How to Remove Windows Icon Check Boxes (Updated)
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.
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.
- Click the See more (three-dots) button on the File Explorer toolbar.
- Click Options from the dropdown menu that appears.
- When the Folder Options window opens, click the View tab at the top.
- In the Advanced settings section, uncheck the Use check boxes to select items and click Apply and OK.
- Alternatively, you can press the Windows key, type file options, and select File Explorer Options.
- Click the View tab and uncheck the Use check boxes to select items option in the Advanced settings section.
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.
- Open File Explorer, click the View tab, and uncheck the Item check boxes option in the Show/hide section of the Ribbon.
- 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.
- When the File Explorer Options screen appears, uncheck the Use check boxes to select items option and click Apply and OK.
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
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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
Raised on Unix
December 24, 2015 at 5:20 am
Thanks, that checkbox is so annoying!
dapz
January 7, 2016 at 5:43 pm
thanks..
Julia
May 23, 2016 at 12:51 pm
Thank you, really, thank you!
Lou
September 11, 2016 at 10:36 pm
thanks
Hayden C
October 19, 2016 at 10:07 am
thanks a lot!!
Sandeep Kumar
October 31, 2016 at 12:12 am
Thank you so much
Rambo
November 8, 2016 at 3:40 am
thanks a lot!!
Joaquin
December 8, 2016 at 7:24 am
Thank you!
Carlos Nani
December 10, 2016 at 3:25 am
Thanks. It was so helpful :)
TML
January 6, 2017 at 6:07 pm
Perfect! Thank You.
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.
Zoomwe
January 27, 2017 at 5:59 pm
Thank you :)
Bamboo Man
February 25, 2017 at 6:12 pm
Thank you so much!
SUnil Singh
June 4, 2017 at 5:15 am
Thanks for help
wes
July 13, 2017 at 2:11 pm
GOD BLESS YOU!!!, this has been terrorizing me for weeks now
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.
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!
larry
October 4, 2019 at 8:44 am
followed instructions, check marks still there.
Also have blue check marks on photos
Manuel
October 8, 2019 at 11:50 pm
Thank you for your help. Well done! All good now
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
Dee
January 24, 2020 at 9:31 am
Still there and I even uninstalled One Drive!
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.
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.
Paul
February 3, 2021 at 2:30 am
Thank you for this tip! (How to remove windows icon check boxes)!
SscoootzZ
October 19, 2021 at 11:24 am
Perfect. Thanks ^_^
Kosetta Woodfork
November 12, 2021 at 8:26 am
Now you just need a guide to remove the annoying green google drive checkmarks.
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!
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.