Can someone please explain the difference between the “Compile As-Is” tick box of the Inspector and the “Preserve Formatting” in the Format>Formatting>Preserve Format command.
The only difference that I can see is that Preserve Format command stays on, while the Compile As-Is is employed on a document by document basis.
Is there perhaps other key differences that I’m not seeing. I tried looking in the User Manual, but I’m still wondering the same question.
The main difference between the two is that one works in blocks of text and the other impacts the entire document for which it is checked. There are some subtle differences beyond that. Compile As-Is will basically opt-out that document from all Formatting compile pane options. That means no titles, no synopsis, only the raw text in precisely the same formatting as shown in the editor. Assigning a block of text as Preserve Formatting is good when you want to make sure one piece of text does not get its formatting overwritten. A common example would be a block quote, which is set apart from the main text by a left block indent. If the compiler is set up to normalise all indenting, ordinarily you would lose the block quote’s formatting, but if it is wrapped in a Preserve Formatting block, its indentation will be preserved.
In the Formatting pane you can stipulate how much of an impact Preserve Formatting makes. For example, you might want to preserve the indent level of the block quote, but want it to take on the same font family and font size settings as the rest of the manuscript. Click the Options button in the Formatting pane to selectively set how much is preserved.