The format painter copies the styling of one element and applies it to others, so a diagram stays visually consistent without re-dialling every colour, border, and text setting by hand. Style one element exactly how you want it, then spread that look across the canvas.
Painting a style
The format painter comes in two forms. The quick one-shot version copies a source element's style and applies it to the next element you click, then ends. The persistent version lives in the palette as the Format tool (a paintbrush icon), so you can keep painting target after target.
Picking the Format tool walks you through two phases with an on-screen banner:
First the banner reads "Select a base element to copy its style". Click the element whose look you want to reuse.
The banner then reads "Tap elements to paint this style onto them". Every element you click now takes on the base element's formatting, and the base stays armed so you can keep going.
Click Done, or switch to another tool, to exit. Leaving the tool disarms the base element.
What it copies
The format painter copies cosmetic styling: fill, border, and text colours, border weight and pattern, text formatting, shadows, and looping element animations, which are all cosmetic so they travel with the paint. It also copies the element's size (width and height), aspect-ratio lock, opacity, and padding, so painted elements match the base completely.
Arrows join in too: arm an arrow as the source to copy its line colour, thickness, pattern, arrowheads, flow animation, and label styling onto other arrows. Styles paint between like kinds only — shape to shape, arrow to arrow — so tapping a shape while an arrow is armed simply does nothing (the two share almost no formatting).
One thing stays put by design: the painter never touches position, so where your elements sit on the canvas is never disturbed.
Because it only changes elements, the format painter is available to editors. View-only visitors will not see it, since there is nothing for them to change.
Build one "reference" element with the exact colours, border, and text you want, then use the persistent Format tool to bring every related element into line in a few quick clicks.
Was this article helpful?