I have several scrivener projects and use folder sync on a few of them. The only documents I am interested in are what are in the main manuscript (‘draft’ folder). However, when I create a favourite in another editor (for example IA Writer) I end up with multiple shortcuts called ‘draft’, making it difficult to workout which is which. I don’t want to shortcut to the parent folder as I then have to navigate down to the draft folders all the time rather than going to them directly which gets tiresome.
Is it possible to change the name of the ‘draft’ folder so the sync folder results in a sub-folder named something other than ‘draft’. If not, can I request this on the wish list? Thanks
If by “folder sync” you mean sync with external folder, this function is intended so that you can edit documents in a third party app then have Scrivener update them back into your project without formatting loss (style assignations, Scrivener specifics, ect.). Not to generate files intended to definitively exist outside of your project. If so, use export instead. You’ll have more control on the name of the destination folder, files prefixed with a number or not, and what to actually export.
Multiple exports would allow you to export specific files to different folders. ← Is this not what you want?
You’ll also spare yourself the trouble of having your project updated with the modified files if that ain’t what is intended… You might think using sync with external folder works for what you intend, the very first time, the target folder being empty, but after that Scrivener not only “exports” files that were since modified in your project, it also “imports”/updates those modified in its back. It is a two way process. And that’s where things would go south. If you want your project to remain as it is, that’s the wrong approach.
Yes I did mean sync with external folder. My problem is that the documents are always under a sub folder called ‘draft’ no matter what I rename it to in the individual scrivener project. So if I sync several scrivener projects externally, I end up with a series of folders (say with each scrivener project name) and everyone has a ‘draft’ sub folder. I can’t rename these and if I add them as a shortcut to say Finder (MacOS) or the equivalent in Windows, I get lots of links that just say ‘draft’.
It would be great if I could rename the draft folder in each scrivener project to a different name and this name was used in the external folder sync.
Eg. If I renamed the ‘draft’ folder as manuscript (which is done in several templates), the sync to external folder created a folder called manuscript not draft.
FYI: I use sync to external folder a lot as I find editing tools on IOS easier to use than Scrivener for ios, particularly as I use a lot of markdown.
Yes I do. For example; it may be to use the power of an external editor with proofreading abilities (e.g. PWA) or one with advanced text editing using REGEX and more (e.g. BBEdit)
I still don’t understand the “link” part of your issue, but that’s rather what you should focus on fixing. Imho
You can’t change how Scrivener syncs to a folder that is intended for Scrivener to understand what goes where afterwards.
What you could do, though (uselessly tedious imho) is duplicate the content of the sync folder to another custom folder. Re-arrange your files as you want them. Do your thing in your third party apps. [Whatever you do, do not rename the files themselves.]
When comes the time to sync, replace the content of the sync folder with those new versions. Light-up a candle and hope it works.
Here is a better real example of what I do. I have a scrivener cookbook project. This syncs with an external folder that in turn is used as an Obsidian vault and gives me my cookbook on my iPad and IPhone looking like this:
Each recipe is a document in scrivener (using markdown syntax). I can edit and add recipes both in Obsidian and scrivener. At some time in the future, I may use scrivener to generate a printed cookbook of the best recipes.
I understand this. My question was really to raise it as a development request that when you sync to an external folder it uses the name that you have renamed the draft folder to instead of always being draft.
I understand. But I think I can already hear the developers object to it.
In your case the problem is not that the folder ends up named “Draft”. It is rather that you have multiple projects summed up as one elsewhere. Therefor you end up with “Draft” and “Draft” and “Draft”.
The developers will argue that renaming the Draft folder between syncs will mess it all up. (I would think. I have no programming knowledge.)
To reset the topic. It’ll leave it at that on my end.
I wish you success.
Oh. But I still have a question:
Couldn’t you rather import/mark as fav the root sync folder instead, in your other apps?
This one you can name whatever you want.
@Saltlane, yes you certainly can rename the Draft folder in Scrivener to anything you want (within reason). It’s blessédness in Scriv is not attached to its name.
EDIT: Silverdragon's post below explains why the above flexibility will not help the case like I imagined it would.
You may have to “restart” your Sync with External folder operation after doing this. Like maybe chuck the contents of the external folder and use the Scriv function to reinstitute its contents from scratch.
Making new Favorites in your other app(s) then should give you distinct scrutable names that correspond to your renamed Draft folder of your different projects.
[[I do not use Sync with External Folder, but I do know you can rename your Draft folder in Scriv and everything else I say here stands to reason! ]]
I’ve used External Folder Sync extensively. My experience is that, no matter what the Blessed Draft Folder is named (“My Unfinished Novel”, etc.) in my Scrivener projects, what’s created when External Folder Sync is initiated is called Draft. I just now tried to change the name of the Draft folder in the external folder to match the Blessed Draft’s name in my project, and the net result was that a new folder named “Draft” was created. Changes to the renamed folder were ignored.
In general External Folder Sync is unsophisticated. I believe that at present, it’s looking for the literal folder name strings. In short, if I actually want to be able to use it to sync changes I make externally, I have to leave the names “Draft” and “Notes” strictly alone in the External Folder, and that changing the name of the Blessed Draft Folder in the project will have no effect. AFAIK, no workaround exists for the case @Saltlane would like.
So, yes, this is a valid feature request–and I concur with @Vincent_Vincent that the developers will likely place it very low in their list of desired changes, if it makes their list at all. Previous requests for replicating the internal folder structure of the Scrivener Blessed Draft folder inside the External Folder Draft folder (as an example) have been denied.
A bit of a problem with this idea is that a rigid naming scheme at the top level helps Scrivener detect when you are selecting an existing sync folder to sync from. You’ve probably seen that dialogue before, but if not, if you create a test project, set up sync, and try to attach it to some other project’s sync folder you will get dire warnings and for good reason (don’t actually do that). It will let you do it, but the intention is only for re-linking back to a folder if your settings get lost or something.
If the subfolders in here could be whatever they were from the binder, then what would we use to reliably determine this is a sync folder? I’m sure we could come up with something more complicated, but right now it’s very simple.
By the way, I often use symlinks to get around issues like this. My sync folders are over there, in some inconvenient location, but the software that uses them are looking at ~/syncFolders/ProjectA, where “ProjectA” points to ~/working/some_project_name/scriv/sync_folder/Draft.
Thanks Amber. I have tried this before and it works on MacOS. If I want to work on the folders on IOS (via iCloud) the sym links don’t work (or didn’t when I tried it). But I will test it again to check.
Oh, I might have missed where syncing across different operating systems is part of the mix. In that case, to speak generally, the idea is to symlink to the actual spot from each system that wants accelerated or better-named access. E.g. I would sync the long path location between machines, but each individual machine would have its own “ProjectA” pointing to it from somewhere outside of the parts of my disk that sync.
Even if a cloud service can sync a symlink without breaking it (most cannot), chances are the paths are going to be different anyway.
As for iOS, as far as I know, mobile has no way of doing that, but I know very little about it.
