Hi, I work with my Scrivener file in Dropbox, even if I mainly use iDrive for my workflow. Once I finished, I archive the scrivener file in the “right” folder in iDrive. Usually I don’t open it anymore, but it could happen sometimes. Is this bad? May I lose some content?
Yesterday one of this file was empty. Structure was in the binder, but every scene was empty (I had backup!). Other files are ok. Thank you.
It sounds like the complete project was not downloaded from the cloud. A lot of cloud services will download the files on demand (in order to “help” you out) but this does not work well with Scrivener. If you want to use a project that is on a cloud service, make sure the directory where the project is located is set to “keep all files locally” (or whatever the setting is for the cloud service).
To archive a project, I would suggest taking a separate backup, and setting the Zip option, and keeping that as your archived version. That way you have to explicitly unzip the project before you can use it, and it makes it easier to move it between systems since it is a single file.
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With iDrive, is it completely in the cloud, and did you try to open it directly from the cloud (a big no)
As above, your archived copies should ideally be .zip backups. They can exist on just about any cloud service. If you need them, download the .zip to your local drive, expand it then open. Never try to open a project from within a .zip. It may open, but edits will be lost.
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I have IDrive and love it. But you have your project folder on your computer which IDrive backs up. The project folder should always be on your computer locally except for Dropbox. Remember your zip backups are saved by IDrive as well. So if you lost your project, you can recreate from a zip backup and lose nothing. I make sure my project is set to backup on close (Options/Preferences in Backup section) and I set it to close automatically if inactive for set time. ( I pick several hours). The automatic close will trigger a backup, even if I walk away and forget. (Options in General section).
I don’t think this exception exists.
Technically L&L support it, I would not do it, but I am strictly windows enviornment.
Can you provide a source?
Here is from their knowledge base Using Scrivener with Cloud-Sync Services / Cloud Syncing / Knowledge Base - Literature and Latte Support
No, I mean a source that supports the idea that
because the linked document says “… We recommend ensuring that Scrivener projects are always available ‘offline.’ …”. (In the “Guidelines for Using Dropbox” section.)
Let me clarify, you can have the project file on dropbox as long as set to have files available offline, So could do that way, I do not. I did not mean to imply you should have a project folder solely on line with dropbox, though is technically feasible.
Yeah. You can do that with any sync service. That’s how they operate. As far as Scrivener is concerned, there’s no such thing as a cloud. It’s either offline (local) or nothing. No exceptions.
Not trying to be a pain in the ass here, but I’m so tired of reading “oh no, my masterpiece is empty” posts (99% resulting from files not being offline).
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Thank you for all your answer.
Let me add something.
I used to have scriv file on dropbox for syncing with ipad. When finished, I put them in my computer local drive (that was also on onedrive, but I did not care about it since I did not need to have them synced). A couple of years ago onedrive messed everything up, and now every cloud service is first online, then local. I forgot some old file in the old folders, but it always worked because I forced them to be also local. This is the first time I see a file corrupted like this, even if I forced iDrive to keep it local. But it doesn’t obey: corrupted file is far smaller than file rescued from backup (it contains some pic). Possibly the problem is not caused by the cloud service, could be the file itself went corrupted for some reason? Anyway, I’m moving every file in dropbox, in another folder so I don’t see them synced with ipad. Thanks again.
I agree the confusion arises because of the advocacy of using Dropbox to share a project . I rely heavily on a multiple backup option for zip backups only to avoid these issues. Yes , I have to unpack the zip file and create a new udpated project folder when I change location and computer, but is a safer approach and have not lost any data in 4 years. Thank god my unpublished Masterpiece is safe.
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How?
Modern hardware is pretty reliable. Losing data to “bit rot” is extremely rare.
There is no mechanism in Scrivener that is capable of deleting data when Scrivener is not running. Even when Scrivener is running, it will only delete data when instructed by the user.
In other words, files don’t corrupt themselves. If data was lost or damaged, some mechanism occurred to remove or damage it.
The behavior you describe – a Binder with empty files – is explained by the master index file (.scrivx) being separated from the data components of the project. Incomplete synchronization from a cloud service is by a wide margin the most common cause of this issue. It can also occur when misguided “cleanup” utilities poke around inside the project structure, or if some mechanism – either human or software – copies the master index file without the rest of the project.
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