To solve a sync problem between a Scrivener project on my computer and Google Drive, I’d like to know If Scrivener automatically saves files as a backup elsewhere than the Backup folder chosen in Backup/preferences.
Does it automatically save something in User/Library/Application Support?
Thanks in advance
No, just where you tell it.
There’s an L&L advisory against using Google Drive for syncing: https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/cloud-syncing/google-drive-advisory
Best,
Jim
Thanks. Didn’t know that! What service do you suggest to use? I need to backup my project from MY COMPUTER to the cloud automatically. Is it Apple iCloud enough?(it automatically backups Desktop&Documents folders)
I’ve used iCloud for the Backups folder for a long time without any issues.
I actually iCloud–sync Scratchpad, Projects, and ~Library/Application Support/Scrivener, too – the last via a symlink – to ease working on multiple machines. Obviously you need to be a bit careful when moving between machines to ensure sync’ing has completed. Caveat: My projects are not multi-gigabyte in size, which – from observation – is frequently the issue.
Are you clear about saving Back-ups versus saving the active project?
You can set Scrivener to save a zipped back-up of your project every time you open or close it—I do the latter—setting it to start the back-up name with the date and time, to make it easy to identify them in terms of being recent. Those back-ups you can save anywhere, including Google Drive as they are zipped and won’t be corrupted. You might also think of how many back-ups should be kept; the default is 5, but you can set it in preferences to a higher number
Saving the live project is completely different. Scrivener saves changes every time you pause for a give time, default 2 seconds. That is saved where you told it to save it when you created the project. The live project should not be saved to Google Drive. The safest for sharing between computers is Dropbox; iCloud is possible, but not if you have it set to “Optimise Mac Storage” and to “Manage Desktop and Document Folders”; the other thing about iCloud in my experience is that it is less transparent about whether sync’ing is complete.
Read the TenderApp advisory if you’re planning to work on your project on more than one computer:
scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb … c-services
and follow the links to the advisories at the bottom of that page.
HTH
Mark
EDIT P.S. Bear in mind that although it appears in your Mac finder as if it is a file, in fact it is a package which contains many files, in some cases even thousands. That is why taking care sync’ing your live project is so important.
That was very useful, thank you very much.
Be aware that the Documents and Desktop feature is potentially extremely hazardous, especially if the “Optimize Mac Storage” box is checked. Optimizing storage means that Mac OS can decide that some files should be stored only in the cloud, and downloaded to the local computer as needed.
Scrivener, in contrast, expects all files to be stored locally and available immediately. As a result, this option can lead to “lost” work, where Scrivener shows an empty file because the contents haven’t downloaded yet.
In addition, none of the “Cloud” services handle it well if you try to store more data than your account’s payment plan allows. Consequences range from simply refusing to upload the new data, with or without an error message, to throwing away old data to make room for the new.
Katherine