NeoOffice formatting question

I am used to MS Word. In word, formatting commands are not embedded so that if I delete a block of text I don't throw out the formatting with it. My formatting (line spacing, paragraph indent, whatever) is still preserved. However, in NeoOffice that doesn't happen. If I delete a block of text it also throws out the formatting commands. It is a serious headache for me, and I was wondering if there was a way to change the way NeoOffice works with formatting commands so they are not embedded (or whatever the word is) in the file or at least, so that they are not deletable.

The Open Office forums would be the best bet for questions about styles/ formatting etc. Neo is based on Open office and there are far more people to help there. The Neo guys are run off their feet keeping a Mac version available that doesn't need X11..
http://www.oooforum.org/
Best