---
title: "Tick Boxes and Other Special Characters"
url: "https://help.formsfly.com/en/article/tick-boxes-and-other-special-characters"
language: "en"
last_updated: "2026-08-12T14:49:32.674Z"
---

# Tick Boxes and Other Special Characters

Often you will have scenarios where you want to output checkboxes in your template

* * *

**Often you will have scenarios where you want to output checkboxes in your template** with a tick or a cross corresponding to the answers in a Choices field of your form design. Or if you are using non-English languages, you may have cases where you need Unicode support to display text.  
  
The way you do this in a Data Template is to use formula functions and Unicode characters to output the desired symbols.

## **Outputting Check Boxes**

The template engine has built in support for outputting checkboxes via the CBOX (or CBOXB) formula function.

For example, lets say you want to output a ticked checkbox when the answer to a field is ‘Yes’, and a crossed checkbox if not.  
Use the following formula in your Data Template to do so:

{{(CBOX({{myField}}, ’Yes’))}}

This will output one of the following tick boxes:  
![☑](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.1.0/svg/2611.svg) ☒

If you want to display an empty (i.e. not crossed) box when the answer does not match the specified result, then use the CBOXB function:

{{(CBOXB({{myField}}, ’Yes’))}}

This will output one of the following:  
![☑](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.1.0/svg/2611.svg) ☐

Change the font size or font weight (e.g. bold) of your formula text to set the display size of the output symbol.

## **Outputting Unicode characters**

| **Important!** YOU MUST USE THE FONT Segoe UI Symbol TO OUTPUT SPECIAL SYMBOLS |
| --- |

APPLE MAC USERS: The Segoe UI Symbol may not be available for Mac OSX – if this is so, you can use a Windows PC to apply the font to your templates.

A full list of all supported characters for Segoe UI Symbol can be found [here](http://www.kreativekorp.com/charset/font.php?font=Segoe%20UI%20Symbol)

Note the Unicode number under each symbol in the link above – this is the value you can use in formula functions that output values.

{{(if({{myField}} =’Yes’, ‘\\u263A’, ‘\\u263C’))}}

Assuming the section where the above formula appears is set to use Segoe UI Symbol font, then you could expect to output of (either or):  
![☺](https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.1.0/svg/263a.svg) ☼

Change the font size or font weight (e.g. bold) of your output formula to change the display size of the symbol.

## **Non-ASCII languages such as Chinese**

Our platform has extensive Unicode support given our Windows operating system base, however only specific fonts can be supported.  
By default the fonts found at this [link](http://www.microsoft.com/typography/fonts/product.aspx?PID=160) are all supported  
  
When creating a Word or Excel template, you need to be mindful of the specific font you use for your unicode areas.  
If you use a font that is not in the supported list above, you will find that the generated output has unpredictable results – usually missing characters in your output.