The Format Painter mode copies the look of one element (its colours, line, text styling and more) and applies it to others, so a set of shapes can share a consistent style without setting each one by hand. Choose it from the tool picker at the start of the palette strip, where it appears simply as Format. It has no keyboard shortcut (F adds a frame and P picks up the pencil).
How to use it
Pick Format from the palette's tool picker. A banner at the top of the screen reads "Select a base element to copy its style".
Click the element whose look you want to copy. The banner changes to "Tap elements to paint this style onto them".
Every element you click takes on the copied look. Because it copies the styling rather than the content, each target keeps its own text and position; only its look changes. Press Done on the banner or click empty canvas to return to the tool you had before, press Esc to go to Select, or pick another tool.
Arrows join in too: click an arrow as the source to copy its line colour, thickness, pattern, arrowheads, flow animation and label styling, then tap other arrows to give them the same look. Styles copy between like kinds (shape to shape, arrow to arrow), so tapping a shape while an arrow is the source simply does nothing.
Choosing what it copies
While the mode is active a Format panel sits at the top right. The top of it shows what the brush is holding: the element you picked, and a swatch of its look drawn from only the parts you have switched on. Until you pick one it reads "Pick something to copy from". Beneath that:
- Copies: five toggles, Fill, Border, Text, Effects (shadow, opacity, animations) and Size (width, height, aspect lock, padding, icon size). All are on to start, which copies everything. Turn Fill off to give a row of boxes the same typography while they keep their own colours; turn everything off but Border to spread one dashed outline around.
- After painting: Keep the brush to paint one element after another, or Paint once to have the brush empty itself after a single apply, ready for you to pick a new source.
The collapsed row always names what is currently enabled ("Border, Text", or "Everything" when all are on), so a painter that seems to be ignoring colours explains itself at a glance. With every toggle off it reads "Nothing", turns amber, and the brush paints nothing. Your choices are remembered on this device.
Labels, links and comments are never copied whatever the toggles say: the painter copies the look, not the content.
Painting across many elements
The format painter is most useful when you have several elements to bring into line. Leave After painting on Keep the brush and click each target in turn: the source stays loaded, so a row of mismatched boxes becomes a tidy, uniform set in a few clicks. Each paint is its own step, so undo takes back the last one.
Format painter and themes
The format painter copies the exact look of one element onto another, which is perfect for matching a handful of shapes. When you want to restyle the entire diagram at once, reach for a theme instead, which recolours every element together. And for quick emphasis on a single shape, the style presets in the right-click menu offer one-click colour and border variations derived from the active theme.
Style one element carefully, then let the format painter do the repetitive work. It is far quicker than matching colours and borders by eye across a busy canvas. For more on what each part copies, see The Format Painter.
When it is unavailable
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