Copying Formats with Format Painter

After applying a numeric format or various font attributes to a cell or cell range, you can easily copy those formatting options to other cells . This works whether you're copying numeric or text formatting or shading or borders, as you'll learn in upcoming lessons. To copy a format from one cell to another, follow these steps:

1. Select the cells that contain the formatting you want to copy.

2. Click the Format Painter button on the Standard toolbar. Excel copies the formatting. The mouse pointer changes into a paintbrush with a plus sign next to it.

3. Click one cell or drag over several cells to which you want to apply the copied formatting.

4. Release the mouse button, and Excel copies the formatting and applies it to the selected cells.

Painting Several Cells To paint several areas with the same formatting at one time, double-click the Format Painter button to toggle it on. When you're through, press Esc or click the Format Painter button again to return to a normal mouse pointer.