diff --git a/cylc/flow/cfgspec/workflow.py b/cylc/flow/cfgspec/workflow.py
index eda47de9ca9..44fda4dfa1e 100644
--- a/cylc/flow/cfgspec/workflow.py
+++ b/cylc/flow/cfgspec/workflow.py
@@ -1000,7 +1000,7 @@ def get_script_common_text(this: str, example: Optional[str] = None):
                 Define the condition for task output completion.
 
                 The completion condition is evaluated when a task attains
-                a final status - i.e., once it finished executing (``succeeded``
+                a final status - i.e. once it finished executing (``succeeded``
                 or ``failed``) or it ``submit-failed``, or ``expired``.
                 It is a validation check which confirms that the
                 task has generated the outputs it was expected to.
diff --git a/cylc/flow/task_outputs.py b/cylc/flow/task_outputs.py
index 2e2d6f9b72e..44902581fe9 100644
--- a/cylc/flow/task_outputs.py
+++ b/cylc/flow/task_outputs.py
@@ -439,6 +439,7 @@ def color_wrap(string, is_complete):
         ret: List[str] = []
         indent_level: int = 0
         op: Optional[str] = None
+        fence = '⦙'  # U+2999 (dotted fence)
         for part in RE_EXPR_SPLIT.split(self._completion_expression):
             if not part.strip():
                 continue
@@ -450,18 +451,19 @@ def color_wrap(string, is_complete):
             elif part == '(':
                 if op:
                     ret.append(
-                        f'  |{_gutter}{(indent_space * indent_level)}'
+                        f'  {fence}{_gutter}{(indent_space * indent_level)}'
                         f'{op} {part}'
                     )
                 else:
                     ret.append(
-                        f'  |{_gutter}{(indent_space * indent_level)}{part}'
+                        f'  {fence}{_gutter}'
+                        f'{(indent_space * indent_level)}{part}'
                     )
                 indent_level += 1
             elif part == ')':
                 indent_level -= 1
                 ret.append(
-                    f'  |{_gutter}{(indent_space * indent_level)}{part}'
+                    f'  {fence}{_gutter}{(indent_space * indent_level)}{part}'
                 )
 
             else:
@@ -470,7 +472,7 @@ def color_wrap(string, is_complete):
                 ]
                 is_complete = self._is_compvar_complete(part)
                 _pre = (
-                    f'{color_wrap(_symbol, is_complete)} |'
+                    f'{color_wrap(_symbol, is_complete)} {fence}'
                     f'{_gutter}{(indent_space * indent_level)}'
                 )
                 if op:
diff --git a/cylc/flow/util.py b/cylc/flow/util.py
index 14c2cbb9a1b..4f38d32d98f 100644
--- a/cylc/flow/util.py
+++ b/cylc/flow/util.py
@@ -29,8 +29,9 @@
     Tuple,
 )
 
-
-BOOL_SYMBOLS: List[str] = ['x', '✓']
+# U+2713 (check)
+# U+2A2F (vector cross product)
+BOOL_SYMBOLS: List[str] = ['⨯', '✓']
 
 _NAT_SORT_SPLIT = re.compile(r'([\d\.]+)')