It’s taken me a while to understand the formatting part of the compile dialog (still not completely clear).
One reason is that “Override text and notes formatting” checkbox is ambiguous.
Checking “Override text and notes formatting” could either mean that I want the standard formatting to override my text and notes formatting, or that I want my changes to override the standard formatting. It is totally ambiguous. The manual doesn’t help me much: “Override text and notes formatting. When this option is engaged, your entire manuscript will be given a uniform appearance which can, if you choose, be radically different from how it looks in Scrivener.”
I have had to infer from the warning dialog that that checkbox actually means “Allow My changes to override the defaults.” But the description in the manual seems to mean the opposite (if I want things to be uniform…?).
I’m not sure how it’s ambiguous, and we’ve never had anyone complain of this before. When you tick this box, you are telling Scrivener to override all the formatting in the main text and notes with whatever you choose in the formatting area directly below the button. You tick an override button then choose the override options.
“Allow my changes to override…” would be wrong and much more ambiguous. The button means, “Override the notes and text formatting with these options right here in this panel.”
Given that the “Override” button enables the formatting text view below, it should be clear - you can’t set any notes and text options in the formatting area of that panel unless “Override” is ticked.
Not in my version - the options are available all the time. The Preview window is sometimes greyed out, sometimes not, but clicking in the options area always seems to make it visible. Maybe this is the problem.