Using the format painter in Power BI

Aug-2025

The Format Painter in Power BI is a feature that many users may not be aware of. While it’s commonly known from Excel, I often notice confusion during my training sessions when I mention that it can also be used to copy the formatting of visuals in Power BI.

And did you know:

You can apply the Format Painter to multiple visuals at once.
It also copies conditional formatting.
You can use it across different types of visuals, with some limitations.

I find it especially useful at the beginning of a report design. It allows me to experiment with different backgrounds or visual effects without needing to change the entire theme each time. It’s an efficient way to adjust the formatting of a visual in just two clicks.

Where to Find the Format Painter in Power BI?

You’ll find the Format Painter in the top left corner of the Report view in Power BI Desktop. It’s the small paintbrush icon.

We first need to click on a visual, then we can click on the Format Painter and then we need to click on the visual that we want to change.

Format Painter: activates once we click on a visual.

Example 1: Copy the format of a visual.

In this example, we have one formatted card visual and three card visuals that lack formatting. To apply the formatting from the first visual to the others, follow these steps:

1. Click on the formatted card visual.
2. Select the format painter.
3. Click on one of the unformatted card visuals.

This will apply the same formatting to that visual. Repeat this process for the remaining unformatted visuals.

Left visual: Formatted, 3 right visuals, no formatting.

All visuals are formatted the same way.

Example 2: Apply formatting to multiple visuals at once.

Instead of clicking on each card visual individually to apply formatting, we can use the Format Painter for multiple visuals. However, this method requires a bit of a workaround.

To format all three card visuals at once, select all three by holding down the Ctrl key while clicking on them.
Then, right-click and choose “Group” to group them together.
Next, click on the first visual and select the Format Painter.
Now, when you click on the grouped visuals, the formatting is applied to all of them at once.

Example 3: Apply formatting across different visual types (including conditional formatting)

We can also use the Format Painter to copy formatting from one type of visual to another, although there are some limitations.

For this example, we will apply the formatting from a column chart to a bar chart and a table visual. The column chart has conditional formatting implemented to color the columns either red (lowest value), green (Highest value) or gray (everything in between).

When we click on the column chart and then use the format painter on the bar chart, it applies the same formatting to the bar chart. However, the table only receives formatting like background color and borders; it does not receive chart-specific formatting because the table visual doesn’t have those settings.