Can I set a second book exactly like the first?
Yes — that's what Save style and Load style are for, at the bottom of the formatter's Settings panel.
A series should look like a series. Book two wants the same typeface, the same chapter openers, the same page fill as book one, and remembering all of it six months later is not a reasonable thing to ask of anyone.
How it works
- Open the book that's already set the way you want. Settings → Save style…
- You get a small
.jsonfile — a couple of kilobytes. Keep it with the series. - Open the next book. Settings → Load style… and choose that file.
The second book re-flows immediately in the first book's style.
What travels, and what doesn't
Travels: the interior style, the page fill, and every setting you changed — typeface, size, line spacing, margins, chapter openers, drop caps, page numbers, running heads, and the rest.
Doesn't travel: anything about the manuscript. In particular your chapter positions stay out of the file on purpose — they're positions in that book's text, and carrying them to a different manuscript would mark the wrong paragraphs as chapters.
Asked about separately: the trim size. It's recorded in the file, but loading never changes it without asking, because a different trim re-flows the whole book and changes the spine width on your cover.
If the style has been adjusted since
Style files carry a fingerprint of the design they were saved against. If we've retuned that style in the meantime, loading tells you so and names the date the file was saved — so a small difference is something you were told about rather than something you have to spot.
This is not your backup
For a second edition of the same book, the style file is the wrong tool. Use the project file instead — My Books → the ⬇ button — because it carries the style and your manuscript and your cover. Open it and the whole book is back, and you can then bring in the revised .docx with Choose file; the settings are kept.
The style file is for carrying a look to a different book. See How do I back up my project?