Quick Tip: Apply Formats Using Format Painter

Formatting your document correctly and consistently is important for a professional look. In Word, this is made easier if you have a template and styles you are using to create your documents, but what if you don’t have these set up? One handy tool to keep in mind is the Format Painter. 

To use the Format Painter, you first want to select the text with the format that you want to copy. This may only be a single word if you are trying to replicate font size, style, or color, or it could be a whole line or paragraph if you are trying to replicate indents, numbering, and/or bullet styles. If trying to copy formatting for the latter, be sure to select the entire paragraph (hint: triple click on the line). You can also turn on the paragraph marks using the Show/Hide option on the Home tab>Paragraph panel, as shown below, to be sure you are including the end paragraph marker in your selection. 

Next, click Format Painter (in the Clipboard panel) and select the text you want to apply the format to. Again, if you are trying to copy styles like indents or bullets, you will need to select the whole paragraph, as shown below. If you click in the line instead of selecting the paragraph, the formatting will only apply to the one spot you clicked – and if the text was already in the same font and style, you won’t see any changes being made as the paragraph style changes won’t apply.  

Format Painter will copy all universal styles in your selection. For example, if you select a whole paragraph, it will copy the font size, type, indent, etc. If the entire selection is in italics or bold or in a different color, it will copy that as well, but these styles won't be copied if they are only applied to part of the selection. 

If you want to apply the same formatting in multiple places, you can select the formatted text, then double-click on Format Painter. This locks in the command until you either click Format Painter again or press <Esc> to clear the selection, letting you select multiple words or paragraphs to apply the formatting to. It can be helpful to double-click on Format Painter even if you only have one paragraph you are changing, as it can sometimes be tricky to select the whole line without accidentally clicking within it. If you only click Format Painter once (instead of double-clicking), the formatting clears as soon as you click in the document, so if you select the wrong thing or fail to select the whole paragraph, you will have to reselect the formatted text and restart the command. 

One important thing to keep in mind: If you have text styles (like bold, italics, or a different color) applied in your paragraph, the Format Painter will remove these styles in favor of the copied formatting. Watch out for this and be sure to check your existing styles and reapply as needed. 

One last tip: If you are actively applying a style (such as bold, italics, text color, a different font, or a paragraph style), you can press <F4> to apply that style again. This will only apply to the last-used style, so if you are applying multiple styles to the same text (e.g., adding bold and changing the color to blue), you will want to use Format Painter instead.