Microsoft Office: Format Painter
Published on 27th June 2005
This month we are going to look at a feature that's available in all the Microsoft Office products - Format Painter.
This enables you to copy what text, a cell or a drawing object looks like, which saves you the effort of repeating you commands in different parts of your work.
In the same way as copying text, you have to highlight the original text, click the format painter button and then specify where you want to copy to.
We'll use Word as our first example:
Using Format Painter in Word
You may often write documents with bulleted lists that are indented more than normal. You can use Format Painter to copy the format from one list to another and so avoid having to set-up the indent from scratch everytime.
Set the first bulleted list using the menus and/or dialog boxes in the normal way. After you have typed the second list you can copy the format of the first list to the second as follows:
- The first list should have the format that we want to copy to the second list.
- Highlight the first list.
- Click the Format Painter icon, which is a picture of a brush. (This icon looks slightly different in early versions of Office, but still looks like a brush). When you move the mouse into the text it will change shape to the brush.
- Drag the mouse/brush across the second list - to paint the format onto it. The format of the second list should then change to look exactly like the first.
Extra Tip 1: If you are copying bulleted or numbered lists, indented paragraphs or headings, make sure you include the paragraph mark ¶, both, when highlighting to start with and painting across it to finish.
Using Format Painter in Excel
Format painter works in Excel too, and is great for copying the number format of a cell, as well as the font etc.
- Highlight the cell that has the appropriate format.
- Click Format Painter.
- Drag the mouse/brush across the cells that you want to have the same appearance.
Using Format Painter in Other Office Applications
The same process of highlighting the example format, clicking the icon and then dragging across the destination can be used in, PowerPoint, Access, Visio, Project etc.
Extra Tip 2: Normally Format Painter turns itself off when you have dragged across the destination text. However, when you want to copy the format to more than one place in your work, you can double-click the Format Painter icon. This means that when you have painted the format onto some text the function does not switch itself and so you can paint again and again until you click the Format Painter icon to turn the function off.
Remember, highlighting and then clicking the format painter button is like dipping your brush in the paint-pot and then applying that appearance by painting across the destination.