I have recently started using Scrivener 3. When opening a New Project>Fiction>Novel with PARTS>Backup location … It is asking me do I want to save in the “Owner Folder”
What exactly is the “Owner Folder”?
Never seen that, and I’ve used the Novel with parts template several times, both Win and Mac. Do you have a screenshot?
Hi.
Never seen that either.
But you don’t have to be bothered with it. Just save the project where you want it, plain and simple.
(I assume the “owner folder” would be something like C:\Users\Yourname)
As for the backup location, if I recall correctly it only asks the first time, when you don’t have one set yet.
Set it somewhere aside from where you plan your project – and future ones – to be located. (Name a folder something like “Scrivener backups” and point to that.)
You can change it (the backup location) afterwards, at will, in the options. In the options, still, you can also set your backups to be suffixed with a timestamp, and/or be zipped – which is preferable.) File / Options / Backup
In short : if
… is a yes/no question, I’d say “no” and set a location myself.
(From your post I don’t know if the question is about where to save the project or where should your backups go, but it doesn’t really matter, I’d say “no” anywhich way.)
I’m confused by Scrivener’s insistence on doing Backup. I’ve worked on Final Draft and there is only one location your work is saved to. After that you export it to PDF and save it where you want it for future use. Right now my Backup folder is the C drive on my desktop. When I click Choose - it doesn’t give me many options.
Should I do Backup to OneDrive?
When I create a new project, saving it to OneDrive mean I’ll be writing directly in OneDrive or is that the Backup? By default, do projects save in your C drive?
One Drive is excellent for Scrivener backups. Make sure you select compress to .zip so there’s just the one file for the whole project.
The instance on backup is just common sense. We should always have backups of our projects and computers. I suggest setting your backups to 25 as that gives you more chances if recovering from an incremental failure.
One tip. If everything goes wrong, before you start poking around in backups, copy all your backups to another folder (so your attempts to recover don’t overwrite oldest backups) then come here and outline the issue for any tips on the best way to recover. (especially if you’re new to scrivener). There’s a few very knowledgable people and L&L staff on here happy to help
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In Scrivener, projects should be stored in one specific folder, e.g. ~/documents/scrivener. Each project is a folder with dozens/scores/hundreds of subfolders each containing files and yet more subfolders.
If you set project to your local Onedrive, which then Microsoft OneDrive (not Scrivener) syncs to the offsite servers, make sure you have set that folder to be “offline”. Otherwise, Microsoft OneDrive will “help” you save disk space and delete stuff they chose–not you–on your computer to make the files “online”. Bad things then happen with Scrivener if random Scrivener files are deleted from the local drive.
Unless you have a reason to sync project files, and making backups is not a reason IMHO, then keep project files local and not synced, IMHO.
In Scrivener, you can setup Backups to be in a different folder (backup location), e.g. ~/backups/scrivener. You should set backup files names to include a date stamp and make a compressed “zip” file for each backup. There are other settings for backups you can chose. I chose to backup on close, save 25 copies, etc. Have a look at those settings.
As @RuffPub says, ok to designate the location for the backup zip’s the OneDrive folder on your desktop which Microsoft OneDrive (not Scrivener) manages the sync to their offsite servers.
The key is to keep projects in one place and backups in another place.
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Thank you. I have another question:
When creating a NEW PROJECT - I want to start a Novel with Parts. It asks you to save it to a location. Is this the Backup location or is this where you will be writing your text (Text Editor) Does your project save in the C drive Local Folder in Scrivener & saves in the Backup? Because I am planning on using OneDrive for my Backup. However that doesn’t mean I will be working right in the OneDrive file. I’m confused.
Please re-read what I said above, and if that not sufficient, please re-read Chapter 5 of the Scrivener Manual. No need to repeat all this.
Project files. All in one place. I use and recommend ~/documents/scrivener (explained above). Unless there is a reason to use a synced folder, don’t.
Back up files: are not project specific. I use and recommend ~/backups/scrivener. Ok to use a folder synced with Microsoft OneDrive if used as described by @RuffPub and me. Scrivener has no part in syncing.
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That’s where the main folder of your project (with all the files pertaining to in it) will be created.
DO NOT USE ONEDRIVE FOR THIS. (Unless you plan on syncing, and don’t mind things going south. If you plan on syncing, read about it first. OneDrive is not ideal.)
The backup location is global for all projects (unless specified otherwise for a particular project). The location is set in the options.
For the rest, yes, reread @rms’
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Thanks for all the info. Much appreciated.
Update: I have 2 projects now - one in Novel template and the other in Novel w/ Parts template.. BOTH files are in Scrivener Projects -
- Is Scrivener Projects the local drive? (C Drive) I believe that it is.
I went in and re-set my Backup location to Google Drive.
- Will my file be auto-saved to Google Dr for Backup or is this something I have to do manually? If so, how?
Re-read above. Here you are not specific enough for us to comment. I have no idea where in the so-called “C Drive” you mean. Again, re-read above.
Scrivener will only create a backup file if you have configured it to create a backup file in the location you specify–now you changed to GoogleDrive from Microsoft OneDrive. Scrivener does not “auto-save” backups. It creates them in accordance with how you told Scrivener to do them. Once in the local Google Drive folder, it’s up to how you told Google Drive to work as to how it will work.
At this point, perhaps re-read all of the above advice and re-read Chapter 5 of the Scrivener Manual.
How should we know? It’s your computer.
As noted, the backup options are configurable. Scrivener will do what you tell it to do. For Google Drive in particular, you should tell it to make ZIP backups, as Google Drive has known issues with unzipped Scrivener projects.
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You decide where you want your projects. Create a dedicated folder where it accommodates you the most, and when asked where to create a new project, point to it.
You’ll have all of your projects neatly together.
Just don’t mix your backups with your projects.
1- No point backing up stuff if it is to have the backup rest at the same place than the whatever it is you want to protect.
2- High risk of confusion and regrettable errors, as non-zipped backups look pretty much like the source project.
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I have done that in settings - compress automatic backups as zip files.
Alright. Awesome. Just learning Scrivener. Written scripts on Final Draft however the amount of features on this software can be overwhelming. Lots to learn. Thanks for the help.
Yeah I’m backing up to Microsoft Word and Google Drive.
Microsoft Word a poor and impossible backup site. I suspect you mean Microsoft OneDrive. Impossible in Scrivener to specify two backup locations for Scrivener automatic backups.
Good luck in your journey. Maybe use Final Draft?
I use Fade In for scripts. While I use Scrivener (plus a certain not to be spoken about app) for pretty much everything else, I just find the dedicated script apps better. Final Draft is the industry standard, but Fade In at a fraction of the price has all the scriptwriting features of FD and more, plus costs a fraction of the price. (and exports to fix)
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