I’ve been working on it just fine, but had to reboot my computer. I quit all my programs, including Scrivener of course, and when I was done with the reboot I opened it up again. I got a message saying:
The project you are trying to load uses an older format and cannot be opened. Would you like to update it? A copy of the old project will be saved in the same directory.
So I clicked “update project”, then got another message saying the program was improperly quit the last time, or something like that, which isn’t true because I did quit it properly. I clicked "okay’ or whatever the button there says, and got an EMPTY WINDOW that says “no selection” in the main part and only has a trash can in the binder section. There isn’t a single thing in it. Where did my book and research go???
If I go to “Recent Projects” it lists two versions–one in the Volumes folder and one on my backup harddrive. The backup hard drive gives me the weird message, and if I click on the Volumes one I get a “New Project Binder” screen asking me to name the project. Is this “New Project” the updated version? Will it open all my old stuff?
Please please please tell me I haven’t lost this book.
Okay, I just did a spotlight search and found a version from May 30; that seems to be the most recent version I can find. Just backed it up to my Dropbox to be safe. It means I lost a few days’ work, but luckily I didn’t work much over the last couple days so I didn’t lose anything I can’t replace. THANK YOU GOD. But it did give me a message saying…arg, I don’t remember exactly what it said, but it wasn’t the same message as before. It was long, and said something about how if it was open on two computers it could be a problem, and that it had to re-do something or other with the search strings. I clicked that and it opened the project fine.
WHAT IS GOING ON!? I’m so confused. I’m relieved I found a workable old version, but still…where is the version from twenty minutes ago?? And what can I do to make sure I never have this heart attack again?
So last week I got a new MacBook. When transferring stuff from my old laptop to my new one, I used an external drive, dragged everything over, and then dragged everything onto the new machine. In order to get Scrivener on my new machine, I think I just downloaded Scrivener and used my original key to unlock it. (I have memory problems–as in, my brain, not my computer–so I’m guessing a bit here, but I don’t know how else I would have gotten the program on, so I’m assuming that’s what I did.) I can’t remember how I got my book project onto the new machine, but I think I backed up a opy of it to the external drive and then imported it to the new Scrivener on the new machine. (Still with me? Sorry if I’m being confusing.)
So here is apparently where the problem starts. I control-clicked on the name of the project that I recovered and have open in Scrivener now–and it thinks it’s saving to my external drive. Thing is, when I rebooted my computer earlier today, the external drive had been removed, so when it turned back on, Scrivener couldn’t find my project. I did another spotlight search and realized that my project is not saved anywhere on my laptop right now.
So here’s the thing. While I have recovered that older version of my project and have it open in Scrivener right now, I have not yet made any changes, so nothing has been saved yet. Now that I know the program is trying to save the project to a drive (that isn’t even connected!) as opposed to my documents folder, I’m scared to make any changes to the project because I don’t know what it’s going to do when it tries to save and can’t find it’s “home.” And since there’s no “Save As” that lets me choose where to save, I don’t know what to do to correct the save “path.”
Did you move the file to your MacBook’s harddrive? Scrivener is a project (=file) based application, you can’t import anything into it.
If your project is still open, try to back it up (Shift-Command-S) to your Document folder (or wherever you wish to keep your files) and re-open it from there (double-click the project icon in the Finder).
The reason there is no “save as” option, and the reason the “backup to” option won’t work, is because of the way Scrivener stores its files.
Basically, Scrivener uses a project format where each binder item is stored in a separate file on disk, in something called a ‘package’ (effectively a folder, but one that Mac OS treats as a single unit). To save memory, Scrivener only opens files and reads them into memory when you click on them to view them. That way, if you have 500 files in your Scrivener project, they don’t all get opened at startup, wasting time and memory.
However, it means that if you disconnect your external hard drive, Scrivener no longer has the ability to save new files, nor does it have the ability to open new files that you haven’t already read. So even if you choose the ‘Backup To…’ option (which normally acts as a ‘save as’), it won’t be able to perform the operation correctly, because it would need to access all of those files on the external hard drive to be able to copy them to your local disk.
You’re totally right, although there are cases where “backup to” might actually work. The outcome depends on the memory state Scrivener is in. Given that you have worked on all files in your project in the current session, there’s a chance that you can still save the whole project even without getting an error message. The chances are obviously zero for big projects.
I’m curious about this because one day I too would like to get a shiny new MacBook. So I went to the Scriv preferences pane to see where you would specify where your current projects would be stored–presumably on the macbook itself, as I think that would just solve Alison’s problems–and I couldn’t find anything. Strange. Is it just in set-up that you determine this?
I remain a clueless and avid onlooker to this discussion.
Not in your preferences panes or the application set-up, Zoe, but when you start a new project, you’re asked what name you want to give it and in which folder you want to save it.
I have folders and — sometimes — sub-folders set up in the Finder for each writing project and keep all the relevant materials, Scrivener projects and relevant documents created by other software in them.
Once you have your new MacBook, I would recommend to use Apple’s Migration Assistant to transfer your user account(s). This is usually the easiest way to move your data from one Mac to another. It also does a lot more for you than just copying your Scrivener files (i.e. applications, license information, adress books, calendars, bookmarks, etc).
How good to see you, Hugh! And it just goes to show how long it’s been since I started a new project. I do remember that now.
Signinstranger, I just bought my daughter a brand new aluminum Macbook with Leopard on it as a graduation present to replace her old (vintage 2003) apple laptop, on which she was running Tiger (as am I, on my lamp–the old G4 with the swivel flat screen which I adore but which is aging rapidly). To our mutual dismay, she learned that Migration Assistant does not work for transferring from Tiger to Leopard, and she just had to copy everything over via her external hard drive.
