Free Checklist Templates
Create a Printable Checklist using Microsoft Excel®
After looking at the search data on my site, there one phrase in the top 10 that kept coming up was "checklist". So, by popular demand, we've created a few different printable checklists along with some checklist templates that you can edit in Excel.
Check List Templates
This annual calendar was designed to be used as a New Year's Resolution Checklist.
Other List Templates
Creating Checklists in Excel
The main question people have when creating a checklist in Excel is what method to use to create the check box. I've listed the most common methods below, along with an explanation of the uses and pros/cons.
- Cell Borders - This is perhaps that simplest and fastest way to create a checklist from scratch. Just size the column containing the check boxes so that they appear square. It is easy to customize by copying and pasting items, inserting new items, etc. I use this approach in the wedding and camping checklists.
- Special Box Character - This is my second favorite approach, which I used for the wedding checklist. The only hard part is remembering how to find the special open 'box' character. The character I like to use is the White Square (□). I usually just open up the Windows Character Map application to browse through the special symbols until I find it, then copy and paste. If you're going retro, you could also use parenthesis as the placeholder for the check mark like this: ( )
- Parentheses ( ) or Brackets [ ] - This is a very common simple approach for including a checkbox within a text-based file. You'll see this approach used a lot in legal documents and other types of forms. If that's the look you're going for with your checklist, then by all means, go for it.
- Autoshapes (Drawing Objects) - I don't recommend this approach unless you are going for something fancy, like using fluffy clouds in your check list. Moving a bunch of autoshapes around in the spreadsheet can get messy and annoying.
- Checkbox Form Object - Use the checkbox form field only if you are wanting to add interactivity to your checklist. The checkbox form field, found in the Forms toolbar, can link to a cell in the spreadsheet without requiring any Visual Basic programming. The linked cell will be a boolean value TRUE or FALSE. Like the drawing objects, working with a large number of checkboxes can get messy.
