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The best method depends on whether you need a one-off symbol in a document, a neatly formatted checklist, or repeatable icons inside spreadsheet cells. Word is often best for styled forms and printed documents, while Excel gives you more control for status columns, conditional formatting, and data-entry workflows.
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This guide covers practical ways to insert tick and cross symbols, including ✓, ✔, ✗, ✘, and boxed variations, along with simple formatting s to make them clear, consistent, and easy to reuse.
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Insert a Tick or Cross Using the Symbol Menu
The Symbol menu is the most reliable one-off method for inserting a tick or cross in Microsoft Word and Excel because it lets you choose the exact character you want from a font set. This is useful when you need a plain check mark, a boxed tick, a ballot-style cross, or a heavier mark for a checklist, form, or spreadsheet status column. The steps are similar in Word and Excel, although the inserted symbol appears in different places: directly in the document in Word, or inside the active cell in Excel.
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In Microsoft Word, click where you want the tick or cross to appear, then go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols. In the Symbol dialog box, open the Font drop-down list and choose a font that contains suitable marks. Common choices include Segoe UI Symbol, Wingdings, Wingdings 2, and Arial Unicode MS if available. Scroll through the character grid, select the tick or cross you want, then click Insert. When you are finished, click Close.
In Microsoft Excel, first select the cell where the symbol should appear. Then use Insert > Symbol to open the same Symbol dialog box. Choose a suitable font, select the tick or cross, and click Insert. If you are building a checklist, you can insert the mark into one cell and then copy it down the column. The symbol behaves like text, so it can be aligned, colored, resized, filtered, and combined with other cell formatting.
Useful fonts and symbol choices
| Font | Typical symbols available | Best use |
|---|---|---|
| Segoe UI Symbol | ✓, ✔, ✕, ✖ | Modern documents and spreadsheets using standard Unicode symbols |
| Wingdings | Check marks and crosses in pictorial styles | Legacy Word and Excel files where Wingdings symbols are already used |
| Wingdings 2 | Boxed ticks, boxed crosses, checklist-style marks | Printed forms, task lists, and approval sheets |
| Webdings | Icon-style symbols | Decorative or icon-based layouts |
When choosing a symbol, pay attention to the font shown in the Symbol dialog box. Some tick and cross characters from Wingdings or Webdings only display correctly when that same font is applied. If the font later changes, the symbol may turn into a different character. For documents that will be shared widely, symbols from Segoe UI Symbol or another Unicode-friendly font are usually safer because they are less dependent on a special symbol font.
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You can also make recently used symbols easier to access. After inserting a tick or cross once, Word and Excel usually show it under Insert > Symbol in the recently used row. This saves time when adding several marks manually across a document or worksheet. For repeated checklist work, use consistent sizing and alignment: center the mark in table cells, apply a green font color for ticks and red for crosses if appropriate, and use bold or a larger font size when the symbol needs to stand out in printed forms.
Use Keyboard Shortcuts and Character Codes
Keyboard shortcuts and character codes are useful when you need to insert tick and cross symbols repeatedly without opening the Symbol menu each time. They work especially well in Microsoft Word, where Unicode and Alt-code entry is more consistent, and they can also be used in Excel cells when the correct font and input method are selected. The main idea is to type a numeric code, then convert it into the symbol, or to hold Alt while entering a code on the numeric keypad.
Use Unicode codes in Microsoft Word
In Word, you can type a Unicode value and then press Alt + X to convert it into a symbol. Place the cursor where you want the mark, type the code, and press Alt + X. For example, type 2713 and press Alt + X to insert a tick. Type 2717 and press Alt + X to insert a ballot-style cross. This method is quick, reliable, and does not require changing to a symbol font first.
| Symbol | Name | Word Unicode shortcut |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Check mark | Type 2713, then press Alt + X |
| ✔ | Heavy check mark | Type 2714, then press Alt + X |
| ✗ | Ballot X | Type 2717, then press Alt + X |
| ✘ | Heavy ballot X | Type 2718, then press Alt + X |
Use Alt codes on Windows
Alt codes can be used in Word, Excel, Outlook, and many other Windows applications. Click where the symbol should appear, hold Alt, type the number on the numeric keypad, then release Alt. For a tick, try Alt + 10003 for ✓ or Alt + 10004 for ✔. For a cross, use Alt + 10007 for ✗ or Alt + 10008 for ✘. On laptops without a separate keypad, you may need to enable the embedded numeric keypad or use the Windows emoji and symbols panel instead.
