Microsoft Word has a rich collection of special symbols, operators and bullet styles. Out of these, the checkmarks and square bullets are frequently used in the office program for memos, applications, forms, letters, brochures, flyers, and online documents.
The following guide shows the easiest native ways to insert checkmarks and square bullets in Microsoft Word. These methods will work best in Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Word 2016 onward. They should also work in previous Word versions except for the Bing search engine.
Using these methods, we will illustrate how to insert uncommon and less-frequently used symbols, easily and repetitively. Anything written in Word can also be written in Gmail, Google Docs, and other document editors.
Add Checkmarks in Microsoft Word
To add a checkmark at any place in the document, rest your cursor and click on “Insert -> Symbol -> More Symbols.”
Select “Wingdings 2” as the font. You may select any other font which displays the checkmark symbol, but with Wingdings 2, you will get a neat appearance symbol, which can be easily replicated anytime.
Click on “shortcut keys” for the checkmark symbols and type any key in your keyboard to assign a shortcut key. While you may use copy-paste, a shortcut key will save time when the symbol has to be repeated many times in the document. Make sure the shortcut key you designed is uncommon. Never use system shortcuts such as Alt + F4, Ctrl + C, Ctrl + F to create shortcuts.
Another way to import the checkmark symbol is to open “Character Map” from the Start menu.
Select Wingdings 2 as the font style and locate the checkmark symbol, which will be used by selecting and copy-pasting it into your Word document. You can also select the x symbol to convey the opposite meaning.
Once the checkmark symbol has been inserted, you can select it to change its attributes through font “text effects,” available from a simple right-click selection. This will help you gain an amazing variety of checkmark symbols which are attractive and unique.
Add Square Bullets in Microsoft Word
To add square bullets in Microsoft Word, first select the entire text which has to be segregated by bullet-style listing. You can also create the bullet style first and use it throughout the document. The “bullet library” will have a collection of bullet styles including the square bullet.
Click “define new bullet” to proceed to the next step, followed by “symbol” and “OK.”
Here under the Wingdings font category, you can see a “hollow square bullet,” which is very common in many documents. Select “OK” to proceed.
Apart from the hollow square, you can also see a variety of hollow circular bullets, stars, diamonds, arrows, and negative bullets.
To get even more variety in bullet styles, select “Define New Bullet” one more time and select “Picture -> OK.”
In the next screen, you will get various options to insert pictures in lieu of bullet styles. You can either go with a chosen file or “OneDrive – Personal.” The smartest way to do it is to use “Bing image search,” which has an astonishing variety of square bullets and more symbols.
Make sure the bullet images you use are from Creative Commons only.
Using the Above Techniques for Other Symbols
Now that we have learned the methods to insert checkmarks and square bullets in a Microsoft Word document, let us apply this learning to insert more useful symbols. For example, Wingdings 2 has a huge variety of triangle, square, pentagon and hexagon bullet types.
“Webdings” is another useful font style to select many representative images in lieu of bullets. Whether you choose a man or woman, a pizza, or a bomb, there are many symbols representing many objects and people.
You can also use Font as “normal text” with a huge variety of currency symbols including Pound sterling £, Euro €, Yen ¥, and even uncommon types such as Hungarian Hryvnia ₴. If you are dealing with a given currency several times in a document, it’s best to use the assigned shortcut key.
Apart from currency symbols, you can use the international phonetic association (IPA) symbols directly in Word.
Other than inserting uncommon and degree symbols in Microsoft Word, did you know you can also transcribe audio in Microsoft Word 365?
Sayak Boral is a technology writer with over eleven years of experience working in different industries including semiconductors, IoT, enterprise IT, telecommunications OSS/BSS, and network security. He has been writing for MakeTechEasier on a wide range of technical topics including Windows, Android, Internet, Hardware Guides, Browsers, Software Tools, and Product Reviews.
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