I haven’t had this problem in Scrivener previously, and I’ve been using it since v.1. I opened a book file and though the word count is correct, the binder shows all the chapters and sections correctly, body text is gone. Then I scroll down on the page and toward the bottom, a smaller version of the page appears. I could increase the zoom and scroll down but as soon as I try to select text, it vanishes. Just upgraded to 3.5.1 hoping that would fix it, but it hasn’t. It’s file-specific as my other files appear fine. But this is my active book… Help!
Is the project stored with Dropbox, iCloud, or any similar service?
It has been on iCloud for over two years with no issue. I shared it between my iMac and my MacBook Pro with no problems at all. I did attempt (and dropped it) to use DropBox to enable me to work on a file between my iMac and my iPad Pro, which was the whole reason I bought the iOS version of Scrivener (along with the Windows and Mac versions). I gave up trying to work between Windows and Mac, and won’t bother with any Windows versions at all in the future.
The Mac version hasn’t been a problem until now. And tonight I got a really big scare in that a book I hadn’t touched in months, also stored on iCloud all that time, loaded fine on my iMac UNTIL I typed into the Editor to work on it. And it did the same thing—all text appeared to vanish throughout the book.
Ideally, as I like your tool a lot, we can figure this out. I already have Vellum for final formatting and just bought Atticus for its Cloud-centrism. If Scrivener can continue to be reliable, I want to use it and advise writers in my local writing groups to do the same.
I’m hoping this can be resolved because when I’m at home, I want to use my iMac, and when I’m out, my MacBook Pro. I hoped to make it work with the iPad Pro, but it looks like that was a failed experiment. Hopefully this won’t be as well, as I like your Editor better than I do the others.
Just can’t risk losing hours’, weeks’, sometimes years’ worth of work.
I’m wondering if there is a new yet-to-be-acknowledged issue with Dropbox itself:
I witnessed first hand a disappearing document in Scrivener iOS last week on a friends iPad: She was writing in a scene, switched to another app, went back, and the scene was gone. Just an empty document. The Scrivener file was living on Dropbox. Neither of us could figure out what had happened.
The OP uses Apple’s iCloud I think. How, not stated. I use Dropbox no problems. Ever. iCloud and/or work process probably the root cause.
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You’re right, rms, I have been using iCloud to maintain synch between my Macs. I did experiment with using DB as Literature & Latte recommends, but only for synching a file between a Mac and iOS. It was a resounding fail, so I won’t be using the iOS version anymore. Early on I had a similar experience synching between Mac and Windows, and I suspect the version difference was the problem, but I dropped that as well.
The thing that’s throwing me is that I’ve used iCloud to do this for several yers with no problems. At the same time, and I wonder if this is a helpful clue: The version of the file on my iMac is affected by this. The version on the MacBook Pro is not. Yet the file is stored on iCloud and synched between the local drives.
When I had the same thing happen last night with a different book, I began to wonder if this has more to do with some setting on the iMac installation of Scrivener. I can’t imagine what, as I haven’t changed settings in over a year.
Thanks for your input and ideas.
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Scrivener can’t work unless all the file are local to the machine. If an incomplete sync makes some files unavailable, then Scrivener and you can’t work.
The problem here is Apple’s iCloud. Either temporary or how it works. iCloud doesn’t work reliably for some apps for some people. I think that’s happening to you. Apple provides few ways to debug.
I don’t know why you chose not use Dropbox, but it more reliable for many–including me for years. As long as you give it time to sync everything up, then down, all will be ok. Scrivener has documentation for how to setup and use Dropbox and on iOS it works in a very integrated way. Dropbox’s API is more sophisticated than iCloud. That’s why Scrivener uses it.
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What struck me was that you said “a book I hadn’t touched in months, also stored on iCloud all that time, loaded fine on my iMac UNTIL I typed into the Editor to work on it”.
I just wondered if the fact that it hadn’t been touched for months had resulted in it being stored on the iCloud server and was no longer on your hD/SSID. Then although it seemed to “load fine” it hadn’t all been downloaded before you made the change, and your making changes resulted in the empty/not-yet-downloaded files on your iMac propagated back to the server… just a thought.
Have you checked your Backups for pre-saved files?
Mark
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Good point. Perhaps with macOS finder, select the folder in iCloud holding the book, right mouse pick, and select “Keep Downloaded” and maybe it will download the entire book to recover it.
