How to create TODO or Checklist in Excel

TODO lists or Checklists are quite common today, for the very reason that it helps organize. Organizing our tasks into a list makes everything much more manageable and grounded.

At the same time, ticking off things from this list gives us satisfaction and motivates us to achieve our goals further. We can make these manually as well as with widely used tools like MS excel.

I will explain the step by step procedure to make a TODO list, also known as a checklist in MS Excel.

You can learn to create a checklist in excel by watching our YouTube Video also. For those who prefer to learn things by reading, here is how to make a TODO list in excel.

The first and foremost step is to access the 'Developer' ribbon, which is not directly visible in the toolbar. This can be accessed by different methods on Mac and Windows.

For Mac, Go to Preferences (Excel) >> Ribbon & Toolbar >> Developer. Check this Checkbox

I am demonstrating the process on Windows only. Except for the above step, all other steps work on Mac as well.

For Windows: Go to File >> Options >> Ribbon

You will see the ribbon as follows:

Now the next step is to put a check box in F3-F7. For this, click on the 'Developer' ribbon, and select the 'Insert checkbox' icon.

Note:

Now draw the checkbox in any cell of your choice. Below is an example:

Now you can backspace the written 'Check box no..' and position the checkbox as you wish like shown below:

Now copy and paste the checkbox in the cells below.

Next, we have to define the value of the checkbox, which is the same as the cell which has the checkbox. For that, go to the checkbox and click right, then select format control.

A table will appear on the screen as shown below. In the table, go to the 'Control' option, and in cell link, write the value of the cell as $F4.

Note:

In the similar fashion, define the value of all the cells which have the checkbox.

Now the last thing we want is that when we select on a check box, the description is formatted in some way, like strikethrough or change of color, to show that the work has been done.

So, here is how you can format the description.

Click on the 'Home' ribbon, select the cell you want to format, go to 'Conditional Formatting', select 'Highlight Cells Rules' and then 'More Rules' as shown below.

A table will appear on the screen as shown below, in the first option select 'Use a formula to determine which cells to format'. In the next, you have to insert a formula to decide the cell.

The formula is = $F4

Note:

After this, under format, you can select the formatting you want on the description when you click on the checkbox.

I have selected to 'strikethrough' and 'bold' the description.

You can customize the formatting any way you want.

After this is done, when you click on the checkbox, you will see it in bold and stroked through.

As you have seen, creating a checklist or a TODO list in Excel is not that much difficult of a task.

We hope this blog has simplifies the process for you and will prove useful

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