That does make a kind of sense, especially for any RTF files, but it gets more confusing where I have seen it take all of the content.comments files, where ones footnotes and inspector comments are stored, and change the file names to content.xml (XML being how this data is stored). But maybe that somehow matches some filter for a something Docs related, who knows!
1 Like
It is true that for a time these myths did impact official support and even the wording in the FAQ.
Unfortunately, there are L&L blog posts that still do say these things; here’s one example that’s my first search result for “scrivener sync” in DuckDuckGo.
On Dropbox being preferred:
“Dropbox is generally the most reliable cloud storage service for Scrivener projects, and some other services can have issues with Scrivener.”
On packages:
“If you use a Mac, iOS, or iPadOS, you see these as “packages;” they look just like single files […] For this reason, you need to treat Scrivener projects a bit differently than other types of files.”
1 Like
Dated July, 2021.
Obviously we can’t control DuckDuckGo’s search index.
1 Like
True. Equally obviously, a search engine isn’t responsible for publishing and maintaining articles on your website.
Thanks for letting us know about the article. It’s worth noting this was written by a contributing author, it’s not an official L&L statement, but I’ve let them know of it so that a correction can be made.
“If you use a Mac, iOS, or iPadOS, you see these as “packages;” they look just like single files […] For this reason, you need to treat Scrivener projects a bit differently than other types of files.”
Well I wouldn’t disagree with that statement, as it isn’t being made about whether or not cloud sync can sync folders and files—rather how we as humans should be aware of the implications of that. If we add 5,000 files in a complex folder hierarchy to Dropbox, or any cloud service, we instinctively know that it’s going to take a while for that to upload and be available on other systems. If the operating system hides the fact that this is what you are actually doing then one might become confused over why their “file” is half empty on the other machine, or why Files.app on iOS chokes over the whole thing and doesn’t copy it at all, save for the container folder.
The problem, as I spoke of above, is when comments like that get twisted into statements about whether or not it is technologically safe to use anything other than one specific brand name to sync folders and files. That’s when you know the telephone has been passed around a bit too much.
2 Likes
I’m the author of that article. It’s true that it’s out of date, and I’m going to make some changes. Cloud services have changed a lot in the past four years - or at least how macOS deals with them.
As AmberV points out, what I said about packages is true. I mention it mainly because anyone working on both macOS and Windows will see a Scrivener project differently. If you come from Windows, and see a single “file” for your Scrivener project, whereas you’re used to seeing a folder on Windows, it’s good to know why. (You conveniently cut out the sentence about Windows in your quote.)
2 Likes