Learn How To Add Check Boxes In MS-Word

• Open the Word document.
• Click on the Home tab from the Ribbon at the top of the document.
• Right-click on the Ribbon.
• From the list, click on the ‘Customize the Ribbon’ option to open the Word Options dialog box.
• Search for Customize the ribbon option from the pane at the left-hand side.
• Click on the ‘Main Tab’ option.
• Check the Developer option.
• Click on the OK option to save the changes.

Now you can find the ‘Developer Tool’ added to the Ribbon of the Word document.

Add Checkboxes to your document

• Click on the Developer tools tab.
• Choose the Check box content control from the ‘Controls Section’ after placing the cursor where you want to insert the checkbox.
• Now the checkbox would be assigned to the particular content.
• You can add checkboxes for more than one line, format it, and assign a symbol to make it interactive. For eg: You can choose for the check box to fill or get crossed once clicked and unchecked upon clicking again.
• The ‘Cross’ symbol is set as the default symbol to represent the selection of the checkbox. To change it :

1. Click on the ‘Properties’ option in the Control tab after checking the box you just created.
2. From the Control Content properties tab, click on the Change option against the ‘Checked symbol’ tab at the bottom of the dialog box.
3. Click on the symbol like ‘Tick mark’ or other signs and confirm the change by clicking on OK.

Check out: Guide To Add Or Remove The Line numbers In MS Word Document!

This Word document can hence be shared and formatted whenever required. Now we have seen the steps for the creation of interactive checkboxes, let us proceed with how to insert them for documents that can be printed.

Non-Interactive Checkboxes

To create a printed document with checkboxes follow these steps:

• Open your Word document and place the cursor where you want to add the boxes.
• Click on the small down arrow of the Bullet Tab under the Home tools tab.
• Click on the ‘Define New Bullet’ option.
• From the Define New, Bullet dialog box click on the Symbol tab.
• From the list choose the ‘Wingdings 2’ option. In earlier versions, you would find the ‘Windings’ option instead of this.
• Scroll through the list of symbols and click on the empty box or the checkbox symbol.
• You can also search for a symbol if you know its character number. The character number of this checkbox symbol is 160. So, simply type ‘160’ in the Character Code space to get this symbol.
• Click on the ‘OK’ option.

Related: How to Create And Print An Envelope In Word?

Now, the checkbox symbol would be added to your Bullet list from which you can insert and use it just like any other bullet symbol. From the next time, you can open the Bullet drop-down menu and find it under Recently Used Bullets.

Note: This type of Checkbox would be useful only if you are going to use the document in printed form, as this would just act as a bullet pointer in a digital Word document.

Also, read about: Inserting, Removing & Modifying Page Border In MS Word

Using Auto-correct 

Here is a fun trick that can be used to insert a checkbox without going to the bullet tab each time you want to insert it. To use this shortcut follow these steps:

• Open the Insert tab from the Ribbon.
• Click on the ‘Symbol’ drop-down menu.
• Choose the symbol you want to set a check box from the list and click on the Autocorrect option.
• In the space to “Replace” type a unique word or phrase which when typed would be automatically corrected as the checkbox!

It is better if you type something gibberish like ‘rtpq’ instead of a meaningful word as it would prevent confusion of auto-correcting the word is used in the document.

Further are a few tips to create a perfect form or document using Microsoft Word:

• You can design your document or use the pre-designed template available in Word. To access the templates use these steps:

1. Click on the New tab and choose the Form template and download the suitable template from the options.
2. Click OK after clicking on the ‘Template’ option.

• You can add different sections for others to answer in the text, insert a drop-down menu to add a list of options, or a combination to type the text and choosing other options from a list.
• Further, add the required information and questionnaire and use it as such in interactive mode or print it.

All the above-mentioned techniques are applicable for Microsoft Word 2010 and all the earlier versions.

In this article, all the aspects of the check boxes in Word have been covered including the tips to create a formattable interactive form and non-interactive printable form. Hope this article checked and met all the doubts concerning the Check boxes in Word.