Use Wingdings character shortcuts
Another common approach is to type a regular character and change the font to Wingdings or Wingdings 2. For example, in many Microsoft Office installations, typing ü and applying the Wingdings font displays a tick, while typing û displays a cross. This method is often seen in older templates and spreadsheets, but it depends on the selected font. If the font changes later, the symbol may turn back into an ordinary letter, so it is less portable than Unicode symbols such as ✓ and ✗.
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In Excel, character codes are also useful inside formulas. You can insert a tick with =UNICHAR(10003) or a cross with =UNICHAR(10007). This is practical for status columns, pass/fail results, and checklist dashboards. For example, a formula can return a tick when a task is complete and a cross when it is not: =IF(A2=”Done”,UNICHAR(10003),UNICHAR(10007)). Once inserted, format the cells with a readable font such as Segoe UI Symbol, Arial Unicode MS, or Calibri, and adjust alignment, size, and color to make the marks easy to scan.
Copy and Paste Tick and Cross Symbols
Copying and pasting is the quickest way to add a tick or cross when you only need the symbol once or a few times. You can copy a character from a trusted source, another Word document, an Excel workbook, an email, or the list below, then paste it directly into your document, spreadsheet, checklist, or form. This method works well when you do not want to open the Symbol dialog or remember character codes.
| Symbol | Name | Common use |
|---|---|---|
| ✓ | Tick | Completed item, approved answer, selected option |
| ✔ | Heavy tick | More visible checklist mark or status indicator |
| ✗ | Cross | Incorrect answer, rejected item, missing requirement |
| ✘ | Heavy cross | Clear fail mark or negative status |
| ☑ | Checked box | Printed forms and completed checklists |
| ☒ | Crossed box | Rejected choice or unavailable option |
In Microsoft Word, select the symbol you want, press Ctrl + C on Windows or Command + C on Mac, click where it should appear, then press Ctrl + V or Command + V. The pasted symbol behaves like normal text, so you can change its font size, color, bold styling, alignment, and spacing. If the symbol looks different after pasting, choose a common font such as Segoe UI Symbol, Arial Unicode MS, Calibri, or Wingdings, depending on the character you are using.
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One free scan finds every outdated or missing driver and matches the right update for your exact hardware.Free scan · exact hardware matchIn Excel, paste the symbol into a cell, formula bar, text box, chart label, or header area. For a simple status column, you can place ticks and crosses in individual cells beside task names, test results, stock checks, or approval stages. To repeat a symbol down a column, paste it into the first cell, then use the fill handle to copy it into nearby cells. You can also copy a symbol from one cell and paste it into many selected cells at once, which is useful when setting up a template before replacing some entries later.
Keep pasted symbols consistent
- Use the same symbol style throughout: avoid mixing ✓ with ✔ or ✗ with ✘ unless the difference has a clear meaning.
- Apply color carefully: green ticks and red crosses are common, but add text labels if the file may be printed in black and white.
- Center symbols in Excel cells: use horizontal and vertical alignment for neat checklist columns.
- Check font compatibility: if a document will be shared, use widely supported Unicode symbols where possible.
- Paste as plain text if needed: in Word, use paste options to remove unwanted formatting copied from a web page or another file.
For reusable documents, keep a small “symbol bank” near the top of a draft file, in a hidden Excel sheet, or in a template area. This gives you a reliable place to copy from without searching each time. Once the document or spreadsheet is finished, remove the symbol bank or hide it so the final version stays clean.
Insert Tick and Cross Icons in Excel Cells
Excel cells can hold tick and cross symbols just like ordinary text, so you can use them in status trackers, attendance sheets, approval lists, inventory checks, and simple dashboards. Click the cell where you want the mark, then insert or paste a symbol such as ✓, ✔, ✗, or ✘. Once the symbol is in the cell, you can align it, resize it, color it, and copy it down a column like any other cell content.
For a clean checklist layout, place the item description in one column and the tick or cross in the next column. For example, column A could contain tasks, column B could contain completion marks, and column C could contain comments. Select the tick/cross column, then use Home > Alignment > Center to center the icons in their cells. Increase the font size to make the marks easier to scan, and apply colors such as green for ticks and red for crosses using Home > Font Color.
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If you want Excel to display a tick or cross based on a value, use an IF formula. For example, if cell A2 contains a score and you want a tick for scores of 70 or above, enter:
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=IF(A2>=70,”✓”,”✗”)
This is useful for pass/fail results, stock checks, compliance sheets, and completed/not completed trackers. You can also base the symbol on text. For example, if B2 contains the word “Done”, use =IF(B2=”Done”,”✔”,”✘”). After entering the formula, fill it down the column to apply the same rule to other rows.
