How can I stop iOS Scrivener from asking me to link Dropbox?

Scrivener Scrivener for iOS
1

I’ve stopped using Dropbox Sync. I’ve unlinked Dropbox from my iOS devices, and no longer store my live projects in the (former) sync folder on my Mac. Instead, I

  1. use the most recent (zipped) version in my backup folder (which is on Dropbox since I still don’t trust iCloud),
  2. Open that most recent backup on my iOS device via a Shortcut to “UnZIP and open in…” This puts the most recent version of my project into the “On my i[Device]” area in iOS Scrivener.
  3. When I’m done, I
    [list=a][*]Export from my iOS device right back to the backup folder
  4. Delete the project from my iOS device.
    [/*:m][/list:o]

I follow a similar process on all my devices, including my Mac.

My problem? Step 2 always adds a number ("-1", “-7”, etc.) to my project name when I export it to iOS Scrivener—even though there is NO other copy of that project extant within iOS Scrivener on that device. If I change the name to delete the added number, I receive an alert: “Dropbox needs linking. Please link Scrivener to your Dropbox account to enable syncing.”

I ignore this evil message, secure in the knowledge that my exports/backups are on Dropbox and from there propagated to my Mac, where Time Machine tucks them away nicely on my external hard drive. I would very much like this message to not appear. How can I achieve this?

2

It’s possible they (the live projects) haven’t been cleared from the Db cache folder. When you place the ZIPs in the Db folder, they might be mistakenly read and tagged as your old files. To check:

Open Finder > Go menu > Go to Folder…
In the dialog box, enter:

~/Dropbox/.dropbox.cache

Drag/send any relevant files to trash or elsewhere. Permanently delete them after you’re satisfied.

3

Thanks for the path, scshrugged, but I didn’t spot any likely candidates. Pooh.

4

Your post did get me to thinking, though…

I tried clearing the dropbox sync cache from the Settings App->Scrivener->Reset Scrivener area without success. But then I decided that, having no projects in the app, it was trivial to delete and reinstall it. I did so, and while the annoying numbering continues, the alert to link to Dropbox has vanished! Yay!

5

Thumbs up on the progress!
Something else to try…Settings app > Scrivener > Syncing & Sharing.
There’s one setting there specific to Db. Try it and if no joy, try the others.
In the Syncing section, mine are at—off, Never, Never, Always.

6

Tried it, but my settings were already set to those values.

I just tried “Reset project search indexes” from the Settings App->Reset Scrivener screen, with no effect. Could iOS Scrivener be keeping an internal list of old project names to compare to new ones? If so, that would be… annoying. I really don’t need those numbers, as the time and date stamp of my export/backup does a fine job of distinguishing among my versions.

7

Since you’ve deleted then reinstalled Scrivener, my guess is that it doesn’t recover the previous usage.

More guesses: Other than the obvious, restarting (and if no joy,hard resetting) the device, I did find the following article at Db about managing 3rd-party apps. I’ve no idea if when Scrivener is initially linked an entry for it appears at your Db account as a “connected, linked app”. The instructions for disconnecting one are at article’s end.

help.dropbox.com/installs-integ … party-apps