I have gone from using a Mac to using a PC, and I tried to export my Mac Scrivener files some time ago. I ended up with a folder whose name is basically foldername.scriv, full of sub-folders, some of which ultimately contain .rtf files with my text in them.
Is there a way to get the PC version of Scrivener to open this as a project?
Within the foldername.scriv folder, there should be a .scrivx file. That’s the main project file that you would double-click on or select in the Open dialog in Scrivener for Windows.
In OS X, they have the concept of a “package” file. Finder tells you it’s a single file, but it’s really a collection of files all together. Windows doesn’t have the same concept – so you get to see the wrapper folder AND the contents. The .scrivx file is the main file that ties it all together – it’s used by both OS X and Windows.
There’s no .scrivx file in the folder that I can see. There is a binder.scrivproj file, though.
I went back to my old Mac and backed up the project as a .zip and as a .scriv file on a thumb drive. When I open the .scriv folder on my PC, there still is absolutely no .scriv file to be seen in the top-level foldername.scriv folder.
What versions of Scrivener are you using? It sounds as if the Mac version is rather old…
The version on my PC is 1.9.7.0. I don’t know what version is on the Mac, but it is likely quite old. (It is difficult for me to boot up the Mac because it doesn’t work well, so it is hard for me to check.)
As lunk alludes to, if the version of Scrivener on your Mac is old enough, you may not have your files in the correct version to be cross-compatible with your PC.
How many files are you talking about? PM me and I might be able to help you get them converted, if you don’t have temporary access to a Mac that can run the newest trial version of Scrivener.
I have one or two .scriv projects that I need to convert. Each one has a few hundred files in it.
If I understand correctly, you’re suggesting that I try to download the latest Mac version of scrivener, and then use that to convert my .scriv file to the newest Mac format? I’m a little nervous about that, because won’t it overwrite my old copy of scrivener, thus rendering the old files completely unreadable if the new version can’t read them?
I think you should contact L&L support and ask them what you should do. I’m not sure that the latest version of Mac Scrivener can read version 1 projects.
What you have appear to be Mac Scrivener 1.x projects.
Between those files and the latest version of Win Scrivener, there have been two project format changes.
The first one, with Mac Scrivener version 2.0, is necessary for compatibility with any version of Win Scrivener.
The second one, with Mac Scrivener version 2.7, was necessary for compatibility with iOS Scrivener. This is the format that Win Scrivener 1.9.7 uses.
What version of OS X do you have on the Mac? If it won’t run Mac Scrivener 2.8.1.2 (the current version), then you may need to upgrade your projects in two steps: convert to the version 2.0 format on the Mac, then convert to the 2.7/1.9.7 format on the PC.
Your data is stored separately from the Scrivener application, and it’s possible to have multiple versions of Scrivener on your system at once. (That is, the new version doesn’t have to overwrite the old version.) So your data should be pretty safe. Still it wouldn’t hurt to make a backup while you’re checking to see what version of OS X you have.
Katherine
Ok guys, thanks! I’ll get cracking on that and keep you updated.
No matter which version of Scrivener for Mac you have, if you have the latest Scrivener for Windows(v1.9.7.0) it will automatically convert the project to the latest format, and keep all your existing project data. Scrivener for Win will automatically and always create a backup of the converted project, but it does not hurt creating a backup before the conversion manually. Once converted, the project might fail to open under Mac, if you have an older Mac version. Scrivener for Mac will alert you about this, and ask you to upgrade to the latest Mac version. I do not see any good reason to upgrade your project in steps, as Katherine advised you above. Hope this helps.
How does one open an old project in the latest version of Win Scrivener, when there is no .scrivx file?
That is not what we have been told ever by L&L – Mac Scrivener 1.x used a different format than Mac Scrivener 2.x, and L&L Support have always said that update needs to happen in Mac Scrivener 2.x before Windows Scrivener will recognize it.
I have never been able to get Windows Scrivener to recognize or open a Mac Scrivener 1.x file.
If there is some capability within Windows Scrivener to open these older files, please demonstrate the secret – you have a lot of people who would love to see it!
To the OP: again, if you are not willing to risk updating your local copy of Scrivener, send me a private message. However, what Katherine said is correct – download a copy of Scrivener 2, the highest that your old Mac will allow to work. You can download older versions, including 1.54, from literatureandlatte.com/download_mac.php – so you will never be at risk of stranding your work. If you have a PowerPC Mac, you can download Scrivener 2.5 from that same page.
Once you have Scrivener 2 installed, when you open your older project files, it will offer to convert them to the newer format:
2.5 will convert a 1.x project to the Mac 2.x/Windows 1.x format
2.7/2.8 will convert a 1.x project to the Mac 2.7/iOS/Windows 1.9.7 format.
Either way, it does the conversion by writing a NEW copy of the project file. It does not overwrite the existing file.
Um, I believe the OP has tried exactly this, and it didn’t work. Hence my suggestion of a two-step upgrade.
Katherine
If the *.scrivx file is missing, the only way to upgrade is going through a Scrivener for Mac project upgrade. I am quite surprised that there are still people out there using such an old version of Scrivener. I would truly recommend an upgrade, if you are one of these. If a *.scrivx file exists, you do not need a Mac to upgrade and open the project. Scrivener for Windows will do it all for you.
… 
I booted up my Mac and went to the Literature and Latte website, to upgrade my Mac version of Scrivener. But, I just get error messages. On Firefox, it tells me that I have no encryption algorithm in common with the Scrivener store. I tried with Safari, and also got an error message, but don’t remember the details.
Do you run an old version of OS X as well?
I tried posting this one, but it seems to have gotten eaten…
I tried to download the upgrade on my PC, so that I could carry it over on a USB drive and upgrade my Mac. But, it says it will cost me $25 to unlock my old Scrivener project.