How To Make A Checklist In Google Docs In 3 Simple Steps

Struggling to make a decent-looking checklist in Google Docs?

This article shows you the exact steps that’ll help you make anything from simple grocery lists to team task lists using Google Docs.

Here’s what you’ll learn:

Let’s start.

How to create a clickable checklist in Google Docs

Checklists are simple, yet powerful productivity tools. A checklist made using Google Docs lives online, which makes it easy to share and collaborate.

When you’re working together with a team, you want them to check off their list of items in the document itself. That’s where a clickable (or checkable) checklist helps.

Let’s look at the steps to create one:

1. Enter your to-do items on a Google Document

You can’t have a checklist without a list of things to do.

So, the first thing you need to do is add your to-do items to your Google Document. Simply add one item per line, hitting the enter key as you finish each item.

2. Convert the list into a checklist

Next, we need to add a checkbox for your team to check off before each item.

Here are the steps:

• Select all the items in your list.
• Click on the Checklist button in the Google Docs toolbar.

Starting with a blank checklist

Instead of converting a list of items into a checklist, you can start with a blank list by clicking on the Checklist button in the menu. This adds a checkbox to the document. 

Enter your first item next to this checkbox and hit enter or return. This will automatically add another item to your list just like the number or bullet list.

Multi-level checklists

Creating a multi-level checklist in Google Docs is easy too. 

Just move your cursor to the start of a list item and hit the tab key or press the Increase indent button on the toolbar.

3. Share the checklist with your team

Finally, you can share this checklist with your colleagues and ask them to check off their to-do items.

To share the document:

• Open the Share with people and groups dialog by clicking on the blue Share button in the top-right corner or navigating to the File → Share menu.
• Using this dialog you can share the document either with specific email addresses or create an accessible link to send to a bunch of people.
• In case you decide to share a link, ensure that you’ve allowed people with the link to edit the document.

Once shared your team members can simply click on a checkbox to check off the task from the list.

How to make a checklist from a bulleted list

Sometimes you already have a list of items as a bulleted list. You can easily turn it into a checklist. 

Here’s how you can do that:

• Click on a bullet next to your bulleted list item. This selects all the bullets in your list.
• Right-click on the bullet to open a popup menu.
• Finally, click on the checkbox button in the popup menu. And your list turns into a checklist.

You can also turn a single list item into a checkbox. To do that, you can follow the same steps above, except you have to click on the target bullet list item twice.

Advantages and drawbacks of Google Docs checklists

Compared to MS Word, Google Docs does offer a lot when it comes to shared checklists.

• Checklists are available right out of the box like the bulleted and numbered list making it easy to create one.
• A Google Doc checklist can be shared with specific people or groups.
• You can easily keep track of who’s changing what and when.
• It lives on the cloud, so you can access it from anywhere.
• You can create mixed as well as multi-level checklists.

However, unlike a checklist app, you cannot add details or attach files to a checklist item. Also, you cannot visualize your to-do items on a timeline or a task board.

Consider using a tool like Toggl Plan instead. It’s a beautifully simple tool that helps you plan and track your team’s tasks using timelines and task boards.

Try Toggl Plan for free today.