Make A Checklist in Word
Make A Checklist in Word
off on paper. You can also create a checklist and check off items electronically by opening the document in Word.
If you just want to create a checklist that you will work with on paper, you can create a list that uses a box symbol
The way that you create the list depends on whether your document already contains bulleted lists with different
kinds of bullets.
If your document does not already contain several different kinds of bullets, you can make a bulleted
If your document already contains several bullet formats, you can prevent altering the existing
3. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click the arrow next to Bullets.
5. Click Symbol.
6. In the Font box, click a symbol font that is installed on your computer, such as Wingdings.
7. Scroll through the list of available symbols, and then double-click the box symbol that you want to
4. In the Number of rows box, enter the number of rows that you want. You need one row for each
5. Click OK.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Symbols group, click Symbol, and then click More Symbols.
4. In the Font box, click a symbol font that is installed on your computer, such as Wingdings.
5. Scroll through the list of available symbols, and then double-click the box symbol that you want to
6. Click Close.
7. Click the next cell where you want to insert a box, and then press CTRL+Y to insert another box.
8. After you insert a box for each item that you want, click the top right cell and type the text for the first
Although you are using the table to lay out the list, you probably want to adjust the spacing so that the column that
contains the check boxes isn't too wide, and the text is lined up close to the check boxes. You probably don't want
the border lines that Word usually includes with the table. To make these adjustments, do the following:
1. Right-click the table, point to AutoFit, and then click AutoFit to Contents.
2. Right-click the table, click Table Properties, and then click the Table tab.
3. Click Options, and in the Left and Right boxes, enter a number that will provide a little bit of space
between the check box and the text, such as .02 inches, and then click OK.
4. On the Table tab, click Borders and Shading, and then click the Borders tab.
NOTE After you remove the border lines, you may still see gray border lines. These are the table
gridlines, and they do not show when the document is printed. If you don't want to see them at all, you
can hide them by clicking View Gridlines in the Table group on the Layout tab under Table Tools.
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To use boxes that you can check off in Word, you insert the check box form field into your document. This looks
best if you use a table to align the check boxes with the text, so your first step is to create a table. After you create
the table, you can insert the check boxes in one column and the text in the other column, and then you can refine
the layout. To check off the items, you lock the form.
3. In the Number of rows box, enter the number of rows that you want. You need one row for each
Don't worry about the size of the columns or the border lines in the table. You will fix those later.
To add the boxes that you will be able to check, you need to use the Developer tab.
1. Click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Word Options.
2. Click Popular.
1. Click the top left cell in the table that you inserted.
4. Click the next cell where you want to insert a check box, and then press CTRL+Y to insert another
check box.
5. After you insert a check box for each item that you want, click the top right cell and type the text for
the first item. Repeat this step for each item in the list.
Although you are using the table to lay out the list, you probably want to adjust the spacing so that the column that
contains the check boxes isn't too wide, and the text is lined up close to the check boxes. You probably don't want
the border lines that Word usually includes with the table. To make these adjustments, do the following:
1. Right-click the table, point to AutoFit, and then click AutoFit to Contents.
2. Right-click the table, click Table Properties, and then click the Table tab.
3. Click Options, and in the Left and Right boxes, enter a number that will provide a little bit of space
between the check box and the text, such as .02 inches, and then click OK.
4. On the Table tab, click Borders and Shading, and then click the Borders tab.
NOTE After you remove the border lines, you may still see gray lines. These are the table gridlines, and
they do not show when the document is printed. To hide the table gridlines on the screen, click the
Layout tab under Table Tools, and in the Table group, click View Gridlines.
To check off the items by clicking in the check boxes, you need to lock the form. However, when the form is
locked, you will not be able to make changes to the text or layout, so be sure to do this step last.
NOTE If you want to check the spelling in your list, you must run spell check on the document before you lock the
form.
When you want to edit the document, you can easily unlock the form. Just remember to lock it again so that you
Developer tab.
2. On the Developer tab, in the Protect group, click Protect Document, and then click Restrict
3. In the Protect Document task pane, under Editing restrictions, select the Allow only this type of
6. To assign a password to the document so that only reviewers who know the password can remove
the protection, type a password in the Enter new password (optional) box, and then confirm the
password.
IMPORTANT If you choose not to use a password, all reviewers can change your editing restrictions.
1. On the Developer tab, in the Protect group, click Protect Document, and then click Restrict
NOTE If you used a password to add protection to the document, you need to type the password before you can
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