The issue seems to be that the "apply formatting to all pages" is linked to the "text box object" not a selected "text". Therefore, when you are editing, you can't format one word with the settings you want and then apply that formatting to the entire text. You have to select the text box and change the font/size/effects to the box and then apply formatting to the entire page. The problem here is that if you have multiple pages of text and you reduce the font on the current page text box, any words from page 2 that move onto the new formatted page will have the "old settings". So, you have to update the font formatting again before you can "apply formatting to all pages". And, if the font is reduced enough so more words flow back to the page, you have to keep repeating this.
My request would be if you are formatting a text box on a "multipage text box" that the formatting applies to all pages for that text box.