Missing snapshots Mac-->Win

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Before I ask my question, I have to say I LOVE this program and wouldn’t think of writing my novels on anything else. This is the second time I’ve had this problem, on different projects (the first was also coupled with me opening the wrong Dropbox file and erasing the whole thing, but that was my fault, I think). This time, I have done everything veeeeery carefully and haven’t (to my knowledge) overwritten the main project with an older version.

On with the problem: I’m running Scrivener for Mac (latest version on a Mac Mini running Yeosemite) and for Windows (latest version on HP touchsmart laptop running Windows10). I primarily do my writing on the Mac but when the opportunity presents itself to write in my recliner, I send the project to Dropbox and sync with the PC laptop.

This process has been good for a while now, except last night, when I uploaded my project from the Mac to Dropbox after taking snapshots of several different subdocuments (the proper name is escaping me at the moment). This morning I had some time to work from said recliner and pulled the project off Dropbox to work on my PC laptop. The story was there, but the snapshots (some of the subdocuments had 3 or more snapshots) were ALL gone–the ones I made last night and the ones from earlier in the project.

Did I do something wrong? This is about the 20th time–okay, not really, but I’ve lost count, it could be a LOT more–I’ve saved this project on the Mac, uploaded to Dropbox, then the next day, downloaded to my PC laptop and it’s always been perfectly fine. I didn’t change my routine, but since this is the second this has happened (like I said above, the first time was a total loss of a different project and I luckily had a backup handy on a flash drive), I decided to post here and see if there’s something can be done.

I haven’t lost anything yet (I still have the project on my Mac and it’s okay, but I’d like to be able to work on my PC and send it back to the Mac) but until I can transfer EVERYTHING in the project to the PC, I’m stuck working in my basement office on the Mac (which is great, but mobility has its perks this time of year!).

Thanks in advance!

Marcus

2

Snapshots are stored in a rather casual fashion within the project. They are saved into a subfolder of the project, and when you click on a document in Scrivener, it checks that folder for any matching snapshot resources. If they are found, it shows them in the panel, if nothing is found then the panel is empty. Given that they are stored this way, one potential problem when transferring whole projects across the ’net are that the sync never finished uploading or download them (depending on the direction). Of course that can happen with anything, but with other problems you’d probably spot them earlier than entries stashed in a sidebar.

Are you following the advice given in this knowledge base article? Those tips should help you dodge nearly all of the obvious problems that can occur through synchronisation mishaps. The page also outlines a much safer though less convenient method of transferring zipped copies of the project as a single file and then copying the .zips out of Dropbox, extracting the project, and working on it outside of the Dropbox folder.

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I read through the article and discovered I already followcmost of what it suggests, the glaring exception being not using zipped files. I’m going to try the alternative method you mentioned and transfer only zipped projects and see if that works!

Thanks for the quick reply!

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Update: saving everything in zipped format, then sending only the backup copy to Dropbox work flawlessly! Thank you!

It is slightly more tedious to work this way but peace of mind and security is well worth it!!!

Thanks again!

5

That’s how I feel about it as well, I tried the other method for a while, but it just isn’t for me, plus I like how it accumulates backups from all machines in a global area. Glad to hear it’s working okay for you.