Need to Duplicate Cell Formatting in Excel? Use This Tool

Excel's Format Painter: Effortlessly Copy Cell Formatting

Excel's Format Painter tool simplifies the process of copying formatting from one cell or range to another, without duplicating the cell's content. This includes everything from font styles and colors to borders, number formats, and even conditional formatting.

To use this handy tool, first select the cell(s) containing the formatting you wish to replicate. Then, locate the "Format Painter" button in the Clipboard group on the Home tab of the ribbon. Click it.

Excel will visually indicate your selection with a dotted border, and your cursor will transform into a paintbrush icon. This signals that the formatting is ready to be applied.

Next, select the target cell(s) where you want to apply the copied formatting. For example, select cell A10.

Once the formatting is applied, the paintbrush cursor will revert to its normal state, and the dotted border will disappear.

The outcome depends on the number of cells selected for both copying and pasting:

Source Formatting	Destination Formatting	Result
Single cell	Single cell	Formatting is directly copied.
Single cell	Range of cells	Formatting is applied consistently to all destination cells.
Range of cells	Single cell	Formatting is applied to a range of the same size, starting at the selected cell.
Range of cells	Larger range of cells	Formatting is replicated across the destination range.

For applying the same formatting to multiple areas, double-click the "Format Painter" button. The paintbrush icon will persist, allowing you to repeatedly paste the formatting until you click the button again or press Esc to cancel.

This powerful tool extends beyond manually applied formatting; it also works seamlessly with conditional formatting.

In this example, conditional formatting (yellow for values 10-25, green for 26-50) is copied from column A to column C.

The Format Painter's versatility extends beyond cells; it works with shapes, charts, text boxes, and more. However, when copying formatting from an Excel table, only the visual formatting is duplicated, not the table's structural properties.

The Format Painter's functionality spans across worksheets within a workbook, and even to other open workbooks. Alternatively, creating duplicate worksheets provides identical spreadsheet layouts.

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