Check Mark and Tick Symbols

✓, ✔ and ✅: which check mark?

✓ (U+2713, Check Mark) is the light tick and the most versatile: it looks right in documents, code comments and lists. Check our dedicated check mark symbol reference for shortcuts and alt codes. ✔ (U+2714, Heavy Check Mark) is bolder, and on phones it can show as the emoji ✔️. ✅ is the green-box emoji, and ☑ (U+2611) is a ballot box with a check, ideal for checklists next to the empty box ☐ in geometric shapes.

Avoid using √ (the square root sign) as a tick. It looks similar, but it is a maths symbol, screen readers announce it as “square root”, and it sorts and searches differently. If you need bullet-style checklist markers, explore bullet point symbols.

How to insert a tick in Word

1. Type 2713 (for ✓) or 2714 (for ✔) where you want the tick.
2. Press Alt + X. Word converts the code into the character.

The older method uses the Wingdings font: switch to Wingdings and press Shift + P for a tick or Shift + O for a cross. The result only looks like a tick while that font is applied, so it turns into a letter if the text is pasted elsewhere. The Unicode ✓ does not have that problem.

Tick marks in Excel and Google Sheets

Enter =UNICHAR(10003) for ✓ or =UNICHAR(10007) for ✗. To show a tick based on a value, combine it with IF: =IF(B2>=50,UNICHAR(10003),UNICHAR(10007)). Google Sheets also has real checkboxes under Insert → Checkbox, which store TRUE or FALSE.

Tick on Mac, iPhone and Android

On a Mac, press Control + Command + Space and search “check”. On Android, Gboard has ✓ on the second symbols page (tap ?123, then =\<). On iPhone the emoji keyboard has ✅ and ✔️; for a plain ✓, copy it here and add it to Text Replacement.

Check marks in HTML

✓ has the named entity ✓ (or ✓), and ✗ is ✗. For lists of ticks in CSS, use li::before { content: "\2713"; }.