I'm new to Java and struggling with something which I'm sure must have a simple answer but I can't seem to find it. I have an array of checkbox objects defined as: ArrayList<JCheckBox> checkBoxList A JPanel is created with a grid layout and the checkboxes are added to the JPanel and the ArrayList: for (int i = 0; i < 256; i++) { JCheckBox c = new JCheckBox(); c.setSelected(false); checkBoxList.add(c); mainPanel.add(c); } Yes, there are 256 checkboxes! The panel is added to a JFrame and eventually the GUI is displayed. The user can select any combination of the 256 checkboxes. My class implements Serializable and this ArrayList of checkboxes can be saved and restored using 'Save' and 'Load' GUI buttons. My code to load the saved object is as below: public class LoadListener implements ActionListener { public void actionPerformed(ActionEvent a) { try { // Prompt the user for a load file JFileChooser fileLoad = new JFileChooser(); fileLoad.showOpenDialog(mainFrame); // Create a object/file input stream linking to the selected file ObjectInputStream is = new ObjectInputStream(new FileInputStream(fileLoad.getSelectedFile())); // Read the checkBox array list checkBoxList = (ArrayList<JCheckBox>) is.readObject(); is.close(); } catch (Exception ex) { ex.printStackTrace(); } } On loading the ArrayList object, the values of the checkboxes are correctly populated, however I want to update the checkboxes on the GUI to reflect this. Is there an easy way to do this? I assumed as the array of checkboxes had the correct values that I could just repaint the panel / frame but this doesn't work. I'd like to understand why - does my loaded array of checkbox objects no longer reflect the checkbox objects on the GUI? Any help would be much appreciated. Thanks!