Create visual tick and cross indicators with conditional formatting
Excel’s conditional formatting can turn numbers into icon-style indicators without manually typing symbols. Select the cells you want to format, then go to Home > Conditional Formatting > Icon Sets. Choose an icon set that includes check marks, crosses, traffic lights, or symbols. This works well when your data is numeric, such as 1 for complete and 0 for incomplete, or percentage values for progress.
To refine the result, open Home > Conditional Formatting > Manage Rules, select the rule, and click Edit Rule. You can set the thresholds that control when each icon appears. For a simple yes/no setup, use values such as 1 for a tick and 0 for a cross. If you only want the icon to appear and not the underlying number, enable Show Icon Only. This creates a polished spreadsheet view while keeping the source values available for formulas, sorting, and filtering.
Use a drop-down list for reusable tick and cross cells
For forms and shared spreadsheets, a drop-down list helps users choose a tick or cross consistently. Select the cells, go to Data > Data Validation, choose List, and enter the symbols separated by a comma, such as ✓,✗. Users can then pick the correct mark from the cell’s drop-down arrow instead of typing it manually.
- Center the symbols: use horizontal and vertical alignment for a neater checklist.
- Use color sparingly: green ticks and red crosses are easy to understand, but avoid too many competing colors.
- Choose a compatible font: Calibri, Segoe UI Symbol, Arial Unicode MS, and Wingdings-style fonts may display symbols differently.
- Keep symbols consistent: avoid mixing light ticks, heavy ticks, boxed ticks, and emoji-style marks in the same table.
For printable sheets, check the page preview before sharing or exporting to PDF. Some fonts and icon sets may look slightly different on another computer, especially if the workbook uses uncommon fonts. Sticking to standard symbols and widely available fonts helps the ticks and crosses remain clear across devices.
Create Reusable Tick and Cross Options with AutoCorrect
AutoCorrect is one of the quickest ways to reuse tick and cross symbols in Microsoft Word, especially when you need them repeatedly in checklists, forms, status reports, meeting s, or templates. Instead of opening the Symbol menu each time, you can type a short custom trigger such as ;;tick or ;;cross, and Word will automatically replace it with ✓, ✔, ✗, or ✘.
To create an AutoCorrect entry in Word, first insert or copy the tick or cross symbol you want to reuse. Select the symbol, then go to File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options. In the Replace box, type a memorable shortcut, such as xtick, xcheck, xcross, or xno. In the With box, make sure the symbol appears, then select Add and OK. From then on, typing the shortcut followed by a space or punctuation mark will insert the symbol automatically.
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Good AutoCorrect shortcuts to use
- ;;tick → ✓
- ;;check → ✔
- ;;cross → ✗
- ;;xmark → ✘
- ;;yes → ✓
- ;;no → ✗
Choose shortcuts that are unlikely to appear in normal writing. A prefix such as ;;, zz, or x helps prevent accidental replacements. For example, using no as an AutoCorrect trigger would be frustrating because Word would replace the ordinary word “no” every time you typed it. A trigger like ;;no is much safer and still easy to remember.
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AutoCorrect is mainly a Word feature, but the same entries can often work across other Microsoft Office apps depending on your version and settings. In Excel, AutoCorrect entries may also be available through File > Options > Proofing > AutoCorrect Options. This is useful when building spreadsheets where users type short codes into cells, such as ;;done for a tick or ;;fail for a cross. Once replaced, the symbol behaves like normal cell content and can be aligned, colored, filtered, copied, or used in printed reports.
Plain text versus formatted AutoCorrect entries
When setting up AutoCorrect in Word, you can choose between plain text and formatted text. Plain text inserts the symbol only, using the formatting of the surrounding text or cell. This is usually best for Excel cells, tables, and documents where the symbol should match the current font size and style. Formatted text keeps the symbol’s original formatting, such as color, font, bold styling, or size. This can be helpful if you always want a green tick or red cross in a particular Word template.
For reusable forms, consider combining AutoCorrect with consistent styles. For example, create entries for a green ✔ and a red ✘, then use them in a Word table with centered columns. In Excel, you can type the AutoCorrect shortcut into a status column and then apply conditional formatting, borders, or font colors to make the sheet easier to scan. If your workbook is shared, tell other users which shortcuts are available, because AutoCorrect settings are typically stored per user rather than inside the document itself.
