How does the Mathematica front end determine what options to use?

Options can be set at several different levels. As explained in Section 2.10.8 of The Mathematica Book, there are five levels at which options can be set: Global, Notebook, Style, Cell, and Selection. Options are saved in various locations, depending on which level you wish to set the option.

The Mathematica front end use inheritance to determine which option to use.

“Inheritance” means that there is a hierarchy which determines when an option is applied. For example, if Section cells are set to have a dingbat in the style sheet, then all the Section cells in your notebook will inherit a dingbat unless you explicitly select a Section cell and remove the dingbat.

Mathematica looks at the lowest level and works its way up until it encounters an option setting. Thus, selection options override cell options which override style options which override notebook options which override global options.

This does not mean that every option is available at every level. Some options of higher levels are inappropriate for lower levels. For example, the background color for a notebook can be set at the notebook level but not the cell level.

Options are most commonly changed through menu commands.

Style options are accessible through the style sheet.

http://support.wolfram.com/mathematica/interface/options/stylesheet.html

but the full set of options are accessible through the Option Inspector.

http://support.wolfram.com/mathematica/interface/options/inspector.html

Download this FAQ as a Mathematica 5.2 Notebook

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