Use the Format Painter button on the Home tab of the Excel 2010 Ribbon to save time when copying formatting between cells in your worksheets. You also can use Format Painter to quickly copy the width of one column to another column. Just select the heading of the first column, click the Format Painter button, and then click the heading of the column where you want to apply the column width.
Double-click the Format Painter button (instead of clicking it once) to lock it in so you can paint additional cells without having to reselect the button. Click the Format Painter button again to unlock it.
Select a cell or range containing the formatting you want to copy.
You can select a single cell or range of cells with the desired formatting.
On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the Format Painter button (the yellow-bristled paintbrush).
The mouse pointer changes to a white plus sign with a paintbrush. A marquee appears around the selected cell.
Click in or drag across the cell(s) you want to format.
Excel immediately applies formats such as font, size, colors, borders, and alignment.
