Format Painter in MS Office
The Format Painter is a powerful tool available in Word, Excel,
and PowerPoint. It allows you to copy formatting from one selection
to another.
In Word, for example, if you select a section of text and format
it to a Arial, 16-point font, Bold and Underlined, then decide that
another section of text should use the same formatting; you could
use the Format Painter to make the change (rather than go through
the original adjustments all over again).
To use the Format Painter, first select the text containing the
formatting you wish to copy. Left-click the Format Painter button on
the Standard Toolbar; its icon is a paintbrush. Now select the text
you wish to “paint” with the chosen format. (Notice that the mouse
cursor is now a paintbrush). Release the mouse button to see that
the two sections of text now share identical formatting.
Double-click on the Format Painter to keep it active for multiple
selections. After “painting” your first selection, you may continue
to use the Format Painter on as many new selections as you wish,
always painting with the format from the originally chosen
selection. When you wish to turn off the Format Painter, left-click
on the Format Painter button. In Excel, the Format Painter is
exceptionally useful. You can copy cell formatting, such as whether
the originally selected cell(s) have been set to display dollar
signs, percentages, the number of decimals chosen, their alignment,
etc., as well as all the font formatting available in Word.
You can also copy column widths. To do this, select the heading of
the column that is the width desired, then left-click the Format
Painter button. Now left-click the heading of the column you want to
format with the chosen width.
Format Painter is also available in PowerPoint, but is not as
commonly used in that program.
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