Check Mark Symbols

Every check, cross, and ballot box you need for lists, tables, and status updates. Click a symbol to copy it, then paste it wherever text goes. ✓ stays plain text everywhere; ✅ and ❌ always render as color emoji.

Check marks

X marks and crosses

Ballot boxes and empty squares

Status and alert marks

Status dots

How it works

01 Click or tap any check mark or cross to copy it to your clipboard.
02 Paste it into your list, table, resume, or message with Ctrl+V (Cmd+V on Mac).
03 Pair ✓ and ✗ for comparison tables, or ☐ and ☑ for printable checklists.

Where check marks come from

✓ Check Mark, ✔ Heavy Check Mark, ✗ Ballot X, and ✘ Heavy Ballot X all arrived in Unicode through the Dingbats block, digitized from the Zapf Dingbats typeface. The ballot boxes ☐, ☑, and ☒ live in the Miscellaneous Symbols block and were encoded for exactly what their names suggest: printed ballots and forms. ✅ and ❌ came from Japanese mobile emoji sets standardized in Unicode 6.0 in 2010. The lesser-known 🗸 and 🗹 were added later from the Wingdings and Webdings mapping effort, which is why their support is thinner outside Windows.

Where they render

✓, ✗, ☐, ☑, and ☒ render as flat text glyphs almost everywhere: documents, spreadsheets, email, social bios, and code. ✅, ❌, ❎, and the colored status dots are emoji on every modern platform, so they always show in color. ✔ is the in-between case: some platforms render it as plain text, others as a color emoji, so check it in place if consistency matters. 🗸 and 🗹 render reliably on Windows but can show as boxes on older phones.

Usage ideas

Check marks are workhorses for to-do lists in plain text apps, packing lists, feature comparison tables (✓ has it, ✗ does not), resumes, and Etsy or Amazon listing bullets. The status dots 🔴🟡🟢 make quick health indicators in project updates and stand-up notes. ☐ and ☑ are handy for printable checklists because they read correctly on paper. If you are building list layouts, our bullet point symbols page covers the rest of the toolkit.

One caveat

In spreadsheets, a pasted ✓ is text, not a boolean. Filters and formulas treat it as a string, so count it with COUNTIF rather than expecting TRUE or FALSE. And avoid using color alone (🔴 versus 🟢) as the only signal, since not everyone perceives color the same way.

Questions

What is the difference between ✓, ✔, and ✅?

✓ is the plain text check mark and stays flat everywhere. ✔ is the heavy version, which some platforms render as text and others as a color emoji. ✅ is always an emoji: a white check on a green button. Use ✓ for documents and tables, ✅ for social posts where you want color.

How do I type a check mark without copying it?

On Windows, hold Alt and type 10003 on the numeric keypad for ✓ (or use Win+. to open the emoji panel and search 'check'). On Mac, use Ctrl+Cmd+Space to open the character viewer. Honestly, copying from this page is faster.

Will a check mark work in Excel or Google Sheets?

Yes, it pastes into any cell as a text character. Just remember it is a string, not a TRUE value, so formulas need COUNTIF(range, "✓") style logic. For interactive ticking, use the built-in checkbox feature instead and keep ✓ for display.