I’m been unable to create a new project where I want it. The problem has 3 parts. 1: A filename longer than 31 characters causes the error message “Names longer than 31 characters aren’t supported on the destination volume.” Not true; I have longer filenames elsewhere. 2: With a shorter name such as “Test 2,” I get a “can’t create” error. 3: The folder shown in that error message is not the one I chose.
Here’s the folder I aimed for:
/Users/jbranch/Documents/Files/Personal/Writing samples, reviews, book lists/Reviews 2014/The Invisible Hand, NYTW, Nov 2014
Here’s the full text of the error message (note that the subfolder isn’t the same):
“A new project could not be created at '/Users/jbranch/Documents/Files/Personal/Writing samples, reviews, book lists/Reviews 2014/Marlow & Tamburlaine, Nov 2014/Test 2.scriv”
I added /Users/jbranch/Documents/Files/Personal to the folder-access list. No difference. The Finder info panel shows that I have read and write access to the desired folder. (I’m an administrator.)
It does work to create a project in my Documents folder, but none of the subfolders I’ve tried can be used. I quit the program, repaired permissions on my drive, and restarted. Same error.
MacBook Pro (Retina, 15-inch, Late 2013)
OS X Yosemite version 10.10.1
153.64 GB free of 499.05 GB
Scrivener for Mac version 2.6 (25479), Mac App Store version
Thanks for the suggestion. Yes, I am able to do that. When this problem occurred for another project a few weeks ago, that’s exactly how I got around it. So the problem doesn’t keep me from writing. I’d just rather not have to do that.
A good guess, but that makes no difference. I just tried creating a project in …/Documents/Files/Personal and got the exact same error message, including the wrong folder location.
Incidentally, the folder in the error message is the exact place where I first encountered this problem, a few weeks ago. Apart from the Documents folder (which works), any place where I try to create a project causes an error that refers to that original location.
Possibly I should delete my current installation, including its support files, then download and install the same version again. Waiting to hear whether someone else recommends that.
Are you able to create an ordinary file, rather than a project, in that location? If not, then it is probably an OS X permissions issue rather than anything to do with Scrivener.
I just tested saving to the target folder with three other programs: Word, my Mac’s built-in Mail program, and Chrome. All of them were able to save to that folder.
Long shot, but given that it will work in your docs folder, I wonder if it is worth reapplying privileges in Finder to the /Users/jbranch/Documents/ folder and all the enclosed items (subfolders and files).
Or perhaps to the /Users/jbranch/ folder itself.
[attachment=0]permissions.png[/attachment]
Or perhaps removing your user name from Sharing & Permissions and then adding it again.
Also, repairing drive permissions (well worth trying) doesn’t repair user permissions (which might be the issue in this case):
I can think of two reasons why reapplying user permissions shouldn’t make a difference: 1, I already have read-write privileges in the Finder’s info window for the target folder; 2, other programs have been able to save files to that folder. Still, God and computers work in mysterious ways, and there shouldn’t be any harm in trying that idea.
I’m unsure about your second suggestion. For one thing, in my OS (which is version 10.10, aka Yosemite), System Preferences contains a section labeled only Sharing, and that doesn’t appear to control access to my files from my local computer. But there could be something somewhere else in SysPrefs.
Have to go to work now and will get back to this later. Thanks for continuing to offer ideas!
I didn’t mean to change anything in System Preferences.
I meant the privileges applied to folders. For example:
Navigate to /Users/jbranch/
Right click Documents
Choose Get Info
In the window that opens, click on Sharing & Permissions
This is where I was suggesting reapplying privileges to the folder and its enclosed items, and / or to try removing and re-adding your user name to the privileges list (although looking at it now, if it is your own user folder, I don’t think you can remove your name and reapply it). Might be worth trying to reapply the privileges to the enclosed items though. Just click the line as appears in the image below, OS X will ask if you want to proceed, and then it just checks the permissions for you on that folder and its enclosed items.
Ended up seeing a movie after work last night; no chance to reply until now. Thanks for the clarification. I should’ve figured that out myself.
I just reapplied read-write privileges for my user account to my entire Documents folder (including enclosed items), waited for it to complete, and tried Scrivener again, with a six-character filename. It still fails in the same way: it can’t create a project, and the folder it names isn’t the one I selected.
In Sharing & Permissions for my Docs folder, I’m reluctant to try removing my user name entirely and then adding it back. I’d do it if I had an identical test computer; I’d even do it after updating my bootable, full-disk backup, if a developer proposed it. But it seems like overkill. Interesting idea, though.
Let’s try another angle on this. Please try renaming the “problem” folder so that the path contains neither commas nor ampersands. The path seems to be “stuck” in Scrivener’s memory somewhere, and I’m concerned that the special characters might have something to do with that.
Scrivener normally remembers the last save/new project path and will bring up that location the next time you invoke a save window. Normally, if that path isn’t what you want, you just change it and everything is fine. This is all OS X-level stuff: Scrivener just invokes the standard Apple file chooser tool.
My hypothesis is that because the old path contains special characters, the “change path” mechanism is failing to work properly.
I assumed that with the OP having been able to save a different folder already (“It does work to create a project in my Documents folder, but none of the subfolders I’ve tried can be used.”), that the old path would have been cleared / redirected / purged if that was the problem.
I also assumed that the renamed problem path would effectively be the same as an entirely new path / the same as the OP already being able to save to the Documents folder.
Doh! Too many assumptions.
Hope your suggestion works. This is a beguiling puzzle.
Renamed target folder to include no commas, spaces, or other special characters. Now called “The_Invisible_Hand_NYTW_Nov_2014.” Tried creating Test 3 in that folder. Exact same error.
Renamed folder that keeps appearing in error message. It’s now called “Marlowe_and_Tamburlaine_Nov_2014.” Tried creating Test 3 in folder named above (The_Invisible_Hand…). Exact same error, which contains the old folder name:
Tried creating Test 3 project in …/Movies/Temp. That works. This and the results previously reported suggest that something is amiss in the way Scrivener deals with subfolders within …/Documents (all of them that I’ve tried), but it doesn’t affect anything outside that.
Here’s a side note. Katherine wrote,
In all the cases I’ve reported so far, when I’ve tried to create a new project, Scrivener has begun in …/Documents. I assume this is because that folder is the last place I successfully created a project. Now that I’ve created one in …/Movies/Temp, Scrivener began by presenting that location when I started to create another new one. So it’s working properly in that respect.
As for why its error messages are stuck on the folder named “Marlowe…,” I think that was my target folder when this problem first appeared. I got around it then by creating a project in …/Documents and using the Finder to move the project file. I’ve created and used one project since then, in a different location; I don’t remember whether I had the problem that time.
I made one system change sometime during this period: I updated from v10.10 to v10.10.1 of OS X. Thanks for the ongoing suggestions.
Good news: Scrivener now seems to be working properly. Having quit the program a day or so ago, I just launched it again and was able to create a new project in two different locations within subfolders of my Documents folder. I don’t recall whether I had quit the application earlier, during the period in which we’ve been exchanging forum posts. Maybe that’s all it needed.
For future reference, I’d like to know something. Let’s assume that for some reason I want to delete my current Scrivener .app file and replace it with the latest version from this website. I’ve been running the App Store version. Will the website version pick up my registration information and run properly?
