Add Checkboxes in Excel, Sheets and Calc

I often need to add checkboxes (or tick boxes) into a spreadsheet, so I thought I’d share how to do it in Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel and Libre Calc.

Checkboxes / Tick boxes in Google Sheets

This is possibly the easiest application to add checkboxes into. With your spreadsheet open in Sheets,

• Select the cells you want to add checkboxes / tick boxes to
• Click on the Insert menu
• Choose Checkboxes

Checkboxes / tick boxes will then appear in your selected cells. Click on a checkbox to add a tick, click again to get rid of the tick.

Checkboxes / Tick boxes in Microsoft Excel

To add a checkbox / tick box in Excel you need to access the Developer tab. To do this in Excel 2010 and all later versions,

• Click on File
• Choose Options
• Select Customize Ribbon
• Click on the Developer check box
• Then click OK.

Now that the Developer tab is accessible, you can easily add checkboxes / tick boxes. With your spreadsheet open in Microsoft Excel,

• Click on the Developer tab
• In the Controls group, click on Insert
• Choose Checkboxes
• Click and drag where you want the checkbox to be located
• To remove the label “Checkbox”, click into the label, then press delete on your keyboard

Note – although you can only add one checkbox at a time, remember you can right-click on it, choose Copy, then Paste more checkboxes where you want them.

Checkboxes in Libre Calc

To add checkboxes in Libre Calc, go to the View menu then choose Toolbars, then finally click on Form Controls.

The Form Control toolbar will appear on your screen.

Click on the Checkbox option, then click and drag where you want the checkbox on your screen.

Repeat the instructions, clicking and dragging for each checkbox you want, then press esc on your keyboard to finish.

Click on Design Mode on the Form Control Toolbar, and the checkboxes will become clickable.

I hope you enjoyed adding Checkboxes to your spreadsheets in Excel, Sheets and Calc. For more resources on Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Libre Calc, just click here 🙂