I get the error message “Scrivener can’t be updated if it’s running from the location it was downloaded to.” I know this must be a stupid question, but where do I go to update it?
Hello. Download Scrivener to a folder that is different from where Scrivener is running, and make sure Scrivener is closed before replacing the old version with the new one.
Regards!
Thanks, but I’m entirely unable to download the latest version, no matter where I put the Scrivener app. The latest error message was “Item “Scrivener 3.5.app” is used by macOS and can’t be opened.” This should be easier! I’ve been using Scrivener for years and I’ve never had this problem.
Hi Sandra_Gulland. Let’s try this.
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Please click on the Finder icon in your Dock to open a new Finder window.
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Within that Finder window, please select your computer’s Applications folder (which should be visible in the left-hand side of that Finder window).
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Within your Applications list, please navigate to Scrivener’s name and icon. (If you have any older versions of Scrivener, you can remove them now or keep them if you’d prefer.)
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Please use Control+click to select Scrivener 3’s icon in the Applications folder. This will open a small pop-up menu.
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Please select “Move to trash” from the list of options. (If you’d like, you can do the same with all versions of Scrivener currently installed.)
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Once your Mac moves Scrivener to the trash, please close the Applications folder.
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Open your Trash in your Mac’s dock and click “empty.” That will delete all the materials in your Trash, so if there are files you aren’t ready to remove, please relocate them to another location before you empty the trash.
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Please click on the Apple logo in the upper-left corner of your Mac’s screen and select “Restart.”
The reason I’m recommending you restart your Mac is to clear out any caches and ensure that any hanging programs are closed. If you have a lot of other programs running, you can shut them down before restarting if you’d like.
Once your Mac restarts, you can download a fresh copy of Scrivener 3 from our main downloads page.
That should put the .dmg file into your Downloads folder on your Mac, and you can double-click it to launch the Installer. Following its prompts and accepting the defaults should get a clean version of Scrivener on your Mac.
If you have your Scrivener projects backing up to a cloud server, you can change that during the installation process or change that location later via Scrivener’s Preferences panel.
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