Literature and Latte

I have searched for this on the forum but I can't find it. Sorry if it has been asked and answered.

I have imported a dissertation from MS Word, all correct formatting (italics, bold) and footnotes came over just fine. My problem is when I apply a preset (body, block quote, etc.) to the paragraph, it drops out all formatting within the text.

I have changed the Preferences > Formatting > Main Text Styles for future documents but it does not touch the copy/paste from MS Word. I have also tried changing the styles in Format > Formatting > Apply Preset which changes the font, spacing, indent and margins but drops all my italics and bold.

I guess I am looking for the check box that preserves formatting. Does someone have anyplace I can look for information on if this feature exists? I have scoured the help doc and forum but to no avail.

Thanks for the help

There are no styles in Scrivener of the kind you have in Word. The test is hard formatted. So the italics isn't a code but a changed font for that text. If you apply a new format, e.g. By using format presets, the text get the new format. So what you are seeing is the way it works. If your format preset is sandard, no underline and no italics, of course any underline or italics disappear.

Lunk, I thought that was only if the preset is set to "Save all formatting" or "Save character attributes" -- those settings on the preset are what instruct it to overwrite character-level attributes like bold/italics.

Correct.
If you create a new preset (Format -> Formatting -> New preset from selection) you can instruct it to keep italics and bold. Someone else pointed out (in a different thread in here) that you need to choose the option "Save paragraph style" as that means that the preset only contain the paragraph style and not character attributes like bold or italics. It does not mean that the text on which you later apply the preset keeps it paragraph style.
So if you choose "Save character attributes" only the character attributes will be saved in the preset, so only character attributes will later be applied to the text when you use the preset. A bit backwards maybe...

The paragraph spacing defined in my body preset is acting erratically. I've tried everything I can think of. I've redefined the preset, created a new preset yet the problem remains. Some paragraphs do apply the preset paragraph spacing and others don't.

Mind you, I didn't have this problem until I began using the Pro Writer Aid with Scrivener.

Please Advise... thanks

Lunk's reply doesn't make sense to me, but it works, so thanks! Finally I can have a preset that doesn't strip out my italics...