How to Add a Checkbox in Google Sheets

You are building a task list or a packing list and want a box to tick in each row. A checkbox cell holds TRUE when ticked and FALSE when not, so formulas can count and react to it.

Select the cells

Click the first cell where you want a checkbox and drag down to cover every row, for example A2:A20. You can select an entire column by clicking its letter.

Insert the checkboxes

Click Insert, Checkbox. Every selected cell now shows an empty box. Blank cells get an unticked box, and any cell that already contains TRUE shows as ticked.

Tick and untick

Click a box to toggle it. With the cell selected, pressing the spacebar also toggles it. Look at the formula bar: a ticked box has the value TRUE and an empty one has FALSE.

Count or test the boxes in a formula

=COUNTIF(A2:A20, TRUE)

• range is the column of checkboxes.
• criterion is TRUE for ticked or FALSE for unticked.

With seven boxes ticked, the cell shows 7. To act on one box, test it directly: =IF(A2, "Done", "Open") shows Done when A2 is ticked.

Use custom values instead of TRUE and FALSE

Select the checkbox cells and click Data, Data validation. Click the rule, set Criteria to Checkbox, then tick Use custom cell values. Type the checked value, such as Yes, and the unchecked value, such as No, then click Done. The boxes look the same but now store Yes and No, so a count becomes =COUNTIF(A2:A20, "Yes").

To remove a checkbox. Select the cell and press Delete. To strip the checkbox format entirely so plain text can go in the cell, open Data, Data validation and remove the rule.

To strike through a row when its box is ticked. Select the rows, for example A2:D20, click Format, Conditional formatting, choose Custom formula is, enter =$A2=TRUE, and set the formatting style to strikethrough. The dollar sign locks the test to column A so the whole row responds to its own checkbox.