Painting formats enables you to copy the formatting from one part of your spreadsheet and quickly apply it elsewhere.

When you have a cell, range of cells, column, or row with great formatting you can easily replicate that style with the paint format function.

The following formatting elements can be copied and pasted using the paint format function:

• Cell styles: background color and border
• Text styles: font, font size, font color, bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, vertical and horizontal alignment, text wrapping, etc.

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Copying and Painting Cell Formats

You can copy and paste the style of a cell or range of cells using the paint format function. The paint format function can be found in the toolbar, represented by a paintbrush icon .

To copy-paste a style, first select the cell or range of cells whose style you want to copy. Click on the paint format icon on the toolbar, and then click on the cell or range of cells where you want to paste the style.

Pasting a format does not paste comments, merge cells, or data types from the selected cells.

Copying and Painting Row and Column Formats

Similarly, you can copy and paste the format of an entire column or row.  To copy the format of a column or row, select the column or row header whose style you want to copy. Click on the paint format icon, and then click the header of the target column or row.

Read on to learn more about advanced formatting options like conditional formatting.