Been a while since I checked the site and came back and noticed there was a new version (I have version 2).
As I recall there were some technical reasons with the file format being a folder that iCloud wasn’t able to support at the time. Has that been resolved with Scrivener 3?
If not, would an uncompressed Zip file format resolve the issue and be easy to implement (I imagine no on the latter)
EDIT: I have the same question about Google Drive. Also, I found an official looking post about related services, but it was from 2009! (A decade old!)
The only problem with iCloud, in comparison with Dropbox (or Sync) is the lack of menubar signal re whether everything is uploaded/downloaded or not, so you have to be extra careful. Also, allowing iCloud to manage your Desktop and Documents folders is a shortcut to disaster! But with care it’s usable, I believe, but I use Dropbox and Sync for active projects, keeping my zipped backups on iCloud.
Google Drive is a much more serious problem, I believe.
I think iCloud is OK for Desktop and Document folders as long as you turn off Maximize Mac Storage. That feature, if activated, will try to save local storage space by keeping some things in cloud storage when they’re not accessed all that often. That doesn’t work well even for “shoebox” apps like Ulysses, and definitely isn’t a good idea for a hybrid app like Scrivener.
Maximising Mac Storage was what I meant was a shortcut to disaster on iCloud, but even with that turned off I don’t use it between my laptops because I can’t check at a glance whether the changes to the project(s) have finished uploading/downloading before I shut down or open the project when I change machines.
The indicators have improved on macOS in Finder. A completion indicator appears in the iCloud Drive sidebar item and affected folders. (It would be nice to have a menu bar icon, for sure.)
I’m not going to die defending this hill, but I really do use iCloud all the time and haven’t had any issues. I sync many apps via iCloud Drive. (Whisper it, but I also sync my Scrivener/Application Support folder, too )
It would be oh so helpful if I could place a Scrivener file onto my iCloud server, and then edit that file from multiple devices (laptop, desktop, iPad, iPhone)?
Will this feature come to Scrivener?
(I’ve been using Scrivener since the beginning. I can’t imagine using anything else.)
You can do now using Dropbox. they have an option for a free account which may suit you. Instructions in the manual and on the L&L support web pages.
Apple iCloud is less reliable and does not provide the API interfaces to give Scriver the options it needs to do robust syncing.
PS. Apple iCloud is a sync service and not a server in the sense that you put files there and edit them there. you edit local copies then Apple takes over and synchronises the files.
I believe for straight synching involving iOS/iPADOS, Dropbox remains the only cloud service that handles the project structure correctly.
As @rms pointed out, there are free Dropbox options that are more than enough for many projects.
Whatever you end up doing, ensure that Offline mode (store projects locally, whatever that cloud calls it) is used. Scrivener projects are not designed to be opened directly from any cloud storage.
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