Keeping formats consistent in Excel is much more important than many users may realize. For instance, let’s say that you’re creating a spreadsheet for work. Once it’s finished, you’ll have to present it to your coworkers. Unfortunately, while making the spreadsheet, you copy different pieces of data from external sources and fail to change the formatting. As a result, you have text and numbers of varying sizes, colors, and cell alignments. In short, your spreadsheet looks like a complete mess! This is just one reason that you need to learn how to copy cell formatting and maintain visual consistency across one or more spreadsheets.
But how do you copy formatting in Excel? Is there a way to copy chart formats? Does Excel have a copy formatting shortcut key? Finally, can you copy and paste in Excel and keep the formatting?
In today’s guide, we will answer all of these questions and more. Plus, we will go over the three primary ways to copy formatting in Excel. So, let’s get started!
Copying Format With Excel Format Painter
Format Painter is a built-in Excel tool that lets you apply the same format across multiple rows and columns. This means you can change the cell color, border style, as well as the color, style, and size of the font. Essentially, you just have to set how you want your format to look and then copy it to a new section.
To use Excel Format Painter to copy formatting, follow these steps:
- Choose the cell with the formatting that you want
- Go to Home > Format Painter
- Highlight the range you want to reformat
- When you’ve correctly highlighted the range, release the mouse and the formatting will be applied automatically
Excel Format Painter Shortcut
If you want to save time, you can use the copy formatting shortcut specific to Format Painter. This saves you from navigating to the Format Painter on the ribbon. Like all Excel shortcuts, this is most useful if you need to copy multiple formats in a row.
Follow these steps to use the Excel Format Painter shortcut:
- Choose the cell with the formatting that you want
- Press ALT + H + F + P
- Highlight the target cell or area you want to reformat
Copying Format With Fill Handle
A popular alternative to Format Painter is the Fill Handle, which allows you to copy cell formatting without navigating to other tabs or menus. That said, Fill Handle is generally best when you have a very specific area that you want to reformat. For example, if you have one cell with the correct format and you want to copy that formatting and add it to the next 10 cells in the same column or row, then Fill Handle makes it easy. However, if you need to copy formatting to different sections that are not adjacent to one another, you’re better off using one of the other methods in this guide.
It’s also important to note that Fill Handle is specifically designed to copy formulas; copying formatting is just a useful by-product of using the tool. For instance, let’s say you have a cell with a value that is equal to the sum of two other cells. If you have more values to sum, you can use Fill Handle to quickly continue the formula (and formatting) in other cells.
In any case, to copy formatting with Fill Handle, follow these steps:
- Choose the cell with the formatting that you want
- Move your cursor so that it is at the bottom right corner of the cell; your mouse symbol should change to a + sign
- Click and drag the cursor to include all the cells you want to reformat
- When you release the mouse, all of the cells within the selected range will automatically be reformatted
Unhide the Fill Handle Icon
If your cursor doesn’t change into a + sign when you move it to the bottom right corner of a cell, it probably means that you have the Fill Handle function hidden in your settings. Fortunately, this is a quick and easy fix.
To unhide the Fill Handle, follow these steps:
- Go to File > Options
- In the “Advanced” category, go to “Editing Options”
- Check the box that reads “Enable fill handle and cell drag-and-drop”
Copying Format With Paste Special
Using Paste Special to copy formatting is likely the most common option for casual Excel users, as it just requires you to use a slight variation of the standard copy and paste function. With Paste Special, you don’t just copy the content of a cell or range of cells; you can also copy any formulas, comments, and formats.
If you’re copying from one Excel spreadsheet to another or within the same spreadsheet, the standard copy and paste feature will usually copy the formatting by default. However, if you need to copy content from outside of Excel or the formatting is not pasting correctly for some other reason, you can use Paste Special.
To copy formatting with Paste Special, follow these steps:
- Choose the cell with the formatting that you want
- Navigate to the Home tab and select “Copy”
- Select the cell or area you want to reformat
- Return to the Home tab, click the arrow next to “Paste” and select “Paste Special”
- In the box that pops up, select “Formats”
- (Optional) If you want to paste more than just the format, you can choose one of the following options:
- All, Formulas, Values, Comments, Validation, All Using Source Theme, All Except Borders, Column Widths, Formula and Number Formats, Values and Number Formats, and All – Merge Conditional Formats
- Click “Ok” to finalize
Excel Paste Special Shortcut
If you already use the shortcuts for copy and paste or Paste Special, then you know that you can save a lot of time by switching to shortcut keys. To make format copying even easier, you can use the specific shortcut key for Special Pasting formats.
To use the Special Paste shortcut for formatting, follow these steps:
- Choose the cell with the formatting that you want
- Press CTRL + C to copy the format
- Select the cell or area you want to reformat
- Press Shift + F10 + S + R
- Click “Enter” to finalize
Copy Chart Format With Paste Special
Finally, Paste Special makes it easy to copy and paste the format of an existing chart into a new one. This is a huge time-saver, as it means you won’t have to manually copy formatting from different sections or even individual cells in your chart.
To copy a chart format with Paste Special, follow these steps:
- Choose the chart with the formatting that you want
- Right-click on the chart and select “Copy”
- Go to the Home tab, click the arrow next to “Paste” and select “Paste Special”
- In the pop-up box, select “Formats”
- Click “Ok” to finalize
You can also use the shortcut keys to copy chart formats by following the same steps as outlined in the previous section:
- Choose the chart with the formatting that you want
- Press CTRL + C to copy the format
- Select the cell or area you want to reformat
- Press Shift + F10 + S + R
- Click “Enter” to finalize
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