Are you using the Format Painter button?

Publisher

1.Select the text, shape, or picture with the formatting that you want to copy.

2.On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Format Painter, the pointer changes to a paintbrush icon.

Note Double-click the Format Painter button if you want to copy the formatting to multiple selections.

3.Select the text, shape, or picture that you want to format.

For text selections with multiple words, clicking within a word applies the formatting to that word only, and dragging across the text selection applies the formatting to all of the words.

4.To stop formatting, press ESC.