Forum Discussion
Help with Excel option button - checked vs unchecked?
Hi,
I've inserted an option button in Excel 365, and am having trouble understanding what Unchecked vs Checked means/does in the Control tab under the Format Control dialogue box for the option button. Any help is greatly appreciated!
7 Replies
Checked / unchecked literally indicate the current state of the option / checkbox - so if an option box is white the format control shows unchecked and vice versa; if it has a black circle inside, it will show checked. It's mostly visual, however you can use the cell link option, where the chosen cell will give a true / false value when the option button is checked / unchecked - this means that you can have formulae which incorporate that result.
Hope this helps.
Charla74 Thanks for the reply. I do have a cell linked that displays a number (in my case, either a 1 or a 2, since I have defined two buttons) depending on which button I have checked. I get this part of it. What I'm unclear about is why there is an option to check either Checked or Unchecked in the Control tab. Based on your explanation, it appears that checking either Checked or Unchecked in the Control tab then then is meaningless. It does do anything, is that right?
Hi Peter711
Sorry, yes, the linked cell would represent option buttons with a corresponding number, whereas check boxes are TRUE / FALSE.
Selecting checked / unchecked from Format Control basically just updates the visual representation of the option buttons once you click ok, therefore not meaningless per se but rather an alternative (less efficient) method.
