Changed project name, files empty in iPhone app

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

I recently wanted to change the title of my book so I went in Dropbox and renamed the Scrivener file and folder. That was probably the wrong way to go about it. In Windows, my text is all there as before, but in the iPhone app I now only have a bunch of empty folders with no text in them. Tried syncing several times. Nothing.

2

Try closing Scrivener on all of your devices, then remove the project from Dropbox. Open up Scrivener for iOS and tap sync - the project should disappear from the list. Then close Scrivener again and move the project back into Dropbox. Open up Scrivener for iOS and sync again. Hopefully now when you open the project, everything will be there.

It’s possible this sync issue is unrelated to renaming the file, but in future I would recommend using the File > Save As command in Scrivener to create a new copy of the project with the different name, then replace the original file with the renamed one.

3

Wouldn’t that sync the iOS project to the other devices?

4

No, because the removal event is newer than the iOS version.

5

Hmm. If the file isn’t there on the laptop/desktop, how does iOS Scrivener know it ever existed there (or when it was removed)? What if we wanted the iOS project to become active on laptop/desktop?

6

iOS Scrivener communicates with the Dropbox server, not with the other computers directly. It is the job of Dropbox to maintain the history of what was changed when.

If you wanted the iOS Scrivener version to override all synchronized devices, one way to do it would be to move the project to the “On my iPad/iPhone” area in Scrivener’s project screen. Synchronizing would then make this action the most recent event, removing the project from all connected devices. Then move the project back to the Dropbox area on the original device and resync.

1 Like
7

FWIW, this is a brute force method to fix pretty much any synchronization-related issue:

  • Find or create a “good” version of the project.
  • Put it in a safe place outside of Dropbox.
  • Obliterate all Dropbox versions on all connected devices.
  • Put the known good copy back.

This was sometimes the only way to de-conflict a Scrivener 2 project. The Scrivener 3 format is a lot more robust.