In Scrivener I would very much like to have the possibility to archive / 7-zip / compress folders in the project that I would like to stay, but that I do not actively need anymore. Would save space and loading time. Just as an idea…
kind regards
Zipping happens outside of Scrivener, for instance, your backup option has a tick box to make the backup a zip.
The only difference with 7-Zip is that you’d be able to password-protect your file.
I don’t think L&L would want to go that route.
Many users struggle with plain saving and backup.
Imagine adding a password to the mix from within Scrivener.
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Yeah, but I was thinking about in place compress. I am in a project dealing with 4 books and it woud be nice to have all data, but the older one being compressed, not as backup, but in the project itself.
Cheers
I hear what you are saying, but is this a signal that perhaps you need a computer with a bigger internal disk? Or use an attached USB disk for the large amount of data you handle? Also, I’m guessing you are using Microsoft Windows, so does this Microsoft guidance help? I also see references on the internet about “NTFS compression”, but know nothing about it.
Backup as a zip is a duplicate, compressed version of your project’s latest edit.
Delete your project (.scriv folder) when done if space is an issue. It will do no harm. Extracting a zip usually takes mere seconds—drag it out of the zip to a safe space, like Downloads, for starters. You then have a fully functioning project to reopen and work on again, as may be required.
I doubt 7-Zip compresses any better than the zip that’s part of the Windows OS, aside from the password facility I mentioned.
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There’s a definite verdict against locking files inside the Project, and this would be a version of locking files…
You can always place your former books of a series in a separate Project.
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Would save space and loading time. Just as an idea…
So to dispel one notion here, it wouldn’t make any difference to loading time. Scrivener does not load everything inside of your project all at once, that would be extremely inefficient and essentially negate the primary advantage of using a folder & file mechanism. It just loads whatever it needs, in order to display what you had left open in the main editor(s) the last time you closed it, along with some infrastructural files.
Now speaking on space, what I am unclear on, with this request, is what advantage there would be to storing what will become an inert lump of inaccessible data inside of a project? All that will do is bloat the project size (even if by less than it was before), make backups larger (and take longer); there would be no material advantage to having this.
So, given that, why not just use File ▸ Save As..., to create a second copy of the project, giving it a name like “OriginalName - Part One.scriv”, and then in that second copy, delete everything except for Part One and whatever it would benefit from having around outside of the Draft folder. Empty the trash, and then close it, returning to your main project. Now you’ve got an archived copy of your work that has all of the original metadata, settings, internal links and other good stuff preserved within it, and it’s easily accessible if you need to reference something, but it’s no longer cluttering up the main project.
And sure, if you want to, you can also compress it rather than leaving it around as something you can open, using whatever algorithm you find most beneficial—but with it now out of the way and something you can load independently on the side, as needed, there would be much less reason for doing so I think.
Lastly, have a look at this post, on using multiple projects together. It might be useful, particularly if you would like to refer to elements of Part One from the other books, via inter-project linking.
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