How Excel2010 format brushes copy formats

1. Use the format brush to copy the format to a contiguous target area

Open the EXCEL2010 Worksheet window, select the range of cells that contains the formatting, and then click the Format Painter button in the Clipboard group in the start Ribbon. When the mouse pointer renders a combination of bold + and small brushes, click and drag the mouse to select the target area. When you release the mouse, the format is copied to the selected target area, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 Click the Format Painter button

Tip: The selected target area must be the same size as the original area.

2, use the format brush to copy the format to the discontinuous target area

If you want to copy the formatting from the EXCEL2010 worksheet selection to multiple areas that are not contiguous, you can first select the range of cells that contain the formatting, and then double-click the Format Painter button in the Clipboard group in the start Ribbon. When the mouse pointer renders a combination of bold + and small brushes, click and drag the mouse to select the noncontiguous target area, respectively. When you are finished copying, press ESC on your keyboard or click the Format Painter button again to cancel the format brush, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2 using the Format Painter to copy the format to a noncontiguous target area