I don’t know if you noticed or not, but I said both devices come FROM the same file.
I double checked to make sure there aren’t two different things on the different computers, and there aren’t. I’m not letting Scrivener auto-open the file. On both devices, I go to the same folder on Dropbox, and double-click the same exact file on both of them. So I don’t see how one can be an older version.
This is the issue. I don’t know how this happened, but on my laptop, I somehow got signed out of dropbox, and it wasn’t in the top menu. So it was in my Finder window, so it looked like everything was working. But I didn’t see it on the top menu, so when I started the dropbox app, it wasn’t signed in. I always keep it signed in, so not sure why it happened. I didn’t even think to look, because I never sign out. So it wasn’t syncing between the two.
Thanks for your help.
Save As is a recipe for potential disaster as stated by @kewms.
I recommend only using it if you wish to create a new project based on the current one.
The automated backups (set to a higher number than 5) plus a robust system backup policy is more than enough to protect your work.
In my books on Scrivener and other system/software books I give the advice, if disaster strikes, sit on your hands. Don’t go poking and searching, but think through what happened and what copies/backups may exist, then set a plan of action. If you aren’t certain, continue sitting on your hands while you ask for advice.
As @kewms states - drag the backups to another folder before beginning rescue efforts.
I’ve never used Save As. I only use Save. Incessantly.
Hi all,
Whilst I haven’t followed the complete nuts and bolts of this conversation, may I share a very easy way that I back up my Scriv. stuff as a last resort. This is on top of many other ways.
Whenever I leave my desk, and when I close down for the day, I compile my whole project in MSWord format and save it to an EHD. I then email the said MSWord doc. to my own Gmail address.
Hope that helps.
Paul
Well, that saves the content, yes. But would be a lot of work to recover the Scrivener project. Why don’t you simply set Scrivener to take an automatic backup in Zip format, storing it in a convenient folder, e.g. I store all my Scrivener backups in ~/Backups/Scrivener/. Then email that zip file to your gmail address … or drag and drop it from the backup folder to your Google drive. Just a thought …
Meantime best also to ensure one has a good full system backup regime.
Hiya,
Good idea about emailing the zip format, didn’t think of that. The whole emailing thing is a last resort though, I already back up the whole project to a number of places. I very nearly lost the whole lot in my pre-Scrivener days, and I don’t just mean a project I mean all novels, all short stories, all many years of everything wrting. It was a terrifying ten minutes until I sorted it. I am paranoid with a capital P.
I think same re backups. experienced too many hardware faults over the years. All so far easily recovered from.
I think I have everything covered:
I set auto backups to the maximum and have them on a cloud service (Still iffy about iCloud with lazy syncing)
Time Machine backups
Full system backups to a NAS
Finally! I am trialling Backblaze as the only missing link is an off site full backup (anyone have other suggestions as to the best service?)
Think that compiling daily or any other manual tasks with all those options selected is a waste of writing time 
In summary, my backup regime on two macs (iMac and Macbook).
: Hourly TimeMachine to Synology NAS and two attached spinning drive USB disk devices. one of the USB drives not always reliable as macOS doesn’t mount/unmount reliably so sometimes backups missed. I just monitor. A reason for two.
: Backblaze on iMac including attached USB disk (which have partitions that are not TimeMachine, so Backblaze will backup. Note Backblaze not a full system backup as they do not back up everything. Read their documentation carefully to understand. It’s offsite, which is what I want.
: Testing Dropbox’s new “backup” service. Distinct and separate from their file sync service which is what everyone seems to assume Dropbox exclusively is. So far so good. Seems reliable.
: Carbon Copy Cloner (sometimes called CCC) daily/weekly scheduled copies of really important stuff from iMac to Synology NAS.
: Synology NAS has backup of everything to attached USB drive and to offsite Dropbox backup (not sync).
: Configured Scrivener zip backups (on close), keeping 25, directed to local ~/backups/scrivener. Scrivener projects also local at ~/documents/scrivener. Rely on backups by TimeMachine and Backblaze to backup–hence not configuring Scrivener to put backups direct to anywhere other than local.
: for iOS devices, I enable Apple’s iOS backup but that incomplete and a bit opaque to me, so not relied upon. Do it anyway. Works for when I get a new device, I guess (not frequent).
I think this complies with the 3-2-1 backup regime which I and many others advocate.
By “USB disk” do you mean “conventional hard disk connected by USB,” or do you mean “USB memory stick?” The latter vary enormously in quality and reliability.
Conventional spinning hard disk using USB plug and protocol. Perhaps they are aging, but even Jettison does not reliably unmount on sleep then i get that macOS warning about improper disconnect. That being said when I use Disk Utility to do “First Aid” never has there been a problem. The Seagate drive is the one I notice and watch. But i have a second USB on TimeMachine as well as the Synology NAS and Backblaze. I am not overly concerned at the moment. A lot of deliberate redundancy. all automatic so absolutely no bother to have.
What version of MacOS are you seeing this on? I see something like this occasionally on a 2018 MacBook Pro running Sonoma (and earlier OSes) that I believe is caused by a funky USB connector on my docking station. My workaround is to make sure the laptop is fully shutdown before plugging/unplugging stuff (which is a pain sometimes…). I don’t use sleep on the laptop so I don’t know if it’s the same issue.
Yea, 2017 iMac on latest Ventura. I think i am stuck with the annoyance. Shut down disconnects ok but not reliably on sleep. Just one of the USB disks.