I have had Scrivener on my Win 10 machine for a few years, and had it before that (since 2013). I want to add it to my new Win 11 machine. I see the legacy version only goes to Win 10. So which should I download? I still would like to use the version I have on the Win 10 machine and sync them.
Iâm just a customer, not L&L support. This is just my non-L&L opinion.
If it were me, first Iâd try installing the legacy version on Windows 11, to see if will even install. If it does, create the Tutorial project and try out the features. If it works, great!
If things start failing, then I think your only choice is to upgrade to v3 and install it on both of your PCs.
(You could theoretically leave v1.9 on your Win 10 PC, but every time you want to share a project between PCs, youâd need to downgrade/upgrade the project. I think that would get very old, very quickly.)
You could migrate to v3 in a few steps:
Download & install the free v3 trial on your Win 11 PC. Itâs good for 30 non-contiguous days of use. For the moment, keep v1.9 working on your Win 10 PC, so you can continue to write and work there.
Copy a zipped backup of one of your v1.9 projects (use Scrivener to make the backup via File > Back up > Back up to) from your Win 10 PC to Win 11 PC. Extract the project folder.
The first time you open the v1.9 project in v3, Scrivener will convert it to the v3 format. Consider it a test project and play around with it. Try editing, compiling, navigating, etc.
Be sure to go through the v3 Interactive Tutorial (Help > Interactive Tutorial). This will help greatly with the differences between the versions. v3âs compile is a lot different, and v3 has many new interface features. Also be sure to review the v1 to v3 Upgrade Guide.
When you feel comfortable with v3, buy it. As this is an upgrade, youâll get 45% off the list price (I think).
Youâll need to install v3 on your Win 10 PC. It is possible to have both v1.9 and v3 running on the same PC. (I do.) By default, v3 will be created in a Scrivener3 program folder, so v1.9 will remain on your Win 10 PC unless you specifically uninstall it. I would advise you to keep v1.9 running, as you probably have plenty of legacy projects that you might want to open here and there.
Ok, I was hoping to avoid having to buy the new version, obviously, but youâve certainly broken it down in case I do.
By the way, if one is installing v3 to the same computer where v1 is, wouldnât there be a sync feature rather than go through the backup and reopening?
Have you actually done this, opened a zipped backup from v1 in v3? Just curious how it went, were any manual corrections needed?
TIA
Also, L&L support, if you would are able to weigh in, it will be appreciated.
My recommendation (step #1 above) was that you initially install v3 on the Win 11 PC.
My reasoning:
There will be zero chance of confusion between your v1 âliveâ projects and your v3 âtestâ projects. (Youâd be surprised how many posts we see on the forums where this has happened.)
If you install v3 on your Win 10 PC, then Windows will associate Scrivener projects with v3. When you double-click on a .scrivx Scrivener file, Windows will launch Scrivener v3. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but it could lead to the confusion mentioned in the previous bullet, because if you inadvertently double-click on a v1 .scrivx Scrivener file, v3 will open and ask you to convert the v1 project to v3, which may not be what you want. Youâll still be able to access your v1 projects, but youâll have to launch v1 Scrivener and open your projects via the software. If thatâs how you normally do it, then perhaps not a problem.
The process is called âconvertâ, not âsyncâ. When you try to open a v1 project in Scrivener v3, the first thing that happens is v3 will ask if you if you want to convert to the v3 format. If you say no, then Scrivener wonât open the project. If you say yes, then v3 makes a copy of the v1 project (MyProject.scriv becomes MyProject Backup.scriv), converts the project to v3 format, then opens the (now v3) project MyProject.scriv in Scrivener.
Yes, Iâve converted v1 projects to v3 dozens of times.
Please note, you can not âopen a zipped backupâ in Scrivenerâthis will generate a Scrivener error message. You need to extract the project folder from the zipped backup, then open it in Scrivener 3.
No manual corrections for any of my projects, and you shouldnât anticipate any with yours. But thatâs why I recommend you install the trial and test with some of your projects. As I mentioned in my prior post, the biggest hurdle to overcome will be transitioning to the new compile process. The v3 compiler is superior to v1âs, but you should assume youâll have a learning curve.
Come back to the forums with questions as they arise.
@JimRacâs advice pretty much covers everything you need to know.
Scrivener 1 and Scrivener 3 use different project formats, so it isnât really possible to âsyncâ between them. Once a project has been opened in Scrivener 3, youâll need to back-convert it to the older format to open in Scrivener 1. Youâll be much happier if you have the same version running on both computers.
FWIW, the last substantive updates to Scrivener 1 were in 2018. Itâs definitely a bit creaky at this point.