Format Tick and Cross Symbols for Checklists and Forms
After inserting tick and cross symbols, formatting is what makes them useful in real checklists, trackers, and forms. A plain ✓ or ✗ may be enough for a quick , but a document shared with colleagues or clients should make status clear at a glance. In Word and Excel, you can adjust the font, size, color, alignment, spacing, and borders so the symbols look intentional rather than pasted in.
For Word checklists, place the tick or cross in a table column rather than typing it into the middle of a sentence. A simple two-column table works well: one narrow column for the symbol and one wider column for the task or statement. Select the symbol column, center the contents, and increase the font size slightly so each mark is easy to scan. You can also remove table borders for a cleaner form-style layout, or keep light borders if the document will be printed and filled in manually.
- Use color consistently: green ticks and red crosses are common, but use darker shades for better print quality and readability.
- Choose a reliable font: symbols from Segoe UI Symbol, Arial Unicode MS, Calibri, or Wingdings are less likely to change appearance unexpectedly.
- Keep sizing uniform: apply the same font size to every tick and cross in a checklist, such as 12 pt, 14 pt, or 16 pt.
- Align symbols centrally: center alignment makes columns of ticks and crosses easier to compare.
In Excel, formatting is especially useful when ticks and crosses represent task completion, pass/fail results, approvals, or inventory checks. Put the symbol in its own cell, then use horizontal and vertical center alignment. If the worksheet is a tracker, narrow the status column so the tick or cross acts like a compact visual indicator. You can also apply fill colors to the cells, such as pale green behind a tick and pale red behind a cross, while keeping the symbol itself bold for contrast.
Conditional formatting can make Excel forms more efficient. For example, if a status cell contains ✓, format the cell with a green fill; if it contains ✗, format it with a red fill. Select the range, open Conditional Formatting, create a rule based on cells that contain specific text, and enter the tick or cross symbol. This is useful for recurring spreadsheets because users only need to enter the symbol, while Excel handles the visual styling automatically.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the easiest way to insert a tick or cross in Word?
The quickest built-in method is to go to Insert > Symbol > More Symbols, then choose a font such as Wingdings, Wingdings 2, or Segoe UI Symbol. Select the tick or cross symbol you want and click Insert. If you use the same symbol often, add it to AutoCorrect so Word can replace a short text shortcut like tick1 with ✓ automatically.
How do I type a tick or cross in Excel without opening the symbol menu every time?
You can copy and paste symbols like ✓, ✔, ✗, or ✘ directly into Excel cells, then reuse them by copying the cell. Another option is to set up AutoCorrect in Excel, so typing something like /tick becomes ✓ and /cross becomes ✗. This is useful for checklists, trackers, and status columns.
Which keyboard shortcuts work for tick and cross symbols?
On Windows, you can use character codes with the numeric keypad in some apps, such as Alt+0252 for a tick in Wingdings after changing the cell or text font to Wingdings. Unicode symbols can also be inserted in Word by typing a code such as 2713 and then pressing Alt+X to turn it into ✓. Excel does not handle Alt+X the same way, so copy-paste, Symbol, or AutoCorrect is usually more reliable there.
Can I make ticks green and crosses red in Excel?
Yes, select the cells containing your tick and cross symbols, then change the font color from the Home tab. For a reusable setup, use Conditional Formatting so cells containing ✓ turn green and cells containing ✗ turn red. This works well for dashboards, task lists, attendance sheets, and approval columns.
How can I create clickable tick boxes instead of just inserting symbols?
In Word, you can use check box content controls from the Developer tab to create forms that users can click. In Excel, you can insert check box controls from the Developer tab, or use symbols in cells if you only need a simple visual checklist. Symbols are easier to print and format, while form controls are better when users need to interact with the document or spreadsheet.
Bottom Line
Microsoft Word and Excel give you several easy ways to add tick and cross symbols, from the Symbol menu and copy-paste shortcuts to Alt codes, Unicode values, and reusable AutoCorrect or custom formatting options. For a one-off mark, copying ✓ or ✗ is usually fastest; for repeated use, set up shortcuts, checklists, or spreadsheet-friendly formats.
Choose the method that fits your workflow: use symbols for polished documents, keyboard codes for speed, and Excel formulas or conditional formatting when marks need to respond to data. Once you save your preferred ticks and crosses into templates or shortcuts, creating forms, lists, and reports becomes much quicker.
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