How to uninstall the new Scriv without damaging the old Scriv's files?

When the new version was released a few months back, I installed it.
Today I decided to remove it as I’m happy with my v1.9.16.0
but it looked like the Wise Uninstaller tool was going to remove folders etc of my v1.9 in the process. So I didnt uninstall anything just yet.
How to uninstall the new Scriv without damaging the old Scriv’s files?
Thanks
Gary

I personally would save your 1.9.16 settings, custom word files, etc., then uninstall both, then reinstall 1.9.16 just to be safe. In my experience trying to keep both versions side-by-side during the beta, I found it more frustrating than it was worth and simply moved to keeping 1.9.16 on a separate machine.

Thanks, devinganger

But I thought that when the new one was released, they said there was a way to remove it later if you didnt want to keep it. Anyone?

I have uninstalled and reinstalled Windows Scrivener v1.9 and v3.0 both, literally dozens of times.

One program has nothing to do with the other. Uninstalling the programs will not touch your Scrivener writing projects.

Is this a third party tool that you’re using to manage your systems uninstalls? If so, throw everything I said above out the window, as I have no idea what that tool will do.

But if you use the usual Windows Apps & Features / Add or Remove programs, you should be fine.

Best,
Jim

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I have seen some issues with what should be two separate program installations (Scrivener v1 and Scrivener v3) getting tangled up with each other, Jim, under certain conditions that I still haven’t managed to nail down (and, frankly, stopped trying.) Hence the advice that I gave.

That’s the intent, yes, and sometimes it has worked that way for me, sometimes it has not. Hence the advice to at least back up your 1.9.16 settings, etc. so that if something goes wrong, you can simply re-install, re-apply your settings, and be back in a clean and stable state.

Fair enough, makes sense! In any case, I definitely agree that the OP should backup 1.9.16 settings–that’s wise advice.

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Your projects should be fine. They’re stored separately from the Scrivener application. (If a third-party tool asks to remove .scriv folders, tell it NO!) Note, however, that the project formats are different. You’ll want to revert any Scrivener 3 format projects before deinstalling Scrivener 3.

For settings, as @devinganger said, creating a backup is definitely good insurance.

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You can do anything at all, to any app, with no effect on its files.

Uh, no. Each application’s installation is different, though there are conventions to keep people from going insane with a myriad of circumstances. Scrivener is designed so that you can remove the program without damaging your other files, but this is not true for many other programs. For many programs, you want the other files/data to go away because they are of no use without the program.

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This behavior is also platform-dependent. iOS devices, for example, do not have a true file system, and iOS apps (including Scrivener) tend to take their data with them when deleted.

(To protect iOS Scrivener’s data, see this article about backup options: Guide to Keeping iOS Projects Backed Up / iOS / Knowledge Base - Literature and Latte Support)

I don’t put “data” and “files” in the same boat in this. @kewms says removing iOS Scrivener deletes its data — which may be true — but it doesn’t delete Scrivener’s files, i.e. projects. They’re stored in one of two places: On My iPhone (or iPad) or in Dropbox. Either way, the projects are accessible in the Files app and deleting the app does not delete the projects.

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This is half-true.

Each iOS app, like Scrivener, gets its own separate storage space to store its files. My understanding is that Scrivener uses this storage space and divides it to store the local-only projects as well as the synced copies from Dropbox (and keeps track of which is which so it can show them to you appropriately.)

When you remove iOS Scrivener, it deletes its associated data, which most definitely includes its local project copies. You are correct in that anything that has been synced to Dropbox will not affect the project copies in Dropbox. If you haven’t synced the project before deleting Scrivener, then your latest changes don’t get synced to Dropbox and hence you will lost those updates.

Where the quoted statement is wrong is that the files stored locally (e.g. they show up in the Scrivener folder in the Files app “On My iPhone” page) are also deleted. The Files app doesn’t provide its own separate storage space; it’s one of the few trusted apps that can breach the sandboxing and reach into each app’s separate storage areas (or at least each app that registers itself with Files using the correct API calls.) That’s what the “Scrivener” folder represents – the link to the iOS Scrivener app’s private storage sandbox.

Just as a test, I installed Scrivener for iOS on my iPhone (I’d previously removed it months ago when getting my iPad) and did not hook it up to Dropbox. I then created a new Scrivener project on the iPhone, named TestDelete. I was able to open Files, On My iPhone, Scrivener, and see the project.

I then deleted the Scrivener app, confirming that it would delete all the app data.

The Scrivener folder (and the test project) underneath Files also disappeared. I don’t know if it will refresh on its own or if you have to navigate up to the root and back down (which is what I did) but the test project is no longer accessible.

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Mea culpa again. I was wr wr wr … not quite right!

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