My Scrivener Project contains a massive amount (both quantity and file size) of research material and notes . I’d like to be able to synch JUST my actual writing to my iPad. All the support material suggests one can only synch an entire project.
Is there a way to sync just a folder within the project?
No, it is not possible. A project works as a whole, with interrelated parts at all levels. A partial synchronization would cause data loss. Your alternative would be to create a second project for those less necessary materials.
Regards.
Of course only /changed/ things sync once you get going. So, if the initial sync doesn’t kill ya’…
You can make the project smaller by linking the research materials as aliases, with the files themselves outside the project. That’s what we usually recommend in these cases.
@Adrlopgal - Second project is not an option as I need this material within my project on the desktop.
@gr - True, but it takes a long time for Scrivener to plow through everything to see what has changed.
@kewms - Not an option, I’ve got thousands of items…
Very disappointed there is no way to do this.
Scrivener on the desktop can open two projects as easily as one. I’m not sure why you object to @Adrlopgal’s suggestion.
There’s no way to do this because Scrivener projects are self-contained by design. The “Scrivener-like” solution to “my project is too big” is “make another one.”
There are different alternatives, already mentioned, to get what you want. What you propose would be similar to asking a gigantic .docx to be synced in parts. Would you be disappointed with Word?
I don’t really understand where the difficulty is. My project consists of more than 4000 documents. The key is in order and focusing on what you need at the moment. The quantity is not important if it is well ordered.
Regards.
As others have noted, having two projects, one for voluminous reference material and one for the work itself, is a standard approach.
While you are still able to link to documents in another project, you cannot view documents from the other project as document bookmarks in the Inspector–that’s the only downside I can recall with this approach.
There are many advantages for the ‘work’ project–faster backups, faster syncing, faster searches, etc.
What are your specific technical objections to this method? What will it break? Perhaps we can provide workarounds.
Best,
Jim
I’ll just drop a link to this discussion on integrating two or more projects together. To be clear this is a PC/Mac workflow, but to me that does not sound like a problem since you essentially do not want your research to sync anyway.
As for getting to that point, it is very easy to split projects. You basically use Save As to create your research project, then nuke the Draft folder contents or anything else you don’t need, then do the same in inverse for the writing project that gets synced. You aren’t copying or rebuilding data if you start with two identical projects that only have the stuff removed that you don’t want from each. You can have 10,000 items or 1,000, the amount of work is about the same.
Naturally, when embarking on such a task, making sure you have a good solid backup of the original unified project is important. Use File ▸ Back Up ▸ Back Up To... to set aside a copy in a safe place.