I alternate laptops (one is at my desk, the other lighter one I carry around to coffee shops). When the mood strikes, I want to be able to open either and continue writing from where I left off. This seems to be an issue with Scrivener 3.
How can I get them to sync, and allow both laptops to run the same synched version? If anyone can help solve this with a few simple steps I would be grateful.
You can easily share between two computers but need a central spot to share the project. you can share a live project with Dropbox installed on both computers, but I take the safer approach of using zipped backups of the project host on a cloud service such as dropbox, google drive, etc. I save the zipped backup to my cloud service of choice active on both computers. then on second computer download the zipped backup and extract the file and create a folder for your project on the computer OUTSIDE the cloud service and work on the project. When done on one computer save your zipped backup AND make sure syncs to cloud service BEFORE shutting down computer. Move to other computer and download and extract zipped backup and away you go. Could use dropbox to host the project folder, but I prefer the enhanced safety of zipped backups. Works very well.
I do the same sort of thing. I just have my projects stored in Dropbox and start work on the laptop to hand.
For this to work you need to 2 things. Firstly make sure Dropbox is configured to leave copies of all your files on your computers rather than its default of only storing them in the cloud. Secondly, when you finishing working, make sure you close the project and wait for Dropbox to finish syncing it. This ensures that wherever you open it next time Dropbox will open the latest version.
This works flawlessly for me between desktop, laptop and iPad.
Thank you. I read this post and it was very helpful for a novice like me. This is a silly followup question: Say I have saved my .scriv project in Dropbox. Next day I want to “open” that project again. When I click “Open Project”, in Scrivener where do I choose the folder from? PS; I am new to Dropbox
You have a few choices.
File > Recent projects - This will list x number of your last opened projects. You can control how many projects are on this list via File > Options > Saving > Number of recent projects
File > Open - Navigate to wherever it was that you placed the project folder. The default Dropbox location is C:\Users\USERPROFILE\Dropbox\Apps\Scrivener, but it’s fine if you put the project somewhere else. Your project folder will suffixed with .scriv. Double click on the .scriv project folder to open the folder, then double-click on the .scrivx Scrivener project to open the project.
You can also navigate via Windows Explorer to the project folder. Double click on the .scriv project folder to open the folder, then double-click on the .scrivx Scrivener project to open the project.
If you are flummoxed about where exactly you saved your Scrivener project folder, do a search in Windows Explorer for *.scriv.
Finally, you can right-click on the Start Menu’s Scrivener icon, and choose recent projects from there.
Best,
Jim
