Star and Check Mark Symbols Copy and Paste

How to type stars and check marks on Windows

Hold ALT and type the decimal code on the numeric keypad: ALT 9733 gives ★, ALT 9734 gives ☆, ALT 10003 gives ✓ and ALT 10004 gives ✔. Release ALT and the character appears. Each code is listed next to its character above.

In Microsoft Word, type the hex code point and press ALT + X instead: 2713 becomes ✓, 2605 becomes ★. This works without a numeric keypad, which is the usual problem on laptops.

The old Wingdings trick still works in Office. Set the font to Wingdings, then ALT 0252 gives a tick, ALT 0254 gives a ticked box, ALT 0251 gives a cross and ALT 0253 gives a crossed box. The catch is that the character is really a Latin letter wearing a costume, so it breaks the moment someone changes the font.

• ALT codes only work on the numeric keypad, not the number row.
• No keypad: press Windows key + full stop, open the symbols tab and search.
• Word and Outlook also have Insert, Symbol, Wingdings for the classic tick.

How to type them on a Mac

macOS has no ALT code system. Press CTRL + CMD + SPACE to open the Character Viewer, search for star or check mark, and double click the result to insert it. Click the star icon in the viewer to keep favourites at the top.

For symbols you use daily, add a text replacement: System Settings, Keyboard, Text Replacements, then map something like ;tick to ✓. It syncs to iPhone and iPad through iCloud.

Check marks and star ratings in Excel and Google Sheets

In both Excel and Google Sheets, =UNICHAR(10003) returns ✓ and =UNICHAR(10004) returns ✔. That is the cleanest way to put a tick in a formula result, for example =IF(B2>=100,UNICHAR(10003),UNICHAR(10007)).

For a star rating that scales with a number, use REPT. =REPT("★",A2)&REPT("☆",5-A2) turns a 1 to 5 score into a five star display that sorts and filters like text.

Google Sheets has real checkboxes under Insert, Tick box, and Excel has them under Developer, Insert, Check Box. Those are controls rather than characters, so use them when you need a clickable state and use the symbols when you need something that copies as text.

Text symbols, emoji and the variation selectors

✔ and ✔️ are the same base character. The second one has an invisible variation selector (U+FE0F) after it that asks the system for the colour emoji, which is why one is black and one is green. ✅ and ❌ are different characters again and are always drawn in colour.

Pick the plain text forms (✓ ✔ ✗ ✘ ★ ☆) when the symbol should match your text, print cleanly or sit in a spreadsheet cell. Pick the emoji forms (✅ ❌ ⭐) when you want the same bright icon on every device.

The invisible selector still counts as a character. If a field allows 30 characters, ✔️ uses two of them.

Why a star or tick shows as a box

An empty rectangle or a question mark means the current font has no glyph for that code point. The dingbat stars and ticks (✓ ✔ ★ ☆) are covered by nearly every system font, but the half stars (⯨ ⯪), the light check mark 🗸 and the bold ballot box 🗹 are only in wide coverage fonts such as Segoe UI Symbol, Noto Sans Symbols 2 and DejaVu Sans.

If you are publishing a page, declare UTF-8 and avoid depending on a single decorative font. If you are sharing a document, either embed the font or stick to the common characters.

• Safe almost anywhere: ★ ☆ ✓ ✔ ✗ ✘ ☑ ☐ ☒ ✳ ✱
• Emoji, safe on modern phones and browsers: ⭐ ✨ ✅ ❌ ❎
• Check before you rely on them: ⯨ ⯩ ⯪ ⯫ 🗸 🗹 ⍻