Is it safe for me to bring my Scrivener 1.9.16.0 project into the current Beta? I understand that it is probably not possible to go back the other way once I make edits but I will, of course, make a backup before I try it.
What I am concerned about is whether the beta is sufficiently stable that I won’t lose anything once the beta morphs into the “gold” release.
L&L strongly advise against using the beta for anything critical, just be on the safe side. But I’m one of many who has decided to risk it (since about beta 20), and haven’t had any problems. But (obviously) it’s your risk, so back everything up and don’t blame L&L if you have problems.
When you open your project in V. 3, Scrivener will automatically make a back-up v. 1.9 project. Just keep that safe.
I have been sharing projects with my Windows using collaborator since about Beta 10, with very few problems—those largely being down to using Sync as a cloud service, which can be slower than Dropbox. When she moved onto the betas, for the first few Betas, I had to compile for her … now she compiles for herself. That said, her needs in terms of features are quite limited, so she hasn’t reported any problems, as remaining bugs and non-implementations must be in features that are not important to her.
Mark
Betas should never be considered “safe” for important work.
That said, I see no sign that my projects will suffer in any way when “beta” becomes “live”. In fact, I don’t foresee any significant changes. L&L seems determined to smooth it out as much as possible before letting it go. I have also been using the Beta since… I don’t remember… 25, I think?
That said, I use the Sync to Folder feature to dump all my data into folder-organized RTF files. If something went belly-up, it would set me back, but I could reconstruct my entire project.
I’m also not doing fancy research papers or magazines or anything like that. I’m writing text-only (with simple italic/underline/boldface formatting) fictional novels, and world-building with descriptions rather than images and/or links to other places.
You are unlikely to lose data.
You may find that important functionality – particularly related to the Compile command – is missing or buggy, which among other things might make it difficult to extract your work to share it with other people.
You will need to update the software regularly in order to continue to use it, as the current beta will expire and need to be replaced.
If either of those events will cause you undue distress, you should not use the beta.
Katherine
I switched to the beta several months ago for all my work, including a large, multi-year book project (after using it for a while for only short articles). I’m not doing any compiling, so that hasn’t been an issue, and I find it overall more stable for a very large project than 1.9 (last non-beta).
I’m very glad to have switched over, as the new interface has many features I really like (the key one for me is highlighting current location in the binder… am always getting lost in this big project). I do, however, find the expiring betas a bit nerve-wracking and while I understand the reason behind them, wish there was some way to keep working with an expired one if needed (e.g. no internet connection).
Also the Beta’s seem to cut the time frame way too close for when the next beta is released vs when the previous expires - I wish they’d set it up for at least a week and preferable two weeks overlap for when one expires before the next one is out.