Please help!!
I opened Scrivener on my Mac and had a pop-up asking me which version I wanted to save as there were apparently two. I obviously chose the wrong one and it looks like I have lost three months of work (I have no idea why there were two versions - I have been working and saving the new version for months).
Will the old version be saved anywhere? It doesn’t seem to be in Scrivener’s Trash or my MacBook’s Bin.
Please help!!
Just to add: I’ve checked my settings and it looks like automatic backup wasn’t selected 
Please tell me there is another way!? I don’t understand why this old version was floating around!! I have been saving constantly.
There should still be a version of this project before the accident in your Time Machine backups, even if Scrivener’s backups are disabled.
Looks like I don’t have Time Machine working either. Is there no other secret folder that saves old versions of files?! I’m beginning to lose hope
Where was your project located? Any cloud storage involved (e.g. Dropbox)?
Are you sharing with another device? That’s the most common cause of multiple versions.
If so, you might want to disable that device’s internet access until you figure out what it has. Sync services are really good at propagating mistakes.
I have it all saved on iCloud
I haven’t been actively using another device (although do have scrivener on my iPhone). Ion starting to think this might be an issue with iCloud (I only have this saved on iCloud, stupidly thinking this was enough of a back up)
It’s better than nothing in terms of “oh no, my computer somehow just fell off the roof”, but if you do something unfortunate, it will also sync your problems.
Unfortunately iCloud has no version control, as far as I’m aware. Kind of the opposite of a backup.
There’s still a slim chance that you could find an older version of your project on your phone’s iCloud drive if that wasn’t (after the mishap) and isn’t connected to a network.
P.S. I know it sucks, but I’m pretty sure most people here who champion solid backup solutions learnt it the hard way. I did.
Bizarrely my phone had an even older version stored!
I’m going to start afresh, I don’t trust the old version even if this project.
Can I still save the project on iCloud and then point automatic backups to the main documents folder on my Mac? Or am I best doing it the other way round?
Depends. I store my projects locally and the zipped backups in iCloud drive (and I “sync” via those backups). That’s robust. iCloud tends to act up and sync when it wants sometimes, which is rather unsettling given that Scrivener projects contain many files.
If you often sync with your iOS Scrivener app, generally Dropbox would be the sanest solution (IMHO).
And make sure Time Machine is running (it saves hourly snapshots even if no backup drive is connected). This and / or the default Scrivener backups would have prevented the worst in this case.
This is excellent advice. IMO setting up a Time Machine backup should be every Mac owner’s first act after booting up a new system.