How-To

How to Remove Windows Icon Check Boxes (Updated)

how to count checkboxes in Google Sheets featured

Windows has check boxes in File Explorer for selecting multiple items. If you find them annoying, here’s how to get rid of them.

One of the more annoying things I find when I work on people’s computers is all the checkboxes for selecting icons and other items. I prefer to hold down the Ctrl or Shift key and select multiple items. They are often enabled by default, and you may have gotten used to them.

However, as I work on computers, users tell me they aren’t fans of the checkboxes either. The checkboxes are meant to assist you in selecting multiple files or folders. You will find them next to files, shortcuts, folders, and other targets throughout the Windows system. Notably, check boxes next to files and folders in File Explorer on Windows 11 (working or not) or Windows 10 can be irksome.

For example, you can see the check boxes next to folders in the screenshot below of Windows 11.

check boxes example Windows 11

Example of check boxes showing next to items in File Explorer items in Windows 11.

If you’re not a fan of the boxes, the good news is that there are a couple of ways to get rid of them. You can also make them return later if you want them. Let’s take a look at your options.

Disable Item Check Boxes in Windows 11

Use the following steps to disable the checkboxes next to the folder and file icons in File Explorer on your Windows 11 PC.

  1. Click the See more (three-dots) button on the File Explorer toolbar. see more button file explorer
  2. Click Options from the dropdown menu that appears.select options from dropdown
  3. When the Folder Options window opens, click the View tab at the top.view tab
  4. In the Advanced settings section, uncheck the Use check boxes to select items and click Apply and OK.Advanced Settings
  5. Alternatively, you can press the Windows key, type file options, and select File Explorer Options.file explorer options start menu windows 11
  6. Click the View tab and uncheck the Use check boxes to select items option in the Advanced settings section.advanced settings view

Once you follow the steps, a check box will no longer appear next to folders, files, and other items you target in the Windows 11 user experience.

How Do I Get Rid of the Check boxes in Windows 10 File Explorer?

The good news is that you can remove the check box that appears next to items in Windows 10, and the steps are quite similar to those in Windows 11.

  1. Open File Explorer, click the View tab, and uncheck the Item check boxes option in the Show/hide section of the Ribbon.remove check boxes file explorer windows 10
  2. Alternatively, you can open Control Panel and select File Explorer Options. Not to be confused with Options in File Explorer, this provides  you with the ability to chanage its appearance and functionality.file explorer options in control panel
  3. When the File Explorer Options screen appears, uncheck the Use check boxes to select items option and click Apply and OK.uncheck use check boxes folder options

Removing Check Boxes from Windows

If you are annoyed by the check boxes showing in Windows next to items like files, folders, and shortcuts, you can easily remove them by using the above steps.

If you want to reenable the boxes later, you can go back into File Explorer Options and recheck the option or reenable it from File Explorer itself.

Article originally published on April 18, 2016. Fully rewritten to reflect the latest updates as of May 10, 2024 for Windows 10 and 11.

33 Comments

33 Comments

  1. Rolo

    September 6, 2015 at 7:09 am

    Thaks it was easy and useful

    • Sandra

      March 31, 2020 at 3:04 pm

      I still have the checks

  2. Raised on Unix

    December 24, 2015 at 5:20 am

    Thanks, that checkbox is so annoying!

  3. dapz

    January 7, 2016 at 5:43 pm

    thanks..

  4. Julia

    May 23, 2016 at 12:51 pm

    Thank you, really, thank you!

  5. Lou

    September 11, 2016 at 10:36 pm

    thanks

  6. Hayden C

    October 19, 2016 at 10:07 am

    thanks a lot!!

  7. Sandeep Kumar

    October 31, 2016 at 12:12 am

    Thank you so much

  8. Rambo

    November 8, 2016 at 3:40 am

    thanks a lot!!

  9. Joaquin

    December 8, 2016 at 7:24 am

    Thank you!

  10. Carlos Nani

    December 10, 2016 at 3:25 am

    Thanks. It was so helpful :)

  11. TML

    January 6, 2017 at 6:07 pm

    Perfect! Thank You.

  12. Teresa L Hoagland

    January 17, 2017 at 3:02 pm

    Thank you very much! I don’t know when on of my grandchildren change the settings but I was so frustrated I had to Google the answer …. and you came to the rescue.

  13. Zoomwe

    January 27, 2017 at 5:59 pm

    Thank you :)

  14. Bamboo Man

    February 25, 2017 at 6:12 pm

    Thank you so much!

  15. SUnil Singh

    June 4, 2017 at 5:15 am

    Thanks for help

  16. wes

    July 13, 2017 at 2:11 pm

    GOD BLESS YOU!!!, this has been terrorizing me for weeks now

  17. Lydia

    August 20, 2017 at 5:40 pm

    Followed all steps and still have the checkmarks on folders, plus now there are “double check” marks on folders.

  18. Joe Horenkamp

    November 16, 2017 at 4:49 pm

    Win 10

    I tried everything to get rid of the icon overlay characters and nothing worked until I found found this: ShellExView

    Down load it, run it, then sort on ‘type’.

    I highlighted all of the icon over lay entries – about a dozen all together.

    Right clicked and disabled the entries.

    Pay close attention to what lines you are disabling because you are changing the registry and may wish to re-enable the overlays.

    This FINALLY fixed the overlay problem…

    • Steve Krause

      November 16, 2017 at 5:16 pm

      That’s great Joe. Thank you for the details on that.

    • AlanMintaka

      November 30, 2018 at 3:07 pm

      That took care of the check marks OK, but those annoying shield overlays still appear for programs set to “Run as Administrator.”

      However, given what ShellExView did to the checkmark overlays, I have a feeling that there’s some other extension(s) shown in ShellExView causing the shield nonsense, just a matter of figuring out which one(s).

      If I can figure it out, I’ll post here. Great catch on ShellExView!!!

      In fact, great catch on anything that can get this CF operating system to work, especially anything that also makes sense. Nice work!

  19. larry

    October 4, 2019 at 8:44 am

    followed instructions, check marks still there.
    Also have blue check marks on photos

  20. Manuel

    October 8, 2019 at 11:50 pm

    Thank you for your help. Well done! All good now

  21. Dee Drew

    November 3, 2019 at 2:11 pm

    I wish I were among those who have successfully removed those annoying check marks. I follow the instructions closely. In fact the boxes that need to be unchecked have already been unchecked. Nothing changed. I tried again by enable and disable the boxes. Still nothing has changed.

    • eLaReF

      May 16, 2021 at 12:34 pm

      I have similar – boxes all unchcked already
      Used ShellexView as above – same non-result

  22. Dee

    January 24, 2020 at 9:31 am

    Still there and I even uninstalled One Drive!

  23. Linda

    September 4, 2020 at 12:33 am

    Ask Leo suggested the check boxes, but they are the greatest annoyance I ever encountered. Thank you so much for making it easy for me to undo the damage.

  24. patti

    January 13, 2021 at 10:07 pm

    I still have all the checkboxes. I tried both methods. Neither box was checked to begin with, but I have all the green checkmarks that clutter up the screen.

  25. Paul

    February 3, 2021 at 2:30 am

    Thank you for this tip! (How to remove windows icon check boxes)!

  26. SscoootzZ

    October 19, 2021 at 11:24 am

    Perfect. Thanks ^_^

  27. Kosetta Woodfork

    November 12, 2021 at 8:26 am

    Now you just need a guide to remove the annoying green google drive checkmarks.

  28. Dave Zimny

    February 27, 2022 at 12:29 am

    When I went to the File Explorer View tab on my Windows 10, the “Item check boxes” box was unchecked, but I still had those green check marks on my desktop icons. So I tried checking the box and then unchecking it. Sounds crazy, but it worked like a dream! Not sure why it didn’t work for Dee Drew (above). Maybe she could use the Windows 7 method and try checking and unchecking the box the box in the Control Panel. I wish her luck!

  29. Bill Claxton

    December 29, 2022 at 3:04 am

    I am provisioning a new Asus Zenbook and encountered this issue. I tried all the recommendations I could find and nothing worked. I spent 30 minutes with Asus support and then visited the customer service centre for more than an hour. I was advised to format and reinstall Windows.

    However, I read that sometimes the machine overrides the Windows Explorer settings because it is in tablet mode. So I made one last attempt to Google for the answer, which led me to this simple fix.

    For everyone who uses a 2in1 and uses it as laptop try the following:
    Open Registry Editor
    Go to Computer\HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\ImmersiveShell
    Set DeviceConvertible to 0
    Sign out and back in to your account

    Although my Zenbook does not flip and does not have a touchscreen, it turns out this flag was set to enable ‘DeviceConvertible’. After setting it to 0 and restarting, the issue was resolved.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

 

To Top