Printable checklist

A blank checklist: a box to tick and a line to write on, repeated down the page. Nothing is filled in, so it works for a shopping list, a pre-flight routine, or a punch list on a building site.

Open in the generator →

Opens with these settings already loaded. Change anything you like, then download as PDF, PNG or SVG.

Row height is the only setting that really matters

Nine millimeters is about right for normal adult handwriting with a ballpoint. Go to 11 or 12 mm if you write large, use a fountain pen, or expect other people to fill it in, since strangers always write bigger than you do. Drop to 7 mm only if the items are short, like single grocery words. The failure mode of a tight list is not that it looks cramped, it is that people start writing between the lines and the ticking column stops lining up.

Why a box and a line, rather than just a line

The box does two things a bare line does not. It marks where the item starts, so a list of ragged-length items still reads as a column rather than a ragged block of text. And it gives the eye somewhere to land when you are scanning for what is left, which a page of crossed-out lines cannot do. A column of boxes tells you how far through you are without your having to read a single word.

Ticking, crossing and the case for a bigger box

If you tick, a small box is fine. If you cross items out entirely, or write a code in the box such as a date or an initial, size the box up by raising the row height. The box is drawn as a proportion of the row, so a taller row gives a bigger box automatically. For a list several people sign off, the to-do version with a date field is usually the better starting point.

Printing it accurately

This only measures correctly if your printer doesn't rescale the page. In the print dialog set Scale: 100%, not "Fit to page" or "Shrink oversized pages". If you're not sure it worked, print the calibration page, measure the ruler on it with a real ruler, and it will tell you exactly what your printer is doing to the page.