This may not be the correct part of the forum for this question, so my apologies in advance.
I am currently trialling Scrivener for Windows and liking what I see. If I want to buy it, I see it costs extra (naturally) to have it shipped on CD. Therefore, I would prefer to buy the “regular licence” version. However, I would then like to save it to a CD or DVD myself, as that is the handiest way for me if I would ever need to reinstall it.
Given that, my questions are: would Scrivener fit on a CD or would I need a DVD? And after I bought the licence, which file /files (e.g. exe) would I need to save onto the CD/DVD? Currently I have Scrivener-installer.exe sitting on my PC. After buying a licence, would I need to download another / different file / exe? I always keep a spreadsheet of all my software, with relevant serial numbers, etc., so I have that side of things covered.
If you ever need to reinstall, you can download a fresh installer from the L&L website at any time (and get the latest version appropriate to your licence).
So am I right in thinking, then, that that means there is no point in keeping the installer.exe after purchase, because extra stuff will be installed? I imagine extra things will be installed, because the installer.exe is only 83.4 MB on my PC.
I’m just thinking of a future situation where perhaps Scrivener goes out of business (let’s hope it never happens, but, you know), then I buy a new PC, and I want to install Scrivener on it - but can’t.
So, my question is, after buying a licence, would I be able to identify the files to copy to a CD/DVD (serial number to be added on installation) - or given my concerns, would I just have to opt for the slightly more expensive option of a shipped disc?
The installer contains all of the program. There’s nothing else to install. Occasionally, a new version will come out and you can click a button to have it download that new version and replace the older version you had installed previously, but there are no ‘extras’ installed after you set things up. That update doesn’t necessarily store a new installer that’s easy to locate though, so you’d have to re-visit the website to get an updated copy of the installer.
With all that said, Literature and Latte are unlikely to be going away anytime soon. You’re better off subscribing to something like BackBlaze or setting up a robust, local backup process than figuring out how to back up just the program. For that matter, you’ll be well served to consider how to back up your writing before bothering with the program installer.
Thanks, rdale. It must be very efficient coding to do everything in 84 MB. I couldn’t remember whether I was logged on to the internet when I was installing the trial. Some trials, though evidently not this one, download a lot of working parts from the internet, of course.
I do back up my writing and lots of other things. I have a good routine for that all worked out and documented now.
Well, nothing lasts forever, and “soon” is relative, as Mr Einstein would have said, so I like to take a very long view. Thanks for the advice, though.
Very interesting scenario if we apply that to Microsoft. If Microsoft ever went out of business, albeit highly unlikely, what would happen to all the subscribers of Office 365?
I think I might be having a quick peek at open source to cover my cute butt!!
In the unlikely event that L&L disappears, your best bet would be to export your projects to some other format using the last version of Scrivener available to you.
It’s also possible, though tedious, to extract your work directly from the project package without using Scrivener at all. Your work is stored in individual .RTF files, one per Binder item. An Appendix to the manual explains the format in more detail.
Worth knowing, Katherine. After all, can you find a mangle or a crank handle at your local shops these days? So far as I can tell, even snow is almost extinct. I used to have to trudge through snow for three months a year to get to school as a boy. During 2002, I bought all the clothes I would need for the rest of my life. I keep them in my loft, and if I need a new pair of shoes or whatever, I just go up there. So be sure to stock up your loft in case there’s a nuclear war, cos I ain’t sharing. 8)