That being said I have never tried to use iCloud files on iOS Scrivener, so can’t help with that.
But the OP was using iCloud between MacBook Pro and iMac, not iPad.
I’ve never used iCloud for live Scrivener projects, as I found it (a) rather slow, and (b) not as transparent as either Dropbox or Sync, both of which show synchronisation status in the menu bar.
Mark
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Good catch. While I missed that detail, I did wonder how to use iCloud with iOS. I also never used Apple’s iCloud for Scrivener or any app not designed to use it.
I appreciate all the suggestions and they have helped. The local copy on the iMac said it had completely downloaded ten hours prior, so I doubted an incomplete sync.
For context, I work as an AI Solutions Architect with a background in cybersecurity and Big Data. Just pointing out that I’m not a hysterical user freaking out that “the technology doesn’t like me,” lol.
I was very suspicious as to why, after several years, this became an issue, but a clue above pointed out that if Apple changed something about how iCloud synced…
And I was wrong about the sync, though there were no visible signs of it. Following a suggestion above, I logged into iCloud online instead of just using the locally synced iCloud folder. I downloaded the file and boom, it was intact.
Thank you guys very much for your ideas and solutions. Maybe I’ll venture into using the iOS version again at some point, too…that is, if the technology likes me better, lol.
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Glad you got it sorted. As I said, I don’t use iCloud for live Scrivener projects, and always make sure that they are permanently available locally… also that the backups are on my local disk and that all is on a local external SSD.
Scrivener is, and always has been remarkably solid and trustworthy; such rare, minor problems as I have faced have always been the result of being in too much hurry and not letting Dropbox or Sync do their stuff fully before shutting down.
Mark
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Apple has a number of annoying sync-related habits.
The first and most insidious is that because the Ghost of Steve Jobs (allegedly) knows best, they’ll sometimes change the sync settings as part of an OS update.
Which is especially fun in combination with the “Optimize Mac Storage” setting and the “Documents and Desktop” setting. Both of these settings can lead to data being whisked away to iCloud without your knowledge or consent, and you only discover the problem weeks or months later when suddenly Apple has “helpfully” “optimized” an important file right out from under your nose.
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I have been experiencing some pretty laggy iCloud syncs after the new Apple updates—files created in shared folders not appearing, notes not being updates between devices—so especially if you’re on macOS 26, I would not be surprised that iCloud is to blame.
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Another user reports a new and very worrying behavior where iCloud appears to be actively corrupting files, rather than just disappearing them.
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I received a report on my iPhone at about 11:15 this morning. To be able to check it, I saved it immediately to iCloud. As it hadn’t propagated to my Mac Mini after 5 minutes, I air-dropped it onto the Mac Mini.
It is now 17:42 and it is still not showing on my iCloud account on the Mac Mini. I don’t know if the fact that the iPhone is running iOS 26.1 and the Mini is running MacOS 15.7.2 has anything to do with this!
I’m beginning to feel I can trust iCloud even less.
Mark
That sort of delay with Apple’s iCloud is not unknown to me to happen over the years. i suspect this not new. Why? Dunno. I have noticed that iCloud seems to be “quick” (relative word) when handling sync for Apple’s apps’ (Calendar, Contacts, Pages, …etc.) and other apps with “simple” file structures/collections., but not so quick for my “files” as you noticed. For a long time I rely on AirDrop, or if not available, then Dropbox. All anecdotal observations, of course.
I’ve found iOS generally delays background sync based on various things: battery level, whether it’s on a charger or not, current load, and whether on a wifi or not. For example, the Photos Library on iCloud won’t generally sync if the phone is under moderate use and/or not on a charger.
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I am very disappointed to learn that the symptoms have recurred with NO SYNCING involved. The books I downloaded from my iCloud manually into my local Mac Downloads folder loaded fine immediately afterward.
Today? Same exact issue as before. This is no longer related to syncing. And if it’s a Mac problem, I assume more people would have seen it. So something between my Mac’s configurations and those of Scrivener.
As a test, I could re-download the file from iCloud and see if that fixes it for a day, as before. Still, not a permanent solution or in any way useful.
To be explicit, these are local files that opened fine yesterday. I don’t use any third party security or optimization tools which could tamper with a file. And today they behave exactly as the ones before, which had been in a local folder as well, but one synced with iCloud.
Are there any other suggestions you guys have come across?
One weird symptom I hadn’t mentioned, though might be relevant: all the templates appear to be gone.