How to Use the Format Painter in Excel

The Format Painter button is one of the most useful buttons in Excel. By using the Format Painter button, a person can easily transfer over the formatting properties from one cell to another. This feature can save a lot of time in formatting cells in Excel. Here is how to use the Format Painter in Excel.

Things You'll Need

• Microsoft Excel

Instructions

Formatting a Single Cell

1. Open an Excel spreadsheet. You can either open an existing Excel spreadsheet or create a new one.

2. Change the formatting in one of the cells. Select a cell with text (or type in text) and then make several changes to the formatting. For example, make the text bold, centered and purple.

3. Type text in another cell. Do not make any formatting changes to this text.

4. Click on the cell with the formatting you want to copy. In the above example, you would click on the cell with the text that is now bold, centered and purple. The cell has a darker border around it to show that it is selected.

5. Locate the Format Painter button. The Format Painter button looks like a paintbrush and is located on the toolbar on the upper left side of the window.

6. Click the "Format Painter" button. The selected cell’s border flashes, and the cursor turns into a plus sign with a paintbrush next to it.

7. Click the cell you want to change. The second cell that you clicked will now have the same formatting features as the first cell.

How to Use Format Painter for Multiple Cells

1. Open an Excel spreadsheet. You can either open an existing Excel spreadsheet or create a new one.

2. Change the formatting in one of the cells. Select a cell with text (or type in text) and then make several changes to the formatting. For example, make the text bold, centered and purple.

3. Type text in several other cells. Do not make any formatting changes to this text.

4. Click on the cell with the formatting you want to copy. In the above example, you would click on the cell with the text that is now bold, centered and purple. The cell has a darker border around it to show that it is selected.

5. Locate the Format Painter button. The Format Painter button looks like a paintbrush and is located on the toolbar on the upper left side of the window.

6. Double-click the "Format Painter" button. The selected cell’s border flashes, and the cursor turns into a plus sign with a paintbrush next to it.

7. Click the cells you want to change. Each cell that you click will now have the same formatting features as the first cell.

8. Click the "Format Painter" button to deactivate the feature. Each cell you click will have the formatting of the first cell applied until you deactivate the feature. Clicking the "Format Painter" button once will deactivate the feature.