What! That is cool... Format Painter in Google Sheets

If you use Google Sheets this is a super easy tip that is a much have. Format Painter in Google Sheets is a useful tool that allows you to quickly apply formatting, such as font, color, and cell borders, to other cells or ranges of cells. This can be especially helpful when you have a large spreadsheet with a lot of formatting that you want to copy and apply consistently throughout the document.

For example, say you have a spreadsheet with a list of student names, and you want to highlight the names of students who have passed a test in green and the names of students who have failed the test in red. You could manually apply the formatting to each cell, but this would be time-consuming and prone to errors. Instead, you could use Format Painter to quickly apply the correct formatting to each cell based on the student’s test results.

Paste the Formatting

You use Comic Sans. You set the background color to be hot pink. The font size is HUGE.

Now you want to consistently have this throughout your spreadsheet. This is what Format Painter is for!!

paint roller icon in the google sheets toolbar to use format painter in google sheets

Select a Cell or Range of Cells

Your first move is to highlight the cell that has the formatting you wish to copy. Note, the text in the cell will NOT be copied. You only need to select one cell with the formatting even if multiple cells are formatted.

Tip for highlighting cells: Hold down the SHIFT key and use the arrow keys.

animated GIF of a cell in C5 that says ALice Keeler loves spreadsheets with the font large, comic sans and a pink background. Clicking on the paint roller and then clicking on another cell that says Google Sheets the same formatting options are applied to that cell.

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How Do You Use Format Painter in Google Sheets

In Google Sheets, the Format Painter is a tool that allows you to quickly copy the formatting of a cell or range of cells and apply it to another cell or range of cells. Here’s how to use it:

Select the cell or range of cells whose formatting you want to copy.
Click the “Paint format” icon in the toolbar. It looks like a paintbrush.
Select the cell or range of cells where you want to apply the formatting. The formatting will be applied to the selected cells.

You can also double-click the “Paint format” icon to enable “Format Painter mode,” which allows you to apply the formatting to multiple cells without having to reselect the “Paint format” icon each time. To exit Format Painter mode, simply press the Esc key.

Alice Keeler Queen of Spreadsheets Uses Format Painter in Google Sheets

As the “Queen of Spreadsheets,” I might use Format Painter in Google Sheets in a variety of ways to save time and improve the accuracy and consistency of their spreadsheet documents. Here are a few examples of how I might use the tool:

Applying a consistent look and feel to a large spreadsheet with many different types of data. For example, I might use Format Painter to apply a particular font, cell border, and cell color to all the cells in the document, or to specific types of cells (e.g., cells containing dates, cells containing sums, etc.).
Copying formatting from one part of the spreadsheet to another. For example, I might use Format Painter to copy the formatting of a cell or range of cells containing data they want to highlight and apply it to other cells or ranges of cells containing similar data.
Applying formatting to a large number of cells quickly and accurately. For example, I might use Format Painter to apply formatting to a large number of cells at once, rather than formatting each cell individually, which can be time-consuming and prone to errors.

Overall, the Queen of Spreadsheets uses Format Painter in Google Sheets as a fast and efficient way to apply formatting consistently and accurately throughout their spreadsheet documents.