inserting a checkbox as a bullet

[Dean26979497uf2y]

I am trying to replace the buller with a checkbox in a paragraph style in framemaker 2019. I understand that I should be using unicode text, and am close ... but not quite there. in the paragraph designer, I enter, for example:

\t\u2714 

to start the paragraph with a tab and check. I've tried a lot of unicodes; many don't work at all. a few work in that they display correctly in the paragraph designer, but they show up as a "?" in the actual paragraph. 

what am I missing?  thanks for any guidance.

[FrameMaker-dk]

You can create a character style using WingDings using the checkbox character, like this:

Copy/paste the checkbox character from the character pallette to the numbering Format line in Paragraph Designer.

In the paragraph styles numbering setup, you can then add the character style like this

[Bob_Niland · Accepted solution]

☐ in Wingdings is at codepoint 0xA8

In most fonts, with no character format applied, that's:
¨ U+00A8 DIAERESIS

Doing it as a Character Format, using a legacy overlay font like Wingdings is apt to have unexpected results in various output workflows. PDF & print are apt to work; HTML, who knows. It's relying on the font declaration to replace the glyph for what would normally be, and may appear as ¨

Instead consider native Unicode for that box. Unicode has about a dozen candidates boxes, but this is usually the match for that Wingding in most Unicode fonts:
☐ U+2610 BALLOT BOX
That would be \u2610 in the Autonumber dialog box, which FM will immediately collapse to ☐

Not all of Wingdings has been mapped into Unicode (0xFF for example), but much has, and avoids both surprise glyphs in the output, and broken Xrefs.

[Dean26979497uf2y]

I spoke too soon.  bob's solution seems correct, and the \u2610 code displays as a checkbox in the paragraph designer autonumber dialog box. but in the actual text paragraph, it displays as a "?". am I missing something? thanks. 

[Bob_Niland]

The ? means that the font in use doesn't populate the U+2610 codepoint.
It appears that Arial & Times New Roman don't, for example.
You can use Windows Character Map, FM's Character Pallete or BabelMap to verify this.

FM knows what it is, as its internal font renders a ☐ in the dialog.
FM doesn't support font fall-back, so ? is what happens.
You might end up needing to apply a Character Format anyway (or pick a different overall document font that populates all the Unicode you need). Segoe UI Symbol has it, as does Source Code Pro.

The above only applies to Unicode BMP (U+0000…FFFF)
At U+10000 and above, expect at least one ? every time (issue FRMAKER-10976).

[Dean26979497uf2y]

sheesh.  my publisher insists on times new roman. I defined a special character in segoe UI symbol and embedded that in the times new roman paragraph:  all good. thanks!