Format Painter

Copy one element's style and paint it onto other elements, keeping a diagram visually consistent.

The Format Painter mode copies the look of one element (its colours, line, and text styling) 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 mode picker at the top of the floating palette, where it appears simply as Format.

How to use it

Pick the mode labelled Format from the palette's mode picker.
Click a source element to copy its look.
Click each element you want to apply that style to.

Every element you click takes on the copied colours, line, and text styling. Because it copies the styling rather than the content, each target keeps its own text and position, only its look changes.

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.

PALETTESourcePainted
The Format Painter is lit in the mode picker, copying the source shape's style onto another.

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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