Format cell as a checkbox (TRUE, FALSE)
Offer a format that displays the boolean value of a cell as a checked box if TRUE, unchecked box if FALSE, grayed box if text or other nonbool.
Bonus: Toggle value OnClick would be intuitive.
Lots of uses for this. Current options are awkward for users. Yes/No dropdown is not as good as a checkbox for touch/mobile.
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10 comments
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Wesley Kenis
commented
this certainly is a pain when working with tables. This proves onces more that nobody as MS ever uses your own products, otherwise YOUR employees would be creating most of the tickets instead of users.
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Jon Wittwer
commented
One more comment about the Google Sheets implementation ... I really like that you can change the color of the checkbox by simply changing the font color of the cell.
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Jon Wittwer
commented
Google Sheets has beat Microsoft to this one! See below:
https://support.google.com/docs/answer/7684717
Google Sheets has made adding a checkbox to a cell as easy as going to Insert > Checkbox. The checkbox is actually a data validation option (so Insert > Checkbox is a shortcut). I really like that you can customize what values are used for the checkbox. The default is TRUE/FALSE, but via data validation you can change that to 1/0 or whatever.
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Kevin Jones
commented
I have implemented this using shapes (and a lot of VBA code) because 1) I need it, 2) forms controls are too large and overlap other rows, 3) ActiveX controls are the work of the devil. This is a much needed feature for any automation work where the user is required to "select" one or more rows of data before proceeding to the next step. Here is a sample: www.zorvek.com/images/FAST-Screen-2.jpg
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Jon Wittwer
commented
I've been using a drop-down list with the Unicode checkmark symbols lately (✓, ✔) because Unicode characters appear within the drop-down list (as opposed to the wingdings approach). This works great for touch/mobile, but it still requires multiple touches/clicks to select the check from the drop-down. The down side is that the value isn't stored as TRUE/FALSE. You have to use an IF statement or something.
I would like to see a checkbox data validation option done the way it is in the Numbers app, where the value is displayed as a check (or better yet, give the user a way to change what symbol is displayed for TRUE and FALSE), and the value is stored as TRUE or FALSE.
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james miller
commented
to add to this, you can also use custom cell formatting to get most of the way there.
change the font of the cell to wingdings and change the cell number format to this: [=1]"ü";"û"
then if the cell = 1 you'll get a tick and if its 0 you'll get a cross.
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Anonymous
commented
Good idea. I think it would be even better if there was a boolean cell formatting. Cells having this formatting could automatically display as checkboxes.
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Corey Becker
commented
You can link Form/ActiveX checkbox controls to a specific cell.
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Jason Daniels
commented
Using Excel as a task list or for enabling/disabling assumptions is really common and Form/ActiveX controls are clunky and not easily formatted/resized (not to mention the security headaches). To generalize this idea further, having a "Toggle" option instead of a "Yes/No" would allow the user to set "Value When Checked" and "Value When Unchecked" so that there is no question about what values to test for in other cell formulas (i.e. IF(ToggleVal="True", 1, 0) or IF(ToggleVal=1, 1, 0)). For added bonus points, give the ability to create our own on/off images for maximum design flexibility.
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bill
commented
rather than a drop down yes/no ability to have a check box that toggles on click. Using the VBA controls are just painful to use and place. I've mimicked this using hyperlinks with windings font as number format and tiny bit of vba code. The fun bit is that once created you just copy/paste it to a new cell no need to try and size/position the thing. Makes check list in no time
