Since you took the time to complain, @kewms offered to help. To send a message to @kewms, click on the icon for the person, then pick “message”.
I am not sure what you mean by ”scrapping the three years work”. You can export the work from Scrivener to Word in a few steps if you want to. I have just finished a book in Scrivener which the publisher wanted as a Word file per chapter, and I exported the chapters in a few seconds each once I had the compiler as I wanted it.
So moving to Word should be fairly painless if you think that will work better for you. And it might well prove a better choice, depending on what you are actually doing. I use Scrivener because i assemble my thoughts in fragments and slowly bring them together, and IMO Scrivener is very good at that.
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Hey OwenKelly,
I am currently locked out because the licence key is not allowing me in… again… I paid full price for the platform at the beginning but they just want me to pay more to upgrade without actually fixing the first problem.
I am like you in that I really liked the way I could just dump down random thoughts and then go back easily and work on them and get them into a readable format. But now I have the problem that I cannot get into the platform to publish the work done into word. I need to get in, to get my work back out. This is actually my gripe, as the licence key error locks me out on a monthly basis and I spend so much time going through the process of getting the whole thing working again, on a monthly basis.
I have tried many times to contact the support, but all they do is send me the same soft reassuring words, signed by a different name, each time, without actually solving the initial error of the platform dumping my license key monthly.
I think I will be forced to go to word, just because it doesn’t lock me out of my work. Thank for the thought though.
Hi rms,
Yes, I did actually take the time to come forward and complain.
But then, I did also spend $80+ of the companies money on this platform which kinda makes me feel like I have a right to follow up to try to get the product I paid for, a product which performs as advertised and doesn’t lock me out of my work on a monthly basis.
I tried to message by looking for the link you highlighted, but I can’t see it on my page. I have spent three years contacting support directly however, by the emails listed at the bottom of the ‘contact us’ page in addition to submitting queries in the ‘contact us’ page. They want me to pay more money for upgrades and haven’t fixed the initial issue problem.
and it looks like I cant post the screen shot I took of the kewms profile to highlight that I dont have the message link either…
I’m pretty sure @kewms can fix this if it’s a server-based restriction.
So, Scrivener randomly deactivated my license, again.
Luckily, after the first time this happened and contacting support resulted in a ‘you don’t have a license assigned to that email’ (spoiler alert: I did) response, I made sure to save my original purchase email receipt in a safe place. Anyone reading this who hasn’t done so - get a copy from archives or Scrivener and save it somewhere safe.
The first time this happened I hadn’t done or changed anything. The only thing I can think of that might have affected it at my end is that I physically moved and the internet is coming through a different router and that’s it. Is that enough to trigger a deactivation of a license when the PC is still unchanged?
It’s very likely these recent changes are factors. See this post and the few immediately following it up thread for discussion of scenarios that seem to cause this issue.
Best,
Jim
Here’s another way licensing can go south, and how to fix it. If it may be a less usual case,I feel I should put it here, since locked-out messages are being consolidated in this thread.
Symptom: update by any means that works for you, including over-installing or a fresh install, install after cleaning all left parts, etc… Find that Scrivener each time runs only a few moments, then claims it’s unlicensed, and gives only a button to shut down after telling you.
Second part. You catch Scrivener on starting, before it gets to telling you no, and do an activation, which it will accept. But when you close it, then bring Scrivener up again, the same not-activated message will come up, and you’ll be shut down again,
Nothing you try will fix this; that’s the clue.
I did speak to support, who were apt as well as kind, and after being completely careful to follow all of their instructions, I did get it to work again.
This is the secret. You must in this case do a fresh install after restarting your Windows machine in Safe Mode with Networking. Many machines will do this; a few won’t if on wifi networking, without a second USB wifi adapter added externally. If you have to use that, you may have to use the buttons on the lower right of the login screen to get wifi connected before you actually log in. I sometimes have had to, while things are always changing with Microsoft, and so not this last time.
How to get into Safe Mode with Networking you should look up and choose one of several methods that you like, as Microsoft…well, I won’t say it. But you can get into the mode, and web advice will help you.
Once you have fully uninstalled Scrivener, have managed to restart in Safe Mode with Networking, and actually have an internet connection, plus have located your activation password again on this rather featureless login mode, you can (and must all steps) easily:
- install Scrivener under this login (having used your usual one)
- start your fresh Scrivener afterwards, and do the activation it will shortly ask for, after choosing not to do the tour
- close Scrivener, then after a pause, start it again and wait for 5 m inutes to see that it doesn’t fall back to thinking it’s unlicensed again.
You will likely be well served to put a temporary copy of your activation code someplace you can easily find it before starting the procedure, as you likely won’t be able to use email etc. under Safe Mode.
This does work; I just had to use it for the nth time for the fresh and very welcome 3.0.3 just available.
Is there something I did which set off this merry chase and chains? Maybe. I had to do one of those create-a-new-logins finally to get Windows recovered from its seven-year itch self confusions, some months ago, and that seems to have been about when the trouble started.
My opinion of Paddle as a protection vendor is at rock-bottom for this and all other reasons. Protection schemes are the pest, but theirs seems publicly and particularly undesirable.
A number of other companies at Scrivener’s level (LiquidText, Craft, Concepts) have gone over to using Microsoft Store, even with its sins, and I would believe Scrivener to be well served also to just give up Paddle and do this, if you can’t find something better.
You already use Apple’s store…and yes, I know well from close experience consulting inside an English company how there can be rather closely held emotions about ‘licences’ and anyone else getting a piece of them.
You might consider though, how much support cost, support frustration, and customer wariness and dissatisfaction appear to continue arising from Paddle.
That’s what I can say, and Best,
Clive
cc: @keith
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Paddle does suck. If my laptop’s battery were more reliable, I’d happily spend more time at the local coffee houses to help reproduce the differing network problems.
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Why do I have to reenter my license number every time I open Scrivener W-3? I have the latest edition. How do I fix this?
Recently, my Scrivener licence is invalidated at each boot. I must reactivate each time. A bit annoying. Is it my VPN ? Thank you for any help.
Does this happen if your VPN is disabled?
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Every day when I open Scrivener, I get the message that I am only in trial mode. Every day I have to use my licence key again. this has only started happening recently. I’m getting fed up with it.
Perhaps if you emailed Sales at L&L you would be better off than complaining here.
https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/purchasing-and-installation
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We can’t answer licensing questions on the forum. Please email support for help with this!
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