Could Not Save Project Document - May 2025

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
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I get this error with some regularity.

"Error: the process cannot access the file because it is being used by another process. "

It smells like a file thread/process synchronization issue or a file lock issue. (?)

I have write my saves to Dropbox and it’s been working properly for weeks.
Backups save to the local directory I specify just fine.
I have oceans of hard drive space and 32 gigs of RAM and Scrivener and Firefox (with one open tab) are the only other user apps I have running.
Task Manager reveals only one Scrivener process/thread running (occupying 244MBy of memory)
It seems to have been a problem since 2021??

If I breathe and just walk away for a couple of minutes it seems to silently go away.
…until every few days it looms it’s head again.

If I overreact and shut down the app and the reboot my machine then I pretty much guarantee to have lost my work since the last save. Which shouldn’t be a big deal but - it’s slightly terrifying.
It calls into question the concern about file corruption which I have seen complains about. And file corruption is everyone’s worst nightmare.

Generally saves work flawlessly until they don’t. And it’s this intermittency is what makes it so scary.

So - what is the nature of this issue?
Since it seems to have been around for 4+ years is there any thought about addressing it head on - or at least minimizing the very intimidating error message(s) that pop up?

Thanks in advance.
Running Windows 11.

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2

Make sure the project folder (and, of course, all the project files in it) is set to be available offline.
It looks to me like the whole is cloud-only, and therefore the lag and everything else from your description.

I have my projects on a usb key (nevermind the reason), and I get this message if (being distracted and the project left open when it shouldn’t be) I try to close a project (auto-save) or work on it (auto-save again) with the thumbdrive unplugged.
Which leads me to think that your issue is that Scrivener can’t access the file in time in your case.

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Interesting. This makes total sense to me. Thank you!!

Please pardon the newbie question but when you say to set the project folder to be “available offline” are you saying that this is a setting in the Scrivener application? Is that a setting in options? Or are you really saying that this is a Dropbox thing?

Thanks again!

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A Dropbox thing.
. . . . . . .

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It’s a Dropbox setting.

Right-click on the Dropbox app icon in your taskbar; click your initials (Account) in upper right corner; click Preferences. Select the Sync tab.

Ensure that Available offline is selected.

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When you change the Default sync state to ‘Available offline’, my assumption is that Dropbox will then download to your hard drive any and all files that need to be downloaded. Hopefully that resolves your issue.

Best,
Jim

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