As is discussed extensively elsewhere, other cloud services do not handle Scrivener projects correctly and/or do not offer the programming tools needed to implement synchronization. When and if they do, we will certainly consider supporting them as well.
Dear Scrivener
I echo the previous poster. Whilst I’m not sure cloud choice is a human right, I think you are putting your eggs in one basket by only syncing to one cloud provider.
Unfortunately Dropbox is not working with OSX Sierra reliably. It didn’t work fantastically with El Capitan either.
For me That means I can’t sync with the IOS version. This is very frustrating and a waste of the $30 AUD I just spent for the IOS version with the view of using one on the train and one at home…
I suggest you need to put some redundancy in your cloud storage. I’m sure there are some clever people at icloud or gdrive who could help bridge the gap.
Perhaps you need to report the issues directly to support?
Dropbox sync has worked flawlessly for me using Mac (Sierra), Windows and iOS and does for many others, so perhaps it’s something to do with your individual setup rather than the process itself? In the meantime, you can use iTunes to manage the syncing if you don’t feel you can trust Dropbox syncing. Less convenient but better than nothing until you can overcome the glitches with your Dropbox setup.
You’re not keeping your Dropbox folder in the Documents or Desktop folders, and then using the iCloud Desktop feature of Sierra, are you? Combining the two is bad news (Dropbox issued a warning in this regard).
Without more information, it’s impossible to know why Dropbox is misbehaving. It is our service of choice in part because we have found it to be more reliable than the alternatives, not less. Please feel free to contact our support address if you’d like to work through the specific issue that you are having.
Note also that the “perfect” synchronization service does not exist. Any service will fail if the device’s internet connection fails. Any service can lead to data corruption if a failed internet connection allows the project to exist in several versions at once. It is entirely possible that whatever circumstances are causing Dropbox to be unreliable would also affect any other service you might choose.
One clear major issue with Dropbox: it is blocked by the Great Firewall of China. I’ve found Scrivener+Dropbox+VPN to be less reliable than normal (where normal = dropbox is the technically the best cloud service even if I do dislike that Condoleezza Rice is on the board!!!).
So Scrivener’s reliance on Dropbox stops Chinese users benefitting from sync, but I suspect that is a fraction of the current user base…
Finding an alternative to Dropbox that works reliably in China is a tricky one. Most of the mainstream US cloud storage providers are blocked by now and most of the Chinese cloud services have been closed over the past year. There’s no guarantee that even the big services like Baidu Cloud will be able to continue providing cloud storage (and of course it’s a moot point if Baidu Cloud can’t support Scrivener’s syncing needs). So it’s going to be hard to justify implementing an alternative sync over the cloud method with a view to supporting users in China, who will probably need to work on keeping one step ahead of the GFW with a VPN themselves.
An alternative that strikes me is the old fashioned sync over local wifi network method, I wonder if this is any way plausible? It would be great to have something to fall back on when in China. Even the best VPNs get cut off from time to time, and when this happens it seems like the risk is high of the sync becoming corrupted.
iTunes sync will work over either WiFi or a direct cable. That’s always going to be the best alternative if the internet is unavailable or insufficiently secure.
Thank you for your reply Katherine. I assume that you mean copying the file to and from the iOS device via File Sharing in iTunes?
As we are just talking about feature suggestions, what I had in mind was something more like the syncing between the Mac and iOS versions of Bookends, which can be initiated by clicking ‘Sync’ when both devices are on the same wireless network. This would be a good substitute for the real syncing over Dropbox while users are in China.