Please free us from Dropbox

Scrivener Scrivener for iOS
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Well, as any good scientist knows, there are no sure things – another side to your lab head’s reasoning.

You have in short form and again, @kewms Katherine’s excellent advice which is your strong protection from now and in the future as it’s been plotted out.

And you have a very precise framing as to why no one can guarantee your wishes, from @AmberV

I’ll just add in once more the tried and true remedy for many years that doesn’t alter: keep backups, as excellent as the value of your data may be.

There are many workable plans out there for you to arrange your own – starting probably with the Towers of Hanoi pattern, and the three-location rule so that at least one of your duplicated backup sets (the Towers) is fully off-site, and in some protective vault.

In a world that science understands by the day is more fundamentallly uncertain than the Positivists ever could have liked, these are your boundaries; soft in sense, graduatedly firm as you can make them, and always in the limit a degree porous. You can only manage that degree, with all cleverness, not so?

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Katherine, thanks for that precision, and indeed when I checked last night, all my Dropbox use is set with each top folder to be permanently on-machine, so that’s why I never see issues, combined with Scrivener’s excellent design on iOS/iPadOS.

i certainly do see the issue on other apps that don;t do what Scrivener iOS does, which experience may account for the anxiety others take up about Dropbox. But in Scrivener’s world, and with your advice, it should be reliable, and in practice here is. Always, with professional-level backups…(!)

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And professionally documented and published in FAQ’s that are concise, complete, and correct. No reason for writers using Scrivener to be unable to read and follow guidance.

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Ah, well, that reading deeply on instructions is maybe something a person doesn’t quite so often do, unless or until need arises…speaking only for myself, of course :slight_smile:

Actually I’ve been thinking about how intrinsic these conversations that crop up are, in that world we build of increasing complication and episodes of uncertainty. Not that software is anything like that, either, of course (and have to smile again!)

Thanks for your thoughts, @rms, always find useful.
Clive

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You would think that…

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I apologize for ambiguity in my post that seems to have distracted from my concern.

I am not concerned any issues that require an audit.

I am not concerned with using the MacOS File Provider Extension. It works well with One Drive, Google Drive and iCloud. There are no reports of File Provider Extension bugs on the usual MacOS public forums.

I am not concerned about risks associated with data transfer between devices and, or cloud servers.

I am not concerned about data privacy.

I do not expect Scrivener go certify or guarantee anything about aspects of syncing that are beyond their control.

If the Dropbox upgrade happened to break Scrivener MacOS/iOS sync I am not aware how to reinstall the previous Dropbox version. If sync broke, I would be forced have to port all my Scrivener Projects to different software platforms. Or, I could buy a MacBook Air just to do use Scrivener away from my desk. In my situation, either of these options are unacceptable. The alternatives to using bothe MacOS and iOS with Scrivener on a daily basis are inconvenient.

My only concern is: Does Scrivener know anything at all about how the recent and significant changes in Dropbox for MacOS described here impact MacOS/iOS sync given the changes in Dropbox?

During the development and internal testing of MacOS/iOS sync before the release of Scrivener iOS, Scrivener developers must have created some sync test procedures. Has Scrivener tried to use MacOS/iOS sync with the Dropbox upgrade?

Here are examples of the responses I was expecting.

  1. We do not have the resources to determine if our customers who rely on MacOS and iOS syncing should install the recent Dropbox MacOS upgrade. We do not recommend our customers upgrade at this time.

or

  1. We are currently investigating whether or not our MacOS customers should install the recent Dropbox upgrade. We appreciate your patience.

or

  1. It is possible MacOS/iOS syncing will no longer be supported due to the Apple’s decision to adopt the File Provider Extension. Please other methods described in our support documentation.

I am thankful for the two users who reported positive experiences with the Dropbox MacOS upgrade.

As of March 27 (today) the “Dropbox Syncing with iOS article in Scrivener’s Knowledge Base is not updated. Since iOS does not use the File Provider extension, addressing the Dropbox upgrade could be considered irrelevant.

An optimist could assume the most recent version of MacOS Dropbox is reliable for MacOS/iOS sync. The Knowledge Base article “iOS “Using Scrivener with Cloud-Sync Services” was updated on March 27. This article only covers MacOs/MacOS syncing. It could be significant the updated article’s long list of specific warnings and concerns did not include an entry about Dropbox’s switch to the implement the File Provider extension.

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Alas, this is completely irrelevant to MacOS/iOS syncing with the Dropbox MAcOS upgrade that only supports The Finder File Provider extension.

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Mac Scrivener saves directly to the specified folder on the local hard drive. It does not communicate with any cloud service, including Dropbox. What happens after the project is saved is entirely up to the Dropbox software.

If Dropbox successfully transfers the project to its servers, iOS Scrivener will continue to work as it always has.

So what you are really asking is “does Dropbox work correctly with the Apple File Provider architecture?” That is a question for Dropbox support.

Known Dropbox-specific concerns for Mac OS are discussed here:
https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/cloud-syncing/dropbox-troubleshooting-macos-monterey

Best practices for synchronization services generally are here:
https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/cloud-syncing/using-scrivener-with-cloud-sync-services

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Well, actually it isn’t irrelevant , @WilliamH.

You have two concerns possible that I am aware of:

  1