I keep getting an RT reader error. The app won’t download any file from MS Word. I can’t save my project either. And, after I attempt to save the app won’t open at all.
Please help.
Thanks.
I’m sorry you’re having difficulties! First, is this using 1.0 or a beta? You can get the 1.0 trial directly from here if you haven’t already; uninstall any existing betas first.
Assuming you’re on 1.0, could you detail the steps you’re taking that are producing these errors? Also if you could get a screenshot of the reader error or type out the exact text, that would be quite helpful to figure out what’s going on.
Do you have Word 2007 or later installed? Scrivener will use a different tool for the conversion of .doc and .docx to .rtf (Scrivener’s native format) depending on whether Word 2007 (or higher) is available, so knowing that will help figure out where the error’s coming in. Just to run through the steps here, you’re talking about trying to import Word files (.doc or .docx?) into your project via File > Import > Files…?
Again, could you go through the exact steps for what you’re doing? Scrivener auto-saves the project every two seconds of inactivity, and manually choosing File > Save will run the exact same process, so I’m unclear what’s happening here. Are you getting an error message? Or is this for when you’re initially creating a project and choosing a location to save it that you get a message saying Scrivener can’t create the project at that location?
This makes it sound like Scrivener crashes when it tries to save and then won’t re-open. Is that what you’re experiencing? Do you recall if Scrivener opens your most recent project by default when you launch the program? If so, it may be that it’s failing on trying to open that program and so the program isn’t opening properly. Try navigating in Windows Explorer to the project that would be automatically opening and changing the name on the .scriv folder or moving it to another location temporarily and then launching Scrivener again. Does the program open?
I am having the same issue. I’m frantic trying to save my work to a flash drive only to get a prompt stating it is unwritable when I check to be sure it is saved.
Thanks so much for your suggestions. I woke up this morning and turned on my computer and the problems have disappeared.
My question now is…will Scrivener import a Word 2010 document that is in my dropbox folder.
I’m wondering if that was an issue.
Also, I’m unclear how to sync dropbox so that I can use Scrivener on my laptop as well.
I’m falling in love with this app 
Have you double-checked that your user account has write permissions to the flash drive and that there is sufficient space on the drive to save the project? Try using File > Backup Project To… and choosing a different location just to ensure you have a saved copy of the project (you could also use File > Save As–just make sure that you can differentiate the new copy you’re saving and the original one that you opened).
I’m glad that everything’s working again, although it’s mysterious! If you do run into any of these issues again, please do let me know, as if there’s a lurking bug here we’ll want to fix that!
Provided that you have access permission, which presumably you do, the location of the file you want to import shouldn’t matter. So yes, Scrivener ought to import your document from the Dropbox folder. If it’s in .doc or .docx format, you may want to save a version as .rtf and then import that if you find that you lose formatting in the initial import. Although Scrivener can import .doc and .docx, and usually this comes across without a problem, the limitations on the importers can occasionally make RTF the better option.
There are two basic options for this. One is to work on your project outside of Dropbox, then save a zipped back up to the Dropbox folder so that you can copy that out of Dropbox on your other computer, extract the project, and work on it. Second option is to keep the project directly in your Dropbox, so that it’s always syncing, and you’ll then just use the same copy on each computer. The first method involves a few extra steps and requires you to make sure you’ve always got the most recent version of the project when you start working, but it prevents the possibility that you’ll get a sync glitch that might corrupt the project file. The second method is a little more hassle free, since you only have one copy of the project you’re dealing with, but you need to make sure you never have the project open on multiple computers and always allow Dropbox to sync completely after you close the project and shut down the first computer and then again to sync completely on the second computer before you open the project. Take a look at chapter 12, “Cloud Integration and Sharing”, in the user manual (Help > Scrivener Manual) for the guidelines on doing this safely. So long as you follow the simple rules to make sure the sync happens correctly, you should be fine. Scrivener 1.0 also makes automatic backups of your project every time you close (an option you can adjust in the “Backup” tab of Tools>Options…), which will provide some extra security if you do run into a problem.