Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Word versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. 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: Replacing an X with a Check Mark.

Replacing an X with a Check Mark

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 3, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365


Cindi wants to use Find and Replace to replace a capital X with a check mark character. Specifically, she wants to use the check mark character available in the Wingdings font. She's a bit unclear on how to do this type of replacing, however.

Actually, getting the results you want are relatively easy. There are several ways you can go about the task, but they all follow these general steps:

  1. Press Ctrl+H to display the Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.
  2. Click the More button, if it is available. The Find and Replace dialog box should expand. (See Figure 1.)
  3. Figure 1. The Replace tab of the Find and Replace dialog box.

  4. In the Find What box enter an uppercase X.
  5. Make sure the Match Case check box is selected.
  6. Place the insertion point in the Replace With box.
  7. Click the Format button and then choose Font. Word displays the Font dialog box.
  8. In the Font list, select the Wingdings font.
  9. Click OK to close the Font dialog box. The insertion point should still be in the Replace With box, and the font specification you made should appear just under the box.
  10. Type the character you want to use for your check mark. (More on this in a moment.)
  11. Use the control buttons in the dialog box (Find Next, Replace, or Replace All) as desired to make your replacements.

This is fairly straightforward and should already be familiar to you. It is, after all, the basic method for doing most Find and Replace operations. The trick, however, is in how you do step 9. There are several ways you can specify the check mark character.

One way is to copy the check mark to the Clipboard before you start the steps. Just type the check mark into the document, as desired and then use Ctrl+C to copy it to the Clipboard. Then, in step 9, you can either press Ctrl+V to paste it into the Replace With box or you can use the ^c characters to tell Word you want to use the contents of the Clipboard as your replacement.

Another way to specify your check mark is to remember that all characters have underlying character codes that are understood by Word. If you can find out the character code for the check mark (it is available in the Symbol dialog box if you use that method of creating the check mark), then you can use the code in the Find and Replace dialog box.

In this case, the character code for the check mark is 252, which must be entered using four characters and a carat mark. Thus, you would enter ^0252 in the Replace With box. When you do the replacement, you'll see the check mark (which corresponds to the character code) appear in your document.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (13353) applies to Microsoft Word 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Word in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Word here: Replacing an X with a Check Mark.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Reference to a Range of Endnotes

When multiple endnote references are used at a given point in your document, you may wonder if there is a way to compress ...

Discover More

Ensuring Unique Values in a Column

If you want to make sure that only unique values are entered in a particular column, you can use the data validation ...

Discover More

Inserting the Author Name

Did you know that Word tries to keep track of who the author of a document is? This information can be easily added to ...

Discover More

Learning Made Easy! Quickly teach yourself how to format, publish, and share your content using Word 2013. With Step by Step, you set the pace, building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Check out Microsoft Word 2013 Step by Step today!

More WordTips (ribbon)

Highlighting Found Text

When searching for text, Word can helpfully highlight all instances of what is found. If you want that highlighting to be ...

Discover More

Searching for Items in an Automatically Numbered List

The Find and Replace capabilities of Word can be very powerful, but there are some things you cannot search for. One such ...

Discover More

Getting Rid of Trailing Spaces in Footnotes and Endnotes

The Find and Replace tool can get rid of trailing spaces in paragraphs quite nicely. If those spaces are at the end of ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 - 0?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the ribbon interface (Word 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Videos
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.