Mac Os / IOS / Dropbox Sync Nightmare

Scrivener Scrivener for iOS
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I wish LaL would devote some attention to this feature or just discontinue it.

Whenever I launch Scrivener on my iPhone, it first needs to re-link with Dropbox— EVERY SINGLE TIME. Then, it usually needs to do a a full file sync, which apparently involves every single project file and all the sub-files, regardless of how many have changed (usually one or two). This can take as long as a half an hour or even longer and I have maybe 20 project files. I don’t think it runs in the background, because if I switch to another app, when I switch back, the progress doesn’t seem to have changed much, if at all. By the time it’s done syncing, I’ve either made a notes entry about what I planned to write, for later, or forgot what it was.

My phone is not where I do most of my writing. It’s handy for when I don’t have my laptop, or it could be. The Scrivener mobile app is actually pretty great, but unfortunately, rendered useless to me because I can’t even open my project files in a reasonable amount time.

Ive read all about how dropbox sucks but it’s the only option that supports how Scrivener uses lots hidden text files, etc… I’ve seen dor myself it in Finder. As a user, I don’t care why it doesn’t work. I just want it to work.

Much as I’d like to, I could never recommend the app, for this one reason.

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While I’m not particularly minded to help, mainly due to the attitude you reflect in this post, you don’t say what you have done to resolve the issue, and you didn’t request help.

However, I can say Dropbox syncing for me works flawlessly all the time, and has done for years. The symptoms you report sound odd, and given Apple’s iOS does not do background processing as you may expect, that may well be the root-cause of your complaint–best directed to Apple and/or Dropbox.

In the meantime, if you wish to move to resolution, may I suggest you look at and consider the ideas at the following link.

https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/ios/quick-troubleshooting-for-ios-syncing

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If you rarely use your phone for writing, why are you syncing 20 projects to it?

For most people, the subset of “active projects” that need to be immediately available is much smaller than the list of “all projects” that might be saved to Dropbox for backup purposes. iOS Scrivener can only sync with a single folder, but there’s no reason why that has to be the same folder for every device. Maybe you need everything on your laptop, but only the two or three most active projects on your phone, for instance.

With that said, it would be a good idea to make sure that the software on your phone is up to date. There have been some improvements to the Dropbox API that make syncing much faster. It’s also not typical to need to relink to Dropbox, so there may be something going on there that should be investigated.

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Yes, this is your issue. I would strongly encourage you to only sync projects you actively need access to on the move. Changing this from “all my Scriv projects” to “just the two I’m actively working on” changed the sync time for me from lengthy annoyance that discourages short edits to a speedy actually reassuring sync step.

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The syncing issue with Dropbox is definitely a pain point for many users. I’ve experienced similar delays and it’s really disappointing when you just want to dive into your writing. I agree that the mobile app has a lot of potential, but this issue holds it back from being truly useful. Hopefully, the developers will take our feedback into consideration and find a way to improve the syncing process. Until then, I’ll be sticking to my laptop for writing too.

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It is definitely not normal that it is asking to re-link every time the program goes into hibernation (or whatever launching means in this context). That sounds to me like some kind of tripwire in Dropbox’s authorisation system that is causing this—something that is there to protect you from hacks perhaps, that is happening more than it should. Whatever the case, it’s a bit much to pin the problem on Scrivener, and demand we make things better, since we’re talking about how well Dropbox talks to itself at that point. The part that Scrivener does, that we have code for, cannot function until Dropbox gives it permission to.

Otherwise, as others have said, it’s perfectly fine to offline old projects on your phone and desktop. This can be done with simple drag and drop in edit mode. You can still reference them that way, but there’s no need to be actively syncing 18 or however many projects that never change.

Ive read all about how dropbox sucks…

Eh? I mean, everyone has an opinion I suppose, and you’ll find no shortage of them on the Internet, but it’s hardly as bad as say, iCloud, which is pretty bottom of the barrel (an opinion).

But at any rate, the way a lot of your post is phrased, it almost sounds like you have been lead to believe that Dropbox is a mandatory system you have to use in order to use Scrivener on your phone. There are plenty of other ways, many of which are covered in the user manual for the Mac/PC versions, in the chapter on all of this.

Myself I use iFuse (more advanced, so the manual does not touch on that), which mounts the Scrivener folder right onto the system like a plugged in thumb drive. I can open a Scrivener project straight off of the phone, or save one to it. There is no syncing, no messing around with authentication, no waiting for long transfer times—like I say, it’s like a thumb drive.

But when I’m not around home I use this method, since I prefer my own sync service to any of the mainstream offerings. This method works with anything that supports how iOS Files.app works, and I use it for most things, not just Scrivener.

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That does sound more advanced than I’m prepared to go for a syncing option.

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Ironic, given the attitude of your reply.

Someone has come to the forum with something they’re struggling with, and the first response they get is condescending, if not downright rude.

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I certainly understand the OP’s frustration. If you so much as breathe on a doc in your binder, Dropbox wants to re-sync it on opening, and it seems to check all the docs slowly to see if that’s needed. When I had all my projects synced, that check took a very long time, and frankly stopped me using Scrivener on iOS because the start up time didn’t work with how I wanted to insert the mobile app into my workflow. With only two projects to sync, it’s now much better, and therefore something I use again.

All sync solutions seem to work slightly differently, and it’s a question of picking which works best for you. I quite like the implementation of iCloud sync on Final Draft iOS, for example, which works very quickly and almost invisibly… right up until the point when you want to work when you don’t have an online connection. I learnt that one the hard way at the start of a 10 hour flight!

For my money, I like both Dropbox and iCloud options for many of my syncing / storage needs and have apps (and in some cases, projects rather than app-ecosystems) that live in both.

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