MS Word's Format Painter is a very cool means of copying just the format of one word or paragraph, then pasting (or painting) it onto others.

It's a shortcut that is very easy to master and pays off handsomely in a document with inconsistent formatting.

Format Painter works on two levels: character and paragraph. You can copy just the character formatting -- fonts, font sizes, font attributes -- or character style from one word and apply it to other words.

Or you can copy the paragraph formatting (line spacing, alignment, indentation, et al.) or paragraph style from one paragraph and apply it to other paragraphs.

Copying Character-Level Formatting

To paint character-level formatting or character style:

1. Single-click inside a word that contain s the formatting you want to copy.
    
2. Click Format Painter. Your mouse pointer changes to the shape of a paintbrush.
    
3. Do one of the following:
    
4. Click on a single word to paint the formatting onto just that word.
    
5. Click and drag (or paint) across multiple words.
    
6. Release the mouse button.

The formatting of the source text I s copies to the destination text, and the mouse pointer returns to it's I-beam shape.

Copying Paragraph-Level Formatting

To paint paragraph-level formatting or paragraph styles:

1. Single-click in the paragraph that contains the formatting you want to copy.
    
Do not select any text.
 
2. Click Format Painter. Your mouse pointer changes to the shape of a paintbrush.
    
3. Single-click inside the paragraph you wish to format.

The formatting of the source paragraph is copied to the destination paragraph, and the mouse pointer returns to its I-beam shape.

Double-clicking the Format Painter button leaves you in Format Painting mode after you release the mouse button, so you can continue painting other text.

When finished painting, click the button again to turn Format Painter off.

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