web links—and even create a checklist of to-dos.

Checklists work perfectly for stuff like grocery lists, wish lists, quick to-dos and what not, and they’re interactive so you can tick off individual items to mark them as completed. And with iCloud, changes to your notes are automatically pushed to all your devices.

In this post, we’re going to demonstrate how easy it is to create interactive checklists in Notes on your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Mac and iCloud.com.

Before we begin, we’ll assume you have upgraded your iPhone, iPod touch and iPad to iOS 9, that your Mac runs OS X 10.11 El Capitan, and that you have upgraded your notes to the new format. Otherwise, you won’t have access to these new features.

How to create checklists in Notes for iOS 9

Step 1: Open Notes on your iPhone, iPod touch or iPad.

Step 2: Tap the pencil and pad icon at the lower right of the screen to start a new note.

Step 3: Next, tap a gray circle with the plus sign just above the keyboard to reveal a toolbar providing quick access to the new Notes features.

Step 4: Now tap the Checklist icon in the toolbar, as depicted below.

Step 5: An empty circle will appear in your note, letting you type your first to-do. Pressing Enter positions the cursor in a new line so you can create another to-do.

Tip: You can also highlight multiple lines of text and then tap the Checklist button to turn them into tappable to-dos, all at once. To insert a new item into an existing checklist, position the cursor at the end of a line and hit Enter on the keyboard.

If you own an iPhone 6s, use 3D Touch for precise cursor positioning.

Step 6: Tap Done to finish creating the checklist.

How to create checklists in Notes for El Capitan

Step 1: Launch Notes on your Mac.

Step 2: Click the pencil and pad icon in the toolbar at the top to start a new note, or hit Command (⌘) – N.

Step 3: Click the Checklist icon in the toolbar, as depicted on the screenshot below. Alternatively, hit the Shift (⇧) – Command (⌘) – L keyboard combination or choose Checklist from Notes’ Format menu.

Step 4: The cursor will be positioned next to an empty circle in your new note so you can start typing away your to-do items immediately, separating each entry with Enter.

You can also view your checklists and other notes in Microsoft Outlook on your Windows computer set up for iCloud Notes using Apple’s free iCloud for Windows client.

How to create checklists in Notes for iCloud.com

Step 1: To use iCloud Notes on the web, go to icloud.com/notes on your computer and sign in using your Apple ID (the one you use with iCloud).

Tip: Make sure you’re using a supported browser to access iCloud.com.

Step 2: Click the pencil and pad icon in the toolbar to create a new note.

Tip: If you don’t see the Notes icon in the main menu of the web interface, log in to iCloud on your iOS device in Settings → iCloud (or on your Mac in System Preferences → iCloud) and enable Notes syncing.

Step 3: Now click the Checklist button next to the Format button in the toolbar to create your first to-do item. Type as many to-dos as you like, hitting Enter after each.

Any changes you make to your notes on iCloud.com will be pushed to your devices that use iOS 9 or El Capitan and are set up for iCloud Notes, and vice versa.

Keep in mind that using the updated Notes app on iCloud.com will only show notes you added or changed on iCloud.com or on your devices that have iOS 9 or El Capitan and are set up for iCloud Notes.

How to import existing lists into Notes

On a final note (pun intended), you don’t need to create checklists from scratch. To bring an existing formatted list from another app to Notes, first copy the text of that list into the clipboard.

Paste the text into Notes, then highlight it and finally tap the Checklist button. This will instantly create a multi-item interactive checklist. Of course, you can paste existing lists from emails, text messages and so forth.

Sharing Checklists from Notes

Formatted checklists in Notes can be shared with friends and family. Open Notes, select a note and then tap iOS’s multi-purpose Share button to send it via email, Messages or through third-party apps with a Share extension. One thing to remember: interactive Notes checklists will be shared as non-interactive bulleted lists.

That means you cannot, for instance, share the shopping list from Notes with your girlfriend and have both of you add and tick off items as you go. For that, you’re advised to use Apple’s Reminders app.

That’s all, folks!

You’ve now mastered the art of interactive checklists in Notes.

The ability to check off items as you go, coupled with seamless syncing across iOS, OS X and the web, makes interactive checklists in Notes a viable (though rather basic) alternative to the Reminders app.

Related tutorials

You might also like the following tutorials and resources from our archives:

• How to save your iPhone voicemails as notes or voice memos, or share them with others
• How to use your iPhone EarPods like a pro
• How to quickly access Wallet and Apple Pay on the Lock screen
• How to enjoy Apple Music at high bitrates on mobile data connections
• How to convert units and currencies and get exchange rates with Spotlight on iPhone and iPad
• How to customize your view of System Preferences icons on your Mac
• How to manually remove System Preferences panes from your Mac
• How to send video wirelessly from your Mac to TV
• How to reopen windows and tabs from your last browsing session in Safari for Mac
• How to change dictation language on Apple Watch
• iPhone 6s tips
• iOS 9 tutorials
• Mac tutorials
• Apple Watch tutorials

Please share this how-to with your friends on social media and send us your feedback and ideas for future tutorials at tips@iDownloadBlog.com.