If you have carefully formatted a specific paragraph in Google Docs with a unique font, size, color, and line spacing, and you want to apply those exact same styles to a different paragraph, you do not need to manually change every individual setting again. Instead, you can use the hidden “Paint Format” tool to instantly copy and paste the visual styling from one section of text to another.
How to Copy Text Formatting
The Paint Format tool acts like a digital paintbrush, “soaking up” the style of your selected text so you can “paint” it onto new text.
- Highlight a word or paragraph that contains the perfect formatting you want to duplicate.
- Look at the main toolbar at the top of your Google Docs screen (just below the File menu). Find the icon that looks like a small paint roller (usually located to the right of the Print and Spell Check icons).
- Click the paint roller icon once. You will notice that the icon turns blue, indicating that the tool is now active and “loaded” with your selected styles.
- Scroll to the text you want to change. Click and drag your mouse to highlight it.
- The moment you release your mouse button, the highlighted text will instantly transform to match the exact font, size, and color of your original selection. The Paint Format tool will then automatically turn itself off.
How to Paste Formatting Multiple Times
If you click the paint roller icon once, it will only apply the formatting to the very next thing you highlight. If you need to format multiple different headers or paragraphs scattered throughout a long document, doing this one by one is tedious.
To lock the Paint Format tool in the “On” position:
- Highlight your perfectly formatted source text.
- Double-click the paint roller icon.
The icon will stay highlighted blue indefinitely. You can now scroll through your entire document, highlighting multiple different sections of text, one after the other. Every section you highlight will instantly receive the new formatting. When you are completely finished, click the paint roller icon one last time (or press the Esc key on your keyboard) to turn the tool off.