I’ve learned since that it’s not a good idea anyway to use Migration Assistant to transfer from a PPC machine (which we both had) to an intel one (which her new laptop is, as will mine be, if I ever sell this magnum opus). So “building from scratch” it is and will be.
MM: I’ve had no trouble copying projects from an external drive to a new location and opening them with a new version of Scrivener (might get an upgrade message).
I tried this and I get two error messages. One says “Backup Failed” and the other one says there was an error. And the “Backup Failed” one won’t go away. The “OK” button isn’t lit and nothing happens when I click on it. I can move the box around but not make it go away.
Now, I made a backup of the project yesterday to my dropbox. Should I just drag that out to the Doc folder and open it from there? That’s essentially doing what I’m trying to do, right?
Yes. As the earlier posts indicate, the failure messages are signs that you probably opened the file on the external drive and didn’t save before disconnecting the drive. I don’t know much about dropbox, but make sure a copy remains there.
Okay! I think I’m back in business. I successfully saved it to the folder where I want it to be, and I’ve made some revisions and tried saving and it worked just fine. Thanks for all your help!
Hi alison,
Just to avoid any similar problems in the future, I would suggest you should do a couple of things now:
Read through the explanation of why not to work on Network drives etc. in the link I provided above.
Use the “Backup to…” option regularly, and select the option to save as a Zip file. Keeping regular backups is good practice anyway, and the backups will be dated for you to make it easier to go back to an earlier version if you need to.
Whenever you transfer Scrivener files between computers, or whenever you put them onto DropBox, always use a zip file instead of an uncompressed project. This is because DropBox etc. treats a ‘package’ as a regular folder, and it can get more complicated for it trying to work out what has or hasn’t updated, and you have the risk of everything not being synchronized (half the files might have updated, and not the other half, and this is where Scrivener can get in a confused state).
By using a zip file, you are guaranteeing it will all be treated and transfered as a single unit.
Hi
I’m getting similar problems routinely and it’s quite alarming. I think it must be to do with the fact that I use Synchronize Pro to synchronize my data from my home computer to my work computer (via a memory stick). I’m now, fairly routinely, getting the error message “The project you are trying to load uses an older format and cannot be opened…” and empty projects and empty files. Previously I thought that the problem could be solved by ensuring that Scrivener was shut down before doing a synchronize but I suspect now that it’s more than that. Perhaps a protocol might be posted on FAQ or somewhere on the practices that should be followed to avoid this problem? Or maybe there should be some way to recover a project (the project I have is 7.1MB and it appears lost unless I can find an old version on Time Machine).
Thank you all. The health warning applies to synchronizing using software like Synchronize Pro as well as server based synchronizing systems like DropBox. However, I work so much between two computers that I’ll just keep synchronizing and make backups as routinely as possible.
To clarify I have never posted anything in regards to avoiding synchronisation software. Of course these applications should always be used with care to make sure the right stuff is going “left” or “right” as the case may be, but otherwise I myself have not had problems with them. That said I have not used Synchronize Pro. I’ve been a Chronosync user for years now; never had a problem with it. It might be that the software you are using is using a less safe method for copying files. Chronosync uses a technique which transfers the file to a temporary location on the target volume first, since this is the most error prone part of the process (moving data between physical devices), and then does a thorough comparison of the copied temporary file with the original file. Then, after doing that, it moves the file to its intended location. Moving a file doesn’t actually transfer any bits from one part of the physical device to another. It is entirely a process of the file system, which tells the computer where files are located physically. I realise I’m getting a little geeky here, but the summary of what I’m getting at is that the mirror process is very safe, and throws a lot of errors if it messes up at any point. You can check the documentation for your software and make sure it is using a safe method like this. Another thing to check: Chronosync has an option for doing package level synchronisation. It will look into bundle formats and treat them like folders of files. This can save synchronisation time. If you have a huge Scrivener project and you change only one small thing in it, at the package level the entire thing would need to be transferred. At sub-package level, only the parts that changed will be transferred. However, I have run into problems using this features. A Scrivener package is a very integrated set of files, part of what makes DropBox risky applies to using sub-package synchronisation. If you have the option to disable that, turn it off. It will make synchronisation longer, but I’ve never had a fouled up mirror in all the years I’ve been using Chronosync with that option off.
And of course, using these programs to propagate one-way backups is even safer. The trickier thing is two-way synchronisation.
Thanks for that and apologies if I was inappropriately extending your health warning to synchronizing software. I’m doing two-way synchronisation with Synchronize Pro X(Version 5.0.7) and I’m certainly having problems - albeit intermittently - around it.
To clarify the problem: When I synchronize to my memory stick, the file on the memory stick is 7.1 MB while it should be 8.9 MB and when I try to open it I get the following error:
"The project you are trying to load uses an older format and cannot be opened. Would you like to update it? A copy of the old project will be saved in the same directory.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you choose to update this project, make sure that you do not try to open the updated project using a version of Scrivener earlier than 1.10. Versions of Scrivener earlier than 1.10 will mistake the newer format for an older one and offer to update it - but doing so will corrupt the file (although a backup will be created which will still be usable)."
Updating only creates an empty project.
Sometimes I don’t get this error but some of the (pdf) files in the copied scrivener project are empty. And then sometimes Synchronize Pro copies the files over accurately and completely. As I say, it’s an intermittent problem.
I’ll investigate Chronosync as an alternative because the problem is a bother.
And it just goes to show how long it’s been since I started a new project. 
I do remember that now.