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PPT Productivity's set of Format Painters let you quickly copy formatting in PowerPoint, so you can update shapes, text, tables, and charts. These Format Painters enable more complex copying and pasting formatting in PowerPoint than the standard Microsoft features.
Microsoft's PowerPoint format painter cannot copy paste shape size, table formatting or charts. The standard PowerPoint format painter copies and pastes styles but does not support selectively copying and pasting attributes (e.g., copy font and outline color, but not fill color).
The Pick Up Object Style and Apply Object Style features in standard PowerPoint can copy font size, color, fill color, outline color. But again, they do not have an option to specify selected attributes to copy.
PPT Productivity has a set of format painter buttons packed with extra features! PPT Productivity's Format Painters for PowerPoint include:
- Advanced Format Painter: specify selective attributes to copy paste from an extensive list
- Style Painter: copy font style and size, shape color, shape outline color, outline thickness and style
- Text Format Painter: copy font style and size only
- Position & Size Painter: copy the position and size of an object, to align other objects across multiple slides in your presentation
- Table Format Painter: copy the style of a PowerPoint table including line color and weight, fill color, font size, style and boldness
- Shape Change Painter: copy a shape type and paste to change other selected shapes
- Chart Painter: copy the format of a chart, including chart type. Quickly apply the chart type and formatting to update other charts
- Angles and Tips Painter: copy the angles or tips of a shape to apply to another shape, for example on chevrons or triangles
- Animation Painter: copy the animation of a selection to apply to another selection, with options to replace or append the animation when pasting
Specific feature buttons address the most common format painting needs (e.g. to copy and paste table formatting), while the Advanced Format Painter lets you customize settings for less common format painting (e.g., to copy and paint the same font color and angles but not change fill color to other shapes). Scroll to read more about each feature.
Selectively copy and paste formatting attributes in PowerPoint with PPT Productivity's Advanced Format Painter. Perhaps you want to copy PowerPoint fill color and font without the outline color? Or copy all PowerPoint color and font attributes without changing the size of shapes?
Simply click the object to copy. Next, click the Advanced Format Painter feature button. A popup selection panel will display. Nominate from the selection panel the attributes you want to copy and paste (for example copy shape outline style and shape size).
Once you have selected the attributes to copy and paint, there's also an option to turn on a Multi Painter feature to paste multiple updates - even across different slides and presentations. Once you have finished selecting attributes, click ok and then click the object(s) to paint.
Select from any combination of the following attributes to copy and paint:
- Position: Nominate specifically for horizontal or vertical position anchors. Options to choose left/ center/ right or top/ middle/ bottom alignment (to align shapes of varying sizes to the same anchor point across multiple slides). Just nominate 'position' when formatting identical objects across multiple slides.
- Size: Copy and paste overall size of an object, or choose specifically the height, width, or rotation of the object to copy
- Fill: Copy and paste the color, solid or pattern and transparency in PowerPoint easily
- Line: Copy and paste line color, pattern, transparency, dash type, style/ width, begin arrow or end arrow style
- Textbox: Copy and paste the textbox margins, font, horizontal or vertical alignment, text direction, wrapping and paragraph format
- Table: Copy and paste the column width and/ or row height (note that if you have the fill, line, and textbox buttons checked, you can choose to copy paste all table format attributes)
- Angles & Curves: Copy angles and curves from shapes with adjustments - including chevrons, arrows, pentagons, triangles, rectangles (including rectangles with rounded corners), to make angles or corners the same
- Animation: Copy animations from selected shape and choose to either replace or append the animation on target shapes
- Other: Copy and paste shape type, chart formats, shadow/glow/other Effects, as well as the same chevron angles or rounded corner radius
The Advanced Format Painter makes it easy to quickly update formatting across a presentation. You can also use it to copy formatting from objects
across different presentations. Magic!
Productivity Tip
PPT Productivity has specific feature buttons to quickly copy and paint text, tables, charts, angles and animations.
Use the Advanced Format Painter for PowerPoint when you want to nominate a specific selection of attributes to copy paste.
Shortcut Keys
All PPT Productivity features can be used via the Customizable Shortcut Keys for PowerPoint feature. You can update the shortcut keys to any preferred available combination, but to get you started we have set up the following:
- PowerPoint Keyboard Shortcut for Advanced Format Painter = Alt+V
Position & Size Painter
Enhanced Feature: The enhanced Position and Size Painter feature was rolled out in February 2023.
PPT Productivity's Position & Size Painter feature for PowerPoint is a time saver! Quickly position a shape in the same place across multiple PowerPoint slides by setting the position, size (and column sizes for tables) of a selected shape or table. Easily align objects on different slides.
Position & Size Painter remembers the preferred location or size when you click it after selecting a shape. Select a target shape to applies the location or size to each shape to be adjusted. Double click the feature to activate sticky mode - then you can apply the formatting to put multiple shapes or objects in the same position across multiple PowerPoint slides.
