Once you have styled one shape just the way you want, with the right fill, border, and text, you rarely want to set all those fields again by hand on the next shape. The format painter copies a styled element's look and applies it to others, so a whole diagram can share one consistent style without repetitive fiddling.
How it works
The format painter works in two steps: pick up a look, then put it down.
Select the element whose style you want to reuse, the one you have already got looking right.
Activate the format painter to pick up its look, then click the element you want to restyle. The target takes on the source element's appearance.
Because it copies the styling rather than the content, the target keeps its own text and position. Only its look changes.
Painting across many elements
The format painter is most useful when you have several elements to bring into line. Combine it with a multi-selection: gather the elements that need the same style, then paint the source look across the whole selection at once. A row of mismatched boxes becomes a tidy, uniform set in a single action.
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.
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