Downloads not working

[anauraine]

Mac OS Monterey, 12.3.1
Scrivener 3.2.3–Transferred from another Mac

TWO ISSUES

1. Scriv won’t perform auto complete in document

2. I’ve tried downloading files stored in Dropbox and they won’t download. This is TERRIFYING! I have ALOT of older books which I now can’t access.

MESSAGE COPIED BELOW

The project at “/Users/annettenauraine/Dropbox/TEMP MOVED FOR SAFETY 6-7-2021/Edward-Amourous Austrian.scriv” seems to be of an older format, but no binder.scrivproj file could be found inside it. It may be missing or corrupt, possibly because of a problem with the device on which it is stored, or because of a synchronisation problem.

Try ctrl-clicking on the project in the Finder and selecting “Show Package Contents”, then look for a file entitled ‘binder.scrivproj’. Ensure it has not been renamed by a backup routine. If it does not exist, try restoring from a backup.

[RuthS]

The error you received is likely related to Dropbox not working well with MacOS Monterey.

First, please open a Finder window via your Mac’s Dock. Then, please select your Dropbox folder in the left-hand sidebar. Next, please use a Ctrl+Click on the folder where your Scrivener projects are stored.

You will want to select “Make available offline” in the list of Dropbox services near the bottom of the little panel that opens. That should force Dropbox to download all of the Scrivener project’s files and folders, including its internal index file. And, your Mac should be able to open that project once the material is all downloaded.

Once Dropbox has finished downloading your project, you should see a green check mark when it has finished saving all of your materials to local storage.

You may also want to review your Dropbox settings to confirm whether new files are stored automatically for online-only storage or are kept locally on your computer.

To do this, please go to the Dropbox icon on your Mac’s menu bar and select your user ID and then select Preferences.

In the panel that opens, please select the Sync tab and review your settings in the New files default drop-down.

You can also click the “Select Folders” button and choose which folders are kept in local storage if you want to keep only a few items locally.

As for the auto complete issue, have you reviewed your settings in Scrivener > Preferences > Corrections to confirm that it should be completing words as you type?

You might also see if TextEdit will auto-complete words. It uses the same text engine as Scrivener (as opposed to Pages and Word, which have their own engines). If TextEdit is also having issues, then it may be OS-related.

[anauraine]

Text edit completes words
I have a book series with many of the same words. It doesn’t work on Monterey
Pls advise.

[drmajorbob]

Are you working in scriptwriting mode? If not, the checkbox disables auto-completion. You have it limited to the Scrivener auto-complete list, too.

[anauraine]

Thanks. This was somehow set when I installed. I didn’t change anything, but that fixes it.

[drmajorbob]

It always pays to read the dialogs you’re seeing.

[anauraine]

Back to issue #2. I use Dropbox for my backups. If the file has been renamed and I don’t have an earlier backup, then what?

[reepicheep]

You put your backups on Dropbox as well as your Projects?

[anauraine]

I’ve had a terrible time getting that to work. I can’t seem to figure it out.

I’ve looked at some old ‘backups’ and this is what I find.
Inside the Data file is nothing but a string of empty subfolders with alpha-numeric labels.

[drmajorbob]

@reepicheep

You put your backups on Dropbox as well as your Projects?

It’s fine to put both in Dropbox, but in different folders. You should have other backups entirely, too, but Time Machine is enough for that.

[reepicheep]

@drmajorbob

You should have other backups entirely, too, but Time Machine is enough for that.

Yup. Time Machine is my go to backup.

With the latency of synching to Dropbox the cause of some users’ problems adding more network traffic to/from Dropbox feels inadvisable. Not that convinced of using iCloud for backups either for the same reason.

[drmajorbob]

@reepicheep

With the latency of synching to Dropbox the cause of some users’ problems adding more network traffic to/from Dropbox feels inadvisable.

Users are generally the cause of those problems, but sure.

[RuthS]

In your screenshot, it looks like you’re attempting to access Dropbox via a web browser. You won’t be able to do much (if anything) via Dropbox’s website.

Instead, you’ll need to use your Mac’s Finder window to access the Dropbox folder that should have been installed on your computer.

When you use a Finder window to access Dropbox, you’ll then be able to tell which Scrivener projects have local access because they’ll have a green checkmark. The ones still marked as online-only will have a cloud icon.

When you use a Finder window, your Mac should allow you to either open those projects from within the Dropbox folder or drag those backups out of Dropbox and into your Mac’s Documents folder. The latter should force the backups to download.

You should then be able to unzip them (if they’re compressed) and access their contents.

If you renamed the project and none of the backups match the either the old or new file’s name, you might use a Finder search to see if backups for that file are located anywhere else on your Mac. You can try searching for .scriv, .bak, or .zip.

If you’re still unable to locate any backups for that renamed file, then you may not have any to work with.

And, if dragging the renamed file out of Dropbox and to your Mac’s actual hard drive doesn’t allow you to work with it, please use either the form or the email links on our contact us page to submit a help request.