Using the Format Painter

The Format Painter button allows you to copy a cell’s format, or the format of a range, to another cell or range. The steps to follow to “format paint” depend upon whether the cells to be formatted are contiguous or not contiguous.

Formatting Contiguous Cells or Ranges

• select the cell or range with the desired format
• click the Format Painter button once
  • note the cursor changes to
  • the status bar will now read “Use the mouse to apply the copied format to another object”
• drag over the range to be formatted
• as soon as you release the mouse button, the format painter is turned “off”

Formatting Multiple Cells/Ranges That are Not Contiguous

• select the cell or range with the desired format
• double-click the Format Painter button
  • note the cursor changes to
  • the status bar will now read “Use the mouse to apply the copied format to another object”
• click in the first cell or drag over the first range to be formatted
• repeat for all cells/ranges to be formatted
• the format painter remains “on” until you click the Format Painter button to deactivate it

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last updated August 13, 2003