How do I reset the default format? I have used the style menu to create what I call a ‘normal’ set of instructions, but, my program wants to constantly reset to ‘no style’.
You are conflating two different mechanisms.
We recommend that most of your text should be “No Style,” and do not recommend using a “body” style. The “No Style” formatting is the project default, which is defined either in the Project → Project Settings → Formatting pane or Scrivener → Settings → Editing → Formatting.
If you do choose to use a body style, its specification should include itself as the “Next Style.”
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How do I set a ‘body style’ as default in the formatting pane of Project Settings?
You can’t. By definition, the Default Formatting is unstyled.
You don’t. What you set on the Project Settings → Formatting pane is the “No Style “ default for that project only.
Scrivener is not WYSIWYG deliberately. Setting up a “Normal/Body” style is to create yourself more headaches down the line. The point with “No Style“ is that you can write and edit in Scrivener in a font and size you find comfortable, but on compiling, everything in “No Style” will be output as “Normal”, “Body”, etc. depending on the output target, RTF, DOCX, ePub, whatever, and you set any details there.
Only use styles for anything that is going to differ from the normal text, like headings and block quotes, and even then the fewer parameters you set in the style, the fewer issues you will meet on compiling.
Mark
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I was thinking, isn’t it more precise to rename the “No style” Style “Default Style”, instead of “No Style”?
In the end it IS a Style, as in a set of formatting rules applied to text. It’s not No Style.
And it IS the Default, as in what is assumed when no other formatting is applied.
Just saying. 
It is not a Style as other word processors (notably Word) define it: changes to the default formatting do not automatically update the formatting of existing text. Changes to the “Normal” style in a Word document do.
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So, that proofs it IS a Style. It contains the default formatting when applied to text. So: Default Style?
@AntoniDol You missed the “changes to the default formatting do not automatically update the formatting of existing text” part.
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Actually, I think there is often confusion between “Formatting” and “Style”, which are clearly separate in Scrivener. It took me a long time to really get my head round it.
- “No Style” refers to the fact that the individual RTF content files within the Scrivener project have no ‘style’ information, i.e. font family, font size, etc. set on any paragraph designated “No Style”, as opposed to styled paragraphs or text spans which have some aspect set, even if it’s just margins.[1]
- “Formatting” in Scrivener is a UI matter. To display the text on screen, it must appear in some font family, font size, etc. Changing the on-screen formatting, doesn’t change anything in the content.rtf files within Scrivener.
- That is why setting Scriv. up as you like it to look on screen is part of Preferences/Settings/Options and not part of the Format menu, as your screen settings are not a style. It is also why
Documents > Convert > Text to Default Formatting…says “Formatting” not styles. - And as on-screen formatting is changeable at will, if you do change it, either app-wide or project specific, if you want existing text to convert to the new default, you have to tell Scrivener to do so. There is nothing in Scrivener that allows it to know previous or imported formatting; it has no record of what previous formatting defaults were, they disappear as soon as you make any changes in the settings.
So, re-labelling “No Style” as “Default Style” or “Default Formatting”, or anything else is to me (a) unnecessary, and (b) technically inaccurate.
Of course, word processors expect every paragraph to have a style, because, in essence, they conflate “formatting” and “style”… you can’t have formatting without a style, and you can’t have a style without formatting.
So Compile is where it’s sorted out; anything “No Style” in Scrivener becomes Normal/Body/<p>…</p>, whatever, depending on the target DOCX/RTF/ODT/ePub.
Mark
[1] In this, it is more like the way it’s handled on the Web or in eBooks. All normal, text body paragraphs are simply marked <p>…</p>, giving no other information than “This is a paragraph”. How they are presented in your browser or e-Reader, i.e. the formatting, is determined by the CSS rules of the site or the CSS rules on the e-Reader. On an e-Reader, the user can, at will, change between various themes, fonts etc. (in fact choosing a different CSS rule-set), in just the same way as the Scrivener user can change the UI theme, or simply select a different font to use in the editor.
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