This tutorial demonstrates three efficient methods for copying formatting in Excel: Format Painter, Fill Handle, and Paste Special. These techniques are compatible with all Excel versions (2007-365).
Proper formatting enhances worksheet presentation, making data clearer and more impactful, whether for internal reports or board presentations.
Excel Format Painter
The Format Painter is a frequently overlooked but highly useful tool for copying formatting from one cell to another. It replicates various formatting aspects, including:
- Number formats
- Font styles (face, size, color, bold, italic, underline)
- Fill color (cell background)
- Text alignment, direction, and orientation
- Cell borders
The Format Painter button resides on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, next to the Paste button.
Using Format Painter:
- Select the source cell.
- Click the Format Painter button. The cursor transforms into a paintbrush.
- Click the target cell(s).
For multiple cells:
- Adjacent cells: Select the source, click Format Painter, then drag across the target cells.
- Non-adjacent cells: Double-click Format Painter. This "locks" it; click each target cell/range until you press Esc or click Format Painter again.
- Entire column/row: Select the source column/row header, click Format Painter, then click the target column/row header. This copies formatting and column width (rows copy formatting only).
Fill Handle for Copying Formatting Down a Column
The Fill Handle can also copy formatting.
- Format the first cell.
- Select it, hover over the Fill Handle (bottom-right corner). The cursor changes to a black cross.
- Drag the handle down.
- In the AutoFill Options menu, select "Fill Formatting Only."
To copy to the first empty cell, double-click the Fill Handle and then choose "Fill Formatting Only."
Paste Special for Copying Formatting to Entire Columns/Rows
For applying formatting to entire columns/rows (including blank cells), use Paste Special.
- Copy the source cell (Ctrl C).
- Select the target column/row header.
- Right-click, choose Paste Special.
- Select Formats, then OK. Alternatively, use the Paste Special pop-up menu's Formatting option.
Keyboard Shortcuts
While no single shortcut exists for copying formats, these sequences work:
- Format Painter: Alt H F P (press each key individually)
- Paste Special Formatting: Ctrl C (copy), select target, Shift F10 R Enter
These methods offer versatile options for efficiently copying formatting in Excel.
The above is the detailed content of Excel Format Painter and other ways to copy formatting. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!

This tutorial explores three distinct methods for creating histograms in Excel: leveraging the Analysis ToolPak's Histogram tool, employing the FREQUENCY or COUNTIFS functions, and utilizing PivotCharts. While creating basic charts in Excel is strai

This comprehensive guide provides step-by-step instructions for creating and managing professional email signatures in Microsoft Outlook. Learn how to craft compelling signatures with images, clickable links, and more, across all Outlook versions (i

This tutorial demonstrates how to calculate sums in Excel using the AutoSum feature and custom SUM formulas for columns, rows, and selected ranges. It also covers summing only visible cells, calculating running totals, summing across multiple sheets

This concise guide explains Excel's AutoSum feature and its efficient uses. Learn to quickly sum columns, rows, or visible cells, and troubleshoot common AutoSum issues. Excel's SUM function is incredibly popular, prompting Microsoft to include a ded

This article introduces the Excel SWITCH function, explaining its syntax and demonstrating its use in simplifying complex nested IF statements. If you've struggled with lengthy nested IF formulas, the SWITCH function offers a significant time-saving

This concise guide demonstrates how to efficiently calculate running totals (cumulative sums) in Excel using a SUM formula with strategically placed absolute and relative cell references. A running total displays the accumulated sum of a dataset as

Are you looking for an Excel formula to count characters in a cell? If so, then you have certainly landed up on the right page. This short tutorial will teach you how you can use the LEN function to count characters in Excel, with or with

This tutorial demonstrates how to count words in Excel using a combination of the LEN, SUBSTITUTE, and TRIM functions. It offers both case-sensitive and case-insensitive formulas for counting total words or specific words/text within a cell or range


Hot AI Tools

Undresser.AI Undress
AI-powered app for creating realistic nude photos

AI Clothes Remover
Online AI tool for removing clothes from photos.

Undress AI Tool
Undress images for free

Clothoff.io
AI clothes remover

Video Face Swap
Swap faces in any video effortlessly with our completely free AI face swap tool!

Hot Article

Hot Tools

ZendStudio 13.5.1 Mac
Powerful PHP integrated development environment

mPDF
mPDF is a PHP library that can generate PDF files from UTF-8 encoded HTML. The original author, Ian Back, wrote mPDF to output PDF files "on the fly" from his website and handle different languages. It is slower than original scripts like HTML2FPDF and produces larger files when using Unicode fonts, but supports CSS styles etc. and has a lot of enhancements. Supports almost all languages, including RTL (Arabic and Hebrew) and CJK (Chinese, Japanese and Korean). Supports nested block-level elements (such as P, DIV),

SublimeText3 Mac version
God-level code editing software (SublimeText3)

PhpStorm Mac version
The latest (2018.2.1) professional PHP integrated development tool

Dreamweaver CS6
Visual web development tools