Hi there! Hmmm after doing several searches on how to do your 1, 2 and 3 (it’s all greek to me) I’m just not sure…
I have successfully gotten the “Permalink Structure updated” messages when I change it to PLAIN.
When I change it to the one I want I get a message that says: If your .htaccess file were writable, we could do this automatically, but it isn’t so these are the mod_rewrite rules you should have in your .htaccess file. Click in the field and press CTRL + a to select all.
RewriteEngine On
RewriteBase /
RewriteRule ^index.php$ – [L]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
RewriteRule . /index.php [L]
So then I found a video showing me how to make that code into a .htaccess file and upload it to my File Manager – but it will NOT upload 
Do you think I’m on the right track? I have no idea how to do what you’re telling me
Also – I had successful permalinks/urls for the couple of weeks I’ve been creating pages (although not in the format I want) so would that not say that everything is fine in the 1,2 and 3 realm you ask me to check? Or could those things have gotten deleted or unwritable disabled by me trying to get another url format??