When to use Radio Buttons and Checkboxes in your Documents

When you’re adding fields to a document in SignNow, you might want to let your recipient select specific options on the document. However, you might be unsure on whether to use checkboxes or radio buttons for those options. Fortunately, SignNow is here to help you understand the difference between using checkboxes and radio buttons on documents, and when to appropriately use them.

Use SignNow’s following guidelines to help you understand when to use checkboxes or radio buttons in documents:

  • In a document, use checkboxes in situations where a recipient needs to select at least one option from a list of choices. Checkboxes can also be used when you want a more simple way for your recipient to select a single option. For example, if you add four checkboxes that ask for a buyer’s acknowledgements, then the recipient can check the applicable boxes.
  • In a document, use radio buttons in situations where a recipient can only select one option from a list of choices. For example, if the document has a question asking what the signer’s height is, then there can only be one correct answer.

Let’s use the following example to visually understand the difference between checkboxes and radio buttons:

In the following document, the recipient should only check one box under “Your Age Range,” because a person’s age can only be in one range. This is an example of appropriately using radio buttons:

In the next following document, the recipient can select as many medical problem options as they’d like. This is an example of appropriately using checkboxes in a document:

For more information on using radio buttons, visit this University article. For more information on using checkboxes, visit this University article.