I gnerally work on my project on my Mac and do lighter editing on my iPad.
I always close the project on the Mac and it automatically syncs to Dropbox.
However I often forget to sync the iPad to Dropbox and only remember the moment I open the project on the Mac. If I try to sync the iPad to keep the changes, I’ll get a message that there are pending changes from the Mac and to close the project before syncing. But if I do that, the Mac (with no changes and without the changes from the iPad) will overwrite the work on the iPad. I know that sometimes I’ll get a message about conflict resolutions on the Mac but I’m not sure what sequence of changing and saving triggers them.
Basically I’m wondering if I forget to sync from the iPad and then open the project on the Mac, how I can somehow save the changes made on the iPad. At the moment I shriek with horror and compile the iPad draft so that I can manually track the changes, though obviously if the project is long this is very time consuming and difficult.
In the main project overview screen on the iPad, tap the Edit button.
Select the project that is out of sync, and then tap the Share button.
This will zip the project as it stands on the iPad, and then offer to send it somewhere. AirDrop to the Mac is the easiest in most cases, but do whatever works best.
Now on the Mac, unzip that copy somewhere temporary, like Downloads, and open your main project.
Use the File ▸ Import ▸ Scrivener project... menu command.
You should receive an offer to merge these two projects together, rather than fully import A into B, select merge. That’s going to be way better than compiling and poring over text changes, because that actually merges things beyond text changes, like the position of outline items in the draft, newly created items, label assignment changes, etc. If it does come across conflicts, items that were changed on both devices without syncing, it will set them aside in the binder for you to take care of (in a manner you may have seen before with regular syncing). It will also create a Collection of all items changed, so you can review what did change, more easily.
Also, do consider going into Settings.app on your iPad, and under Scrivener’s section, enable the option to automatically sync on project open/close. Then you only have to remember to close when you’re done, which you should always do anyone, on the iPad (not so much of a big deal on the Mac if all you are syncing to is the iPad).
P.S. I’m moving this to the Mac section, since this particular trick doesn’t work yet on Windows.
I do have auto sync on close selected on my iPad. My problem is that I often do something else immediately afterwards and think that I’ve closed it when I haven’t. That’s on me, so I’ll have to be more aware.
Got it, I’m so much the same way that I can’t really use “live” sync for much of anything. I always make a mess, in and out of Scrivener, even with nothing but a simple folder of txt files.. I tend to prefer more procedural ways of working because that’s easier for me to keep track.
That said, the above method is actually a workflow rather than a recovery or a troubleshooting procedure. This is how you would collaborate with one or more colleagues, collecting their updated projects and merging them into a master, then distributing the merged copies out for another round of edits.
You’re just doing that with your own copies. So it’s quite safe, well tested, and not a big hassle if it becomes necessary now and then.
I tend to prefer more procedural ways of working because that’s easier for me to keep track.
So it’s quite safe, well tested, and not a big hassle if it becomes necessary now and then.