Being able to easily copy the format of cells in google sheets is something everyone who works in spreadsheets needs to know.
Google sheets has the perfect tool for copying and pasting the format. Whether you’re copying fonts, colors, conditional formatting, or anything else, the paint format tool can do all of this.
In this tutorial, I am going to show you everything you need to know about using paint format in google sheets to copy and paste formatting.
Table of Contents
What is Paint Format in Google Sheets?
The paint format tool in google sheets lets you easily copy the format of one section onto another section.
You can copy anything from font styles, colors, gridlines, conditional formatting, and more.
You will also sometimes hear this tool called the “format painter” tool.
How to Use Paint Format in Google Sheets
Using the paint format tool to copy formatting is as simple as highlighting the cells with the formatting you want, clicking the paint format tool, and then selecting the cells you want to paste the format onto.
Here is how it’s done:
In this example, suppose you want to copy the formatting from column A onto column B
1. Highlight the cells that have the formatting that you want to copy by clicking and dragging over the cells to select them
2. Click on the paint format tool in the toolbar. You will know that the tool is activated when the paint format tool is showing green
3. Select the cells that you to copy the formatting to and click on them. This will paste the formatting onto these cells.
You can only use this tool once. If you click on another cell set after you’ve used the tool it will not copy the formatting again. If you need to use the tool again you will have to repeat the steps.
How to Copy Conditional Formatting
For the format paint also works for conditional formatting. To copy conditional formatting with the format painter tool the steps are the exact same:
- Highlight the cells with the conditional formatting you want to copy
- Click on the paint format tool
- Highlight and click on the cells you want to copy the formatting onto
Shortcut for Paint Format
Since you can only use paint format once before needing to repeat the steps, a quick shortcut is to press “Ctrl + Y” on your keyboard to repaste the same formatting.
Ctrl + Y repeats the last command.
So if you’ve already used the paint format tool once, instead of repeating all the steps you can just highlight another area you want to paste the formatting onto and press “Ctrl + Y” as a shortcut to continue pasting the same formatting without having to do everything all over again.
Closing Thoughts
This is a must-learn tool for all spreadsheet users.
You want to keep your files looking neat and orderly, and being able to easily copy the formatting of something helps you keep everything organized.
We hope you found these tips helpful!
More Google Sheets Tutorials:
Changing Basic Formatting in Google Sheets
Adding Comments and Notes
How to Make Negative Numbers Red