Copying Formatting

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 5, 2016)

Often it is beneficial to copy formatting from one place in your spreadsheet to another. Excel provides a shortcut for doing this:

  1. Select the cell that contains the formatting you want to copy.
  2. Click once on the Format Painter tool on the toolbar. (This tool has a small paintbrush on it.)
  3. Select the cell or range of cells that you want to have the same formatting as the cell you selected in step 1.

If you want to copy formatting to more than one location, then you can double-click on the Format Painter tool in step 2. When you are done copying, simply press Esc to indicate you are done.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (1928) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He  is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using Different Shapes in WordArt

You can apply different shapes in WordArt to create different effects.

Discover More

Unable to Edit Document with Embedded Fonts

What are you to do if you embed fonts in a document and then someone else cannot make changes to that document? Chances are ...

Discover More

Viewing More of the Left Margin Area

When working in Draft or Normal view, you may want to view the area just to the left of the document's left margin. Here's a ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Displaying Zeros

There are times when displaying zero values in a worksheet (especially if there are lots of them) can be distracting from the ...

Discover More

No More Custom Formats Can Be Added

If you make too many formatting changes to your workbook, you could end up with a situation where you cannot make any such ...

Discover More

Conditionally Formatting an Entire Row

Need to conditionally highlight an entire row based on the contents of a single cell in each row? This tip explains how you ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 2 + 1?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.