How to Copy Chart Format in Google Sheets

Creating one perfectly styled chart in Google Sheets feels great, meticulously tweaking the fonts, picking the right colors, and adjusting the gridlines until it communicates your data clearly. The problem starts when you have to do it all over again for five, ten, or even fifty other charts. This article will show you exactly how to copy chart formatting in Google Sheets to keep your reports consistent without the manual busywork.

Why Consistent Chart Formatting Matters

Before jumping into the "how," it's worth taking a moment to understand the "why." Applying a consistent look and feel across your charts isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about making your data more effective.

Professionalism & Branding: Consistent charts make your reports look polished and professional. If you're sharing data with clients or stakeholders, using brand colors and uniform styling elevates the quality of your work.
Clarity & Readability: When all your charts follow the same rules - like using the same color for "Revenue" and the same font size for axis labels - your audience can interpret data faster. They don't have to re-learn how to read each new visualization.
Efficiency: This is the big one. Manually formatting every single chart is a massive time-drain that’s prone to human error. Mastering a faster method frees you up to focus on analyzing the data, not just decorating it.

The Primary Method: Use ‘Paste Chart Format Only’

Google Sheets has a built-in, though slightly hidden, feature designed specifically for this task. It allows you to copy the style of one chart and apply it directly to another. Let's walk through it step-by-step.

Step 1: Create and Format Your Master Chart

First, build one chart and format it exactly how you want your other charts to look. This will be your "master" or "template" chart. Take the time to get this one right. Go through the Chart editor > Customize tab and adjust everything you need:

Chart Style: Change the background color, fonts, and chart border.
Chart & Axis Titles: Set the title font, size, color, and positioning.
Series: Select your brand-specific colors for the data series (the bars, lines, or pie slices).
Legend: Choose the position, font, and text color for your legend.
Gridlines & Ticks: Adjust the major and minor gridlines to make your chart easier to read.

Once you’re happy with how this chart looks, you're ready to replicate its style.

Step 2: Copy the Formatted Chart

Click once on your perfectly formatted master chart so that a blue border appears around it. Then, simply copy it using one of two methods:

Go to the top menu and select Edit > Copy.
Or, use the keyboard shortcut: Ctrl + C (on Windows/ChromeOS) or Cmd + C (on Mac).

Step 3: Select Your Target Chart

Now, find the unformatted or inconsistently formatted chart that you want to update. Click on it to select it.

Step 4: Paste the Chart Format

This is where the magic happens. With the target chart selected, go to the top menu and navigate to Edit > Paste special > Paste chart format only.

Instantly, Google Sheets applies the styling of your master chart - the colors, fonts, titles, and other settings - to the new chart. The underlying data of the target chart remains untouched. Voila! You now have two charts with identical formatting.

Pro Tip: Create a Chart Template for True Efficiency

The copy-and-paste method is fantastic for a few charts, but if you regularly create reports, you can take this a step further by creating a "template" chart.

Here’s how to do it:

Create a "Templates" Tab: In your Google Sheet, create a new tab and name it something like “Chart Templates.”
Build and Style Your Master Charts: On this tab, create a master version for each chart type you frequently use (e.g., one line chart, one bar chart, one pie chart). Use dummy data to get them set up. Style each one to perfection with your company's branding and preferred settings.
Copy the Template, Then Change the Data: Whenever you need to create a new chart in your report, don't build it from scratch. Instead, go to your "Chart Templates" tab, copy the entire chart (not just the format), and paste it into your active working sheet (using a normal Ctrl/Cmd + V).
Update the Data Range: Once pasted, a new copy of your styled chart will appear. Double-click it to open the Chart editor, go to the Setup tab, and click on the 'Data range' field. A small window will pop up prompting you to "Select a data range". Select the new data from your working sheet that you want this chart to visualize.

This method may seem like an extra couple of steps, but it saves an enormous amount of time in the long run. You avoid the need to create new charts from default settings and ensure every single visualization in your workbook is perfectly consistent.

What Gets Copied (And What Doesn't)?

It's helpful to know the limitations of the "Paste chart format only" feature. It’s incredibly powerful, but it doesn’t transfer every single setting.

What Formatting Is Typically Copied:

Colors: Background color, series colors, and border colors.
Fonts: Font family, size, color, and style (bold, italic) for titles, axes, and legends.
Legend Settings: Position (top, bottom, right, etc.) and text formatting.
Gridlines: Settings for major and minor gridlines and ticks on the axes.
Title and Label Positioning: Alignment of chart and axis titles.

What Is Not Copied:

The Data Range: Obviously, the whole point is to keep the target chart's unique data intact.
Axis Scales: Minimum and maximum values for the axes are not copied over, as they are specific to the unique data in each chart.
Chart Type: You cannot use this method to change a line chart into a bar chart. The function only applies formatting between charts of the same type. If you try to paste a bar chart's format onto a pie chart, some basic styles like fonts might transfer, but the core structural elements won't.
Trendlines & Error Bars: Any analysis elements you've added to a chart, like a trendline, will not be carried over to the new chart.

The Limits of Manual Reporting

Knowing how to copy chart formats is a huge timesaver and helps you build professional-looking dashboards right inside Google Sheets. However, as your reporting needs grow, you might notice that the manual work starts to creep back in. Every Monday morning becomes a routine of downloading new CSVs, pasting data into sheets, and updating charts one by one.

Even with template charts, you’re still working with static reports. The data is only as fresh as your last manual update. This is the fundamental limitation of spreadsheet-based reporting - it's time-consuming, isn't live, and keeps you stuck in the cycle of pulling data instead of acting on it.

Final Thoughts

Learning to use the 'Paste chart format only' feature in Google Sheets is a game-changer for anyone who regularly builds reports. It transforms a tedious, manual process into a quick, two-click task, enabling you to create clean, professional, and consistent dashboards efficiently.

We built Graphed to eliminate this kind of data busywork and move reporting into real-time. Instead of building charts manually, you can just connect your data sources (like Google Analytics, Shopify, or Facebook Ads) and use plain English to ask for the dashboard you need. Since your dashboards update automatically with live data, we save you from the Monday morning ritual of exporting CSVs and manually refreshing your reports, letting you focus on the insights that actually grow your business. You can give Graphed a try and see for yourself.