I wrote something yesterday that’s mysteriously deleted this morning (not in any backups - already checked). Here’s what I remember.
I typed about 1500 words into a text file in my DRAFTS folder, COPIED from one text file and PASTED it into another text file (also in my DRAFT folder), then I DELETED the original text file from the DRAFTS folder and it migrated to TRASH. Since the PASTED text was clearly visible in another text file and I dislike multiple copies of things, I DELETED the original file from the TRASH folder. It looked fine until this morning when I opened the file and the PASTED text was gone. Is there any way to get it back? I’ve checked my backups and it’s not in any.
Depending on what else you have been doing in the world, it is possible you text is still on your Clipboard. Try pasting into a clean document.
No one can tell you whether you can get your text back without figuring out what happened. Text doesn’t just mysteriously vanish in Scrivener, so some bright diagnostician need Ps to be able to see past your description of events to figure out what really happened.
Have you tried using project search to find your text? Use the search field above the binder to search for a phrase (make sure the search options are set right, of course).
If you are a newish Scriv user it is entirely possible that you lodged your text in a place where you are now not looking for it. For example, a common mistake for early users is to inadvertently place text into the text body of a folder and then because of some clicking around not see it later. Folders act like containers in Scriv, but they are also documents in their own right and can contain text just like a regular doc does. Your view mode determines whether you see in the Editor the text body area of a folder — as opposed to index cards or outline.
Hth,
gr
P.S. As you hopefully now realize, your overweening oversight of your project’s Trash folder is a mistake. Don’t open the Trash folder, don’t worry about what is in there. As a Scrivener user of many years, I very rarely empty the Trash in a Scriv project. Text files take up miniscule space on your drive. What you just discovered is that in fact you care more about your words than tidying. If you didn’t you wouldn’t be looking for them, you would just be saying ‘Tidy is as tidy does’ and moving on to other tidying tasks!
Did you close Scrivener when you were done working yesterday? Or did you invoke Backup Now yesterday after making your changes? If you did neither of those things, then you wouldn’t have a backup with the missing text.
Are you syncing your project files to another computer?
This is a really good tip. You may have pasted it somewhere other than where you thought you did.
Also, you didn’t at any time use “File->Save As” to create a “backup” did you? If you did, have you looked for the missing text in any of those copies? It’s not at all uncommon for people to use “Save As” to create a backup, and then mistakenly do work in that copy, later returning to the original where their work seems to have gone missing.
Another way you might end up in the same situation (i.e., editing a copy or backup of your project by mistake) is through using the (System driven) ‘Recent Projects’ menu to open your projects. If for any reason you open a copy or backup of a project, that will put it that thing in your Recents menu – where you might later mistake it for your master copy of the project.
As you are posting in the Scrivener for Mac forum, perhaps you also are using Time Machine for your backups? If yes, look there too to restore some earlier versions of your project and see if you can recover your lost text.
