Hi everyone,
Just signed up to post this in case it helps anyone. There’s the odd question out there about getting Scrivener to run on a Chromebook. Obviously, don’t get a Chromebook if you want to run Scrivener but for those who had the laptop first, then the software or can’t / don’t want to buy a windows or ios laptop, I thought I’d share how I got it working quite nicely. Running it isn’t difficult, we can just use a program called CrossOver. But getting it to save or backup your projects to Google Drive is tricky and I do not trust my laptop’s hard drive, it tends to wait until you’ve written 150,000 words then die. Below is how I found a way to do it.
It’s a bit of a workaround but once it’s set up, there’s nothing else you need to do except write (and click save)!
Firstly, you’ll need a Chromebook with an intel processor. The list of compatible Chromebooks is here:
https://www.intel.co.uk/content/www/uk/en/products/devices-systems/laptops/chromebooks.html
Secondly, on your Chromebook (CB), install CrossOver from the Android play store. This is the program that will let us run Scrivener on our CB. Link:
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.codeweavers.cxoffice
Once it’s downloaded, open it up and type “Scrivener” in the Search Applications bar. It should automatically list results, so just click Install and let it go. Note: You still need a registered version of Scrivener. This is not pirated software or any of those shenanigans.
However, once installed, Scrivener will ask for your serial code (which you should put in) but then struggle to connect with Literature and Latte’s servers to confirm the activation because of the way CrossOver works. So once Scrivener is installed within CrossOver, click it’s icon under where it says Installed Apps and click Manage.
A new page will appear where you need to click the cog icon on the right. Click Install component, find Internet Explorer 8 and click Install. Go grab your tenth coffee of the day because this install takes a while (with prompts, so keep checking back).
Once that’s done, you’ll need to go back to the Android Play store and download Google Drive (Yep, Chromebooks already come with the Chrome version of this but you specifically need the Android version as well. Don’t worry ,once its all set up it can just sit there and you can ignore it while you use the in built Chrome Google Drive).
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.google.android.apps.docs
Sign in with your Google account in the Android Google Drive app and then head back to the Play store and download the last piece of the puzzle, a free piece of software called Autosync for Google Drive.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.ttxapps.drivesync
Use the same Google account to sign into Autosync and then there’s one last step. Create a new folder in your Google Drive (not your laptop’s drive), call it something like, “Scrivener Backup” and when you open Autosync it’ll prompt you to make a connection between two folders for syncing. Click the option that says you’ll make your own connection and then where it says “Remote folder in Google Drive”, choose your “Scrivener Backup” folder, and in the option for “Local folder in device” navigate to the Download folder and then choose the folder you’ll be saving your Scrivener projects to locally (you’ll need to create one if you haven’t already). Finally, select “Upload only” in the “Sync Method” option and click Save.
I know that all seems convoluted but this was the only way I could find that would a) allow the use of Scrivener on Chrome and b) allow my Scrivener projects to be automatically backed up to my google drive, something Scrivener can’t do from within CrossOver.
I hope that helped anyone in the tiny minority of fools like me writing their novel on a Chromebook. If there’s anyone that needs more detail, just say.
Harrington.
!