How to use \checkmark and Cambria Math?

Question

In a document I need to use Cambria Math but at the same time be able to use \checkmark for an itemize environment. But as soon as I load unicode-math the checkmark disappears. Is there a work around for this?

I am compiling the following MWE with lualatex (TeX Live 2013/dev):

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{amsfonts} % for the \checkmark command 
\usepackage{unicode-math} % hides \checkmark? 
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Cambria}
\setsansfont{Calibri}
%\setmathfont{Cambria Math}


\begin{document} 
$a + b$
\begin{itemize}
\item[\checkmark] a
\item[\checkmark] b 
\item[\checkmark] c
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Answer 1

I don't have Cambria, but the symptoms point to a missing glyph. Using amsfonts is not recommended: its symbols should be already available in a good Unicode math font.

You can select a different font for the symbol by saying, for instance,

\setmathfont[range=\checkmark]{Asana Math}

but this will provide the symbol only when in math, because \checkmark simply prints the character ✓ (Unicode U+2713).

So you can also add

\AtBeginDocument{%
  \renewcommand\checkmark{\ensuremath{\char\string"2713}}%
}

and then the redefinition would work.

Here's an example:

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{unicode-math}
\setmainfont{XITS}
\setmathfont{XITS Math}
\setmathfont[range=\checkmark]{Asana Math}

\AtBeginDocument{%
  \renewcommand\checkmark{\ensuremath{\char\string"2713}}%
}

\begin{document}

A checkmark in the main font, just to show the difference: \char"2713 
\begin{itemize}
\item[\checkmark] a
\item[\checkmark] b
\item[\checkmark] c
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

As you see, \checkmark uses a different font (Asana Math, in this case).

Answer 2

If you want the AMS tick back you can just load the font, simplest to do it as a text font. Also unicode-math delays some of its definitions until begin{document} so you need to delay the (re)definition until after that.

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{unicode-math} 
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Cambria}
\setsansfont{Calibri}
\setmathfont{Cambria Math}


%%\DeclareFixedFont\amsa{U}{msa}{m}{n}{10}
%%\AtBeginDocument{\renewcommand\checkmark{{\amsa \char"58}}}

\AtBeginDocument{\renewcommand\checkmark{\usefont{U}{msa}{m}{n}X}}

\begin{document} 


$a + b$
\begin{itemize}
\item[\checkmark] a
\item[\checkmark] b 
\item[\checkmark] c
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

Answer 3

I found these three workarounds, on top of the other answers:

1) Simple Workaround (using package and a different command)

As a workaround I am using the \Checkmark from the bbding package as from this answer https://tex.stackexchange.com/a/10194/1871. Unfortunately it is not exactly equal to the checkmark from amsfonts.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{bbding} % for the \Checkmark command 
\usepackage{unicode-math} 
\usepackage{fontspec}
\setmainfont{Cambria}
\setsansfont{Calibri}
\setmathfont{Cambria Math}


\begin{document} 
$a + b$
\begin{itemize}
\item[\Checkmark] a
\item[\Checkmark] b 
\item[\Checkmark] c
\end{itemize}

\end{document}

2) "MSWord"-consistent answer (use Wingdings font)

Itemize in MSWord use the Wingdings font for check marks, therefore this gives a consistent look (look for David's answer for the rest of the code).

\newfontfamily\wingdingsfont{Wingdings}
\newcommand\wingdings[1]{{\wingdingsfont\symbol{#1}}}
\AtBeginDocument{\renewcommand\checkmark{\wingdings{252}}}

3) Poor's man (use existing unicode glyphs within Cambria)

Another pure-Cambria (but horrible) workaround is to use a different symbol for checkmark (which naturally looks more like a square root):

\begin{itemize}
\item[$⎷$] a
\item[√] b 
\item[\checkmark] c (for comparison) %using solution #2
\end{itemize}