The Position & Size Painter feature is included in the Format Painters feature group on the Format Toolbar.
Productivity Tip
Position & Size Painter feature works on tables, to remember and set identical column widths. Also works for fixing slide titles across your presentation. Use it in conjunction with the Slide Titles feature, which adjusts font style and font size of slide titles.
Text Format Painter
Quickly copy and paste text formatting across textboxes, slides and even across different presentations using the Text format painter for PowerPoint.
PPT Productivity's PowerPoint Text Format Painter will copy font style, size, italics, bold or underline attributes and apply to the painted text. Note that where a textbox has various different fonts or sizes, the font style and size attributes of the first word will be copied.
Although PowerPoint's standard format painter also can be used to copy and paint text, it will also apply other attributes including shape color. The PPT Productivity PowerPoint text format painter only changes text attributes, without impacting any other elements.
The text format painter can also be used to paint text in PowerPoint table cells.
Double click the Text Format Painter to activate the multi painter feature. This lets you click on multiple text selections in PowerPoint, changing them to match the copied text format. Multi painter mode will continue until you press the escape key.
Productivity Tip
Trying to copy the paragraph styles of larger sections of text in PowerPoint? Check out the PPT Productivity Paragraph Styles features, to save and reuse your favorite paragraph styles.
Change Shape Painter
PPT Productivity's PowerPoint Change Shapes Painter makes it easy to copy paste shape types in PowerPoint presentations, to match a selected shape.
Simply select the shape you want to copy on your PowerPoint slide, then click the Change Shape Painter button. Next, click the shape you want to change. The Change Shape Painter will change the shape to match the copied shape style (note that it does not change the shape size, but you can use the Advanced Format Painter for this).
Double click the Change Shape Painter to activate the multi painter feature. This lets you click on multiple shapes, changing them to match the first selected shape. Multi painter mode will continue for the Change Shape Painter until you press the escape key.
Productivity Tip
Want to specify attributes of shapes to copy and apply? Check out the PPT Productivity Advanced Format Painter for PowerPoint.
Angles & Curves Painter
Paint shapes to copy and apply angles or curves of another shape in PowerPoint, with the PPT Productivity angles and curves painter for PowerPoint.
Perfect if you use chevrons or rounded edge rectangles in your PowerPoint presentations and want consistent angles and edges. The feature can be used to copy and paste any shape which has adjustments, to align angles (adjustments is PowerPoint's term for the yellow circle used to change corners and tips of shapes). This includes:
- Chevrons
- Arrows
- Pentagons
- Rounded edge rectangles
- Rectangles with corners snipped
Simply select the shape to be copied, then click the PPT Productivity PowerPoint Angles & Curves Painter then select the shape to paint. Alternatively, select the shape to be copied and the shapes to be painted (ensuring the first shape you click on is the shape to be copied) then click the feature. You can align process chains easily with this feature.
Double click the Angles & Curves Painter to activate the multi painter feature. This lets you click on multiple shapes in PowerPoint, changing them to match the first selected shape. Multi Painter mode on the Angles & Curves Painter will continue until you press the escape key.
Productivity Tip
The Angles and Curves Painter does not work on ovals or circles because they do not have adjustments. But you can use PPT Productivity's Same Height, Same Width features to copy paste formatting of circles and ovals in PowerPoint.
Animation Painter
Replace or append animations easily with PPT Productivity's PowerPoint animation painter.
Standard PowerPoint has an animation painter. PPT Productivity's animation painter extends the available options - it does all the standard PowerPoint animation painter features, plus it also gives you the ability to:
- Replace Animation: Select to replace a PowerPoint animation with the format painter - for example paint existing animations to make them bounce rather than swivel
- Append Animation:: Select to append an animation in PowerPoint - adding a selected animation onto an existing animation for selected shapes - for example append a swivel animation so that a shape bounces and then swivels
Double click the Animation Painter to activate the multi painter feature. This lets you click on multiple objects, updating the associated animation to match the copied selection. Multi painter mode will continue until you press the escape key.
Cycle Accent Colors
Change the color of shapes in PowerPoint by cycling quickly through your template theme colors.
The Cycle Accent Color feature lets you quickly cycle through your PowerPoint template theme colors, to change the color of selected shape(s) on your slide. Repeated pressing lets you cycle through the PowerPoint Accent colors to choose your preferred color. If the current shape color is an Accent color from your template, the cycle feature will update to the next Accent color (eg if it's currently Accent Color 3, when you click the feature it will update to Accent Color 4, then 5...). If the current color is not a template theme color it will update to Accent 1. Note that if you have the setting to also set outline with Fill, this will be applied as well (Settings > Color toolbar).
Shortcut Keys
You can also set a shortcut key for this feature using PPT Productivity's Customizable Shortcut Keys feature. Users with the McKinsey aligned shortcut keys enabled will automatically get a preassigned shortcut for Cycle Accenty Colors = Alt+Shift+A (if you have the preset McKinsey aligned shortcuts turned on)
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