SoftMaker.com

I am having trouble with getting a paragraph style to over-write the text formatting.

For instance, I have a header in Times Roman 14pt. I want this to be a level 3 header which I have defined as Times Roman 10pt bold. I apply the paragraph style "header 3" to the 14pt header, but it stays at 14pt.

I have read the help file which says:

But it doesn't! No matter what I do the header retains its 14pt size! Even if I apply the normal paragraph style, Times Roman 8 point normal, or the heading 1 paragraph style, it remains as Times Roman 14pt bold.

Help, how do I get rid of the manual formatting, or get the paragraph style to override the manual format?

OK I have found that if I cut the header, paste it into notepad, paste it back into the document and then apply the header 3 style, it takes it. But there must be a better way surely? (And I don't mean just using paste special.)

Regards - David

Just for the record: the whole field of applying, changing and creating styles is dramatically improved in TextMaker 2012 Beta.

Well I had this problem in Textmaker 2010 yesterday. I downloaded the beta of Textmaker 2012 this morning and that is what I am using now. Still the same problem.

Regards - David

I proceeded as follows (TextMaker Beta 2012):
1. I wrote some text with a heading.
2. I changed the text size of the heading manually to 14 pt.
3. After setting the cursor somewhere in the header, I open the sidebar (Paragraph styles, Show: All styles) and double-click on "Heading 3". Font and font size change immediately.

Yes, that is what normally happens (except you don't need to double click). But when it doesn't it is very frustrating.

It doesn't happen with text I have written in Textmaker, only with text pasted from another application. There must be some residual formatting which comes with the text from the other application that Textmaker is not overriding. The only way I have found around it is to delete (cut) the heading completely, and then use the paste-special to paste it back as unformatted text, and then apply the heading paragraph style. I guess I perhaps should have pasted in all the text I was importing as unformatted, but I didn't want to lose the formatting, and this problem only happens with about one heading in 20. I guess I can live with it - I guess I'll have to

Regards - David

From which application have you imported the text?

From Firefox. It is a page from my web site which I am turning into a magazine article. The page is www.vintagewatchstraps.com/borgel.html if that helps.

Regards - David

You can try to insert that text from a website as unformatted text (CTRL+Shift+V) and apply the desired formattings to the text later.

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Sven Leßmann
SoftMaker Software GmbH

I agree that there is a discrepancy between what the manual says and how the software behaves.

I would have assumed that the manual is right, but when I checked MS Word, it behaved exactly the same as TextMaker does.

I will inquire with the programmers about this issue.

In the meantime, there is a simple way to revert hard formatting in a paragraph to the formatting set up in the stylesheet: Select the text and call Format/Standard.

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

There is no discrepancy, I should have read the quote more closely...

The quote from the manual talks about paragraph formatting attributes. But font size changes are character formatting attributes. They are not caught by reapplying the paragraph style, only by use of the Format/Standard command.

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Martin Kotulla
SoftMaker Software GmbH

The manual says


Note "simply select it and reapply the original paragraph style using Format > Paragraph Style. The format of the paragraph will revert to that specified in the style, and subsequent changes to the style will be effective on the paragraph." Nothing about use of the Format/Standard command. It quite clearly states that reapplying the paragraph style should override any manually applied changes, such as font size. Font size face and size is part of the paragraph style definition.

And in fact, this is what usually happens. Reapplying the paragraph style does normally override manually applied font changes. My gripe was that sometimes it doesn't. Something that works sometimes, and then at other times doesn't, is a pita.

Regards - David