Tables with Check Marks (in Excel!)

Ann K. Emery

Last updated:

May 12th, 2025

Related resources:

Before/After Data Visualization Makeovers, Checkboxes, Tables, Webdings, YouTube Videos

I recently saw two (!) of these tables within the same week:

In this tutorial, you’ll see a few ideas for transforming tables with check marks.

These tiny tweaks can be accomplished in everyday software like Excel.

What’s Inside

0:00 Intro
0:18 The “before” version
1:05 Decluttered
1:38 Left-aligned text for speed-reading
1:57 X’s into checks with built-in checkmarks
3:05 Filled vs. empty squares (with Webdings g and c)
4:48 Dark vs. light circles (with Webdings n)
5:47 Showing totals with tallies at the bottom
6:10 Showing totals with tallies at the right with countif, concatenation, and rept
6:48 Bars or stacked bars
6:59 The before-after transformation

Related Resources

How to Add Checkboxes to Excel

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It’s here.

More about Ann K. Emery
Ann K. Emery is a sought-after speaker who is determined to get your data out of spreadsheets and into stakeholders’ hands. Each year, she leads more than 100 workshops, webinars, and keynotes for thousands of people around the globe. Her design consultancy also overhauls graphs, publications, and slideshows with the goal of making technical information easier to understand for non-technical audiences.

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