FORMATTING

Magic use of Format Painter multiple times

Do you know what Excel Format Painter command can do for you?

Format Painter tool is a very useful Microsoft Excel tool. People use it for taking the format of a single cell or range of cells. Then they apply it to other cell or range.

You can find Format Painter inside the Home tab. It is under the Clipboard group of controls, together with the Cut, Copy and Paste function. Also, you can find it in the Right-click menu. The location of the tool itself suggests that the tool is attractive. It’s well known that Cut, Copy and Paste instructions we use most frequently.

And yes, people use Format Painter very often, too. Especially when they do Formatting and Data processing. Let’s remind ourselves, how to use it in three easy steps:

  1. Select the cell or range of cells you want to take the format from.
  2. Click the Format Painter button located in Home tab with single click.
  3. Select the cell or range of cells where you want to apply your format.

After you do so, the format you took will be applied to dedicated cells and that’s it. Format Painter finished its task. Then you cannot use it again to apply it on another range of cells. We often need to apply the same format multiple times. With the process we explained, the only thing we can do is to repeat all three steps again.

But is this really the only way to use it multiple times?

It’s interesting how some things can be so simple and yet we don’t use them.

The solution to this issue about using Excel Format Painter multiple times is simple. You need to do a double click in step #2 from above instead of a single click.

In that case when you apply the format to a new cell, you will be free to continue. You can do it again and again, as many times as you need. When you want to disable the Format Painter just press the Esc button on the keyboard. So, the steps for using Format Painter multiple times are:

#1 – Select the cell or range of cells you want to take the format from.

#2 – Click the Format Painter button located in Home tab with double click.

#3 – Select the cell or range of cells where you want to apply your format.

#4 – Repeat step #3 as many times as you need.

#5 – Press Esc button on the keyboard to disable the Excel Format Painter command.

Now when you know the secret, it just needs repetition to become a part of muscle memory, similar to other Excel tricks you already use every day.