I don’t understand the elaborate method of creating a backup. Why can’t I just copy the .scriv project file to my iCloud directory? Will that not work? If I do that I don’t have to worry about unzipping for restoration.
No. It will work, I suppose.
But: You posted in “Scrivener in iOS” and far as I can tell there is no backup option in that version. It provides a way to “Sync Projects on Close or Rename”. Backup (for device failure) is provided by the Apple-provided backup tool and the synching you may do.
If we were talking about the MacOS version doing it the way you suggest you give up the fully automated way Scrivener creates the backup zips (optionally on open and/or close project), the versioning it provides, and the “just works” aspects. If you don’t automate your copy, then you lose some of your time doing the copy. Your view is that the provided method is elaborate and you are concerned about unzipping. I think differently: the Scrivener-provided method is automated and controlled by two check-boxes to enable or de-enable. Unzipping with Finder is also automated (and a rare thing to do, probably anyway). I don’t see the problems and concerns that you do, but I’m probably looking at it differently. Your mileage may vary, of course.
Finally, don’t forget on MacOS to have a proper overall backup system, e.g. TimeMachine, perhaps remote copies, etc. Discussed fully elsewhere.
You can copy the entire project folder to iCloud, but you’d have to be certain any file transfer completes before you close down.
It is far simpler to simply point the automated backup (zipped or not) to the desired location. Let Scrivener do the work for you. In the unlikely event you need to restore a backup, it’s quick and simple. Why make work for yourself and introduce the possibility of error?
Because it is a folder with lots of files and sub-folders inside it, not a file. On a Mac it looks like a file but is a folder disguised as a file to prevent users from tampering with the files and sub-folders. Each Binder document in a Scrivener project is stored as a file of its own.
By zipping the project it can be handled like a file, if you e.g want to move it to en external HD or to another computer using a thumb drive,
Yes I’m just working on an iPad, and new to Scrivener. I don’t use the macOS or Windows versions (yet).
To backup, apparently I have to go to the list of projects, click Edit, then select the project, then “Send a Copy”, then select a location in Files (which I then select a directory in iCloud). The iPadOS app zips the scriv file and saves it there, with a datestamp included in the name. This is tedious.
Instead I can simply open Files, and copy the scriv to iCloud and it’s the same deal.
Yes, it’s manual, but I don’t see any option for automated backup (to iCloud) in iPadOS.
OK. Frankly, I don’t know how to find the .scriv file on IOS. Someone else might know.
Scrivener projects are actually folders holding dozens/hundreds/thousands of files. You need them ALL and they need to be internally consistent. Zipping the folder into one zip file holding the Scrivener files and structure is actually the best way.
Maybe there is a way to automate (Shortcuts?) if the .scriv file is locatable?. I never explored. I rely on backups on my Mac devices.
Remember: the iPad/iPhone are not real computers like you get with MacOS and Scrivener has to live inside that well-protected (by Apple) ecosystem.
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As an aside, there is an extensive document on backing up iOS projects in the knowledge base.
Overall though, I would say the number of steps involved with either method is roughly the same. The built-in method of making a backup will be far superior if you value a stack of archived zip files that are neatly date-stamped, so you can go back to a certain point in time and recover data. If you’re not that organised and just want some redundant latest-copy stashed somewhere, I suppose messing about in Files is good enough.
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