Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: Checkboxes in a Merged Document.
Saul has to do a merge where the merge document contains a series of checkboxes. He would like the checkboxes to have checkmarks in them based on a Y or N in the data source being merged.
This is relatively easy to do, if you know how to create the merge field that will do the check boxes. For example, let's say that the field in the data source that will contain the Y or N designation is called "checkbox". You could create a merge field similar to the following:
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007 and 2010. If you are using an earlier version (Word 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Word, click here: 
{ IF { MERGEFIELD checkbox }= "Y" "A" "B" }
To make the field do what you want, you need to replace the A and B characters with, respectively, a checked checkbox and an unchecked checkbox. There are a variety of these that you can use, all accessible by the Insert Symbol dialog box. Just insert the characters in place of A and B in the above, and you should get the desired characters when you perform the actual merge.
WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (10899) applies to Microsoft Word 2007 and 2010. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Checkboxes in a Merged Document.
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2017-07-21 16:24:32
Angela
I want the symbols for checked and unchecked boxes to appear in an MS Mail merge in place of a "Y" or "N" in my excel database. When I do your formula above, including my wingdings symbols for checkbox and unchecked box, it replaces my Y AND N with a box with a small question mark inside of it. Please advise.
Thanks,
Angela
2016-11-10 14:06:57
Bryan
Thank you. Solved an issue for us where we needed to use an exported excel file with a company CV document.
2015-06-05 00:38:34
kchamberlain
Hi Allen - thanks for the great tip! Just wondering if this possible if the source data comes from a prompt (fill-in set up through rules in the mailings tab)?
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