I open the file, The outline is there, I click on a folder and I can see all sheets/corkboards with all my text within.
When I click inside the corkboard the text disappears and Scrivener reports it has no words within.
Tried saving with a rebuild, opened a backup and it’s the same. Does anyone have any idea what is going wrong. (files are stored on Dropbox)
Are you on macOS or Windows?
Since you are using Dropbox, make sure the option to store files in the cloud only (it’s called online-only in my version of Dropbox on the Mac) is turned off.
Yes I’m using MacOS.
Yes that’s off. The file is loading, I can see my words on the corkboard, yet when I click on the corkboard they disappear. In Scrivenings mode, the words are not there just a few dashed lines
Since you are on a Mac: In System Preferences -:> Apple Id is Optimize Mac Storage turned off?
The symptoms sound like only part of the Scrivener file (package) is available.
Optimize Mac Storage This is ON
That’s most likely the problem. Can you turn that off?
On the Mac the Scrivener “file” is a MacOS Package file - which is really a directory with a bunch of files (and sub directories) contained in it. Unfortunately Apple’s iCloud storage does not treat the package as a single object, but instead treats it as a directory hierarchy. Scrivener expects everything in the package to be available at all times, but since iCloud does not see it as a single object, some files may not be stored locally when Scrivener needs to access them.
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My Files are on dropbox
Actually, what Scrivener opens is the local copy of those Dropbox files. If macOS gets a bit overzealous when “optimizing”, it could (at least in theory) move some of those files from your local drive. Can’t hurt to rule out this potential pitfall.
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November_Sierra beat me to it. I would recommend turning off iCloud’s optimization (if you can) to see if that solves the issue. If it doesn’t. more troubleshooting will be necessary.
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In addition to the other possibilities mentioned, be aware that double-clicking on a card could have this effect because it stops showing text and starts showing an empty synopsis (so you can enter one).
But he is using DropBox not iCloud.
You wouldn’t by any chance have backed up all your data using macOS’s Time Machine utility would you? Time Machine is your friend. 
If iCloud is told to Optimize Mac Storage, it will do so regardless of what other software might have access to the disk.
Needless to say, having iCloud attempt to optimize a folder that is managed by Dropbox can have unpredictable results.
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Thanks all. I never got to the bottom of it, I think it’s something to do with the setup on my imac. I restored an earlier copy onto dropbox and then opened it on my Macbook. And it’s behaving. I was pretty worried though, there’s about 5 years of work in that file! Backups rule 
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I nominate this for understatement of the year…
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Well that is a nasty surprise. I don’t use iCloud but it could still mess up my system. Now I will have to make sure it is not turned on by default. Just checked, never set it up. And now I have a good reason not to.