Updating a style like 'Normal text to match' doesn't work properly/as expected

[ChristopherKTom 9]

Unlike Microsoft Word that effortlessly allow the user to update a style to match existing text and apply it to other documents, Evernote takes several attempts to do it right. I found out thru trial-n-error that you can't have an entire note selected, that you have to have only a piece of text selected then do the update. What's worse is after updating 'Normal Text' to have a font size of 14pt, when I tried apply it to another note, it failed!

 

[PinkElephant 9,019]

AFAIK the change of the format setting is local, working inside of the note where you apply it.

Otherwise a change in one note would alter (= destroy) the formatting in all notes.

In Word it is similar, changes only apply to the document. What works better is to transfer it to other documents.

[ChristopherKTom 9]

I've been using Word for decades and I have updated a style that is available for current and future documents. When a style is updated, It doesn't automatically apply it to other documents, the user has to do it manually. This is the same principal that you need to implement, not "transfer" something manually to each note if that's what your suggesting.

You need to explain how to transfer "it"

[PinkElephant 9,019]

The formatting in EN is much deeper rooted in the note than in case of word. EN notes are coded in HTML (a variant of it), and format is part of the metadata declaration that define how a note looks like.

In Word the styles are their own entity, existing separate from other properties. If you need another style, you can create it. You can’t create more styles in EN, you can only redefine one of the expositions ones. You can’t compare both. EN offers only basic, integrated formatting, nothing sophisticated. And EN is not page oriented, as a website is not split into physical pages.

Word is built to make text „look good“, with a lot of formatting. In some respect Word is more a page layout program than a Word processor.

These programs are different, starting from the basic design decisions. It simply makes no sense to say „it works here, so it must work there“. 

If you want something neatly formatted exactly how you want it to be, use a word processor or a page layouter, and attach the file to a note.