This morning I noticed that some of the changes I made last night were not saved. I use dropbox to work on my manuscript on two different computers. I always close the document on one computer when I’m done before ever opening it on the second computer. I also have two backup methods: 1) Scrivener is set to save it to my icloud under /Users/MyNameLibrary/Mobile Documents/com~ap and 2) I have an external hard drive (Time Machine) always backing up automatically. When I open up the icloud backup, the changes are there but I’ve heard there are reasons that we shouldn’t use apple icloud with Scrivener. But I can’t find my manuscript back up in time machine. I’d appreciate any help with this. I’m starting to wonder if Scrivener is worth it b/c backing up and syncing is so much more complicated than just using Word. Thank you!
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Not seeing the problem. You have a backup that has what you were looking for. Put a copy of that backup project wherever you normally keep your live projects and you are good to go.
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It is highly unlikely that Scrivener did not “save your changes”. Scrivener saves your changes automatically whenever you are idle for a moment.
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A more likely explanation is that you closed out of Scriv, but then did not give Dropbox time to sync before putting your mac to sleep. And then, on your return, you opened the project from your other device and found everything was not updated.
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Another candidate explanation (especially apt for people who are in the habit of opening their projects via the Recents menu item) is that you inadvertently opened some other copy of your project (like a backup copy) rather than your master copy, and this led you to think your new stuff had not been saved.
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If either is right the problem you having is not down to Scrivener at all.
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I don’t think there is any problem storing a backup on any cloud/sync service (e.g. icloud). (Especially true if you have the zip backup option switched on!) Where you can run into trouble is trying to operate a live project from such a location.
Okay super helpful. Thank you! I will just drag my extracted back up zip file into dropbox and replace the one that’s there. I closed out of Scrivener at 10:45 last night and opened on my other computer at 8 AM this morning. That should have given dropbox plenty of time. I don’t understand what went wrong.
I urge you at this point NOT to replace. do not destroy what you have. might need it. make a new project, say suffix the name with a number “1” or something
OK! Good thinking. I just like to have only one synced file in dropbox so that I am able to open from recent projects in scrivener. But point taken.
Patience is best. and allow time for Dropbox to sync before using on other device.
I can close my computer immediately after I close out my project and Dropbox will still sync yes? It had all night to sync!
Depends on what happens when you “close the computer”. if you mean the Macbook lid, for me the machine goes to sleep and syncing stops until it awakes. probably not what you want.
Hmm, well that’s good to know b/c I often do just close the lid. But I last used scrivener on a desktop and didn’t put it to sleep so who knows what happened. Worries me. I only noticed changes hadn’t been saved because I’d changed some formatting. Otherwise it would have taken me a lot longer to realize something was amiss
also make sure Dropbox set to keep the files available “offline”.
I can’t find any option to make them available offline. When I right-click on my file there is no option. Do I need Dropbox Plus for that feature?
And I was also told I should turn off smart sync? Is that wise? Thanks!
sorry, not at computer to check for you. check FAQ on Dropbox support site or previous posts here. or someone else here will direct you.
You need to let Dropbox sync at both ends. So, before you opened the project on the other machine when you woke it up in the morning you needed to let dropbox do its thing.
Dropbox can’t run if the computer is shutdown or asleep.
Ah ok. Very good to know. Thanks!!
Yes. Smart sync does not play well with Scrivener projects.
So if I turn it off, is there something else I need to do for syncing or just turn it off and then business as usual?
Impossible to say as I don’t know what you haven’t done. Best, I think to read items at Cloud Syncing / FAQs - Literature and Latte Support and DropBox’s manuals/FAQs.
I just meant in terms of Drobox. I’m not sure what effects turning off smart-syncing will have.