest ways to insert tick marks. All you have to do is add a word to the list of misspelled words along with a tick mark. So when you type that word, Excel will automatically correct it to the tick mark.

First, insert your desired tick symbol using any of the above methods. Then, select the symbol in the formula bar and copy it.

Next, click on the ‘File’ tab and select ‘Options’.

In the Excel Options window, select ‘Proofing’ in the left-hand side pane and select ‘AutoCorrect Options’ on the right side.

An autoCorrect dialog box will pop up. In the ‘Replace’ field, type the word which you want to associate with the checkmark symbol, e.g. ‘tick’. Then in the ‘With’ field paste the symbol that you copied in the formula bar (ü). Click ‘Add’ to add it to the list of autocorrect words.

You can also directly add (✔) symbol from the method 1 in the ‘With’ box.

The word ‘tick’ is added to the list of misspelled words and (ü) is its autocorrect word. Click ‘OK’ to close the AutoCorrect window.

From now on, whenever you enter the words ‘tick’ in a cell and press ‘Enter’, it will automatically change it to (ü) symbol. To change it into an Excel tick symbol, apply the ‘Wingdings’ font to the cell.

Now, that’s all you need to know about inserting checkmarks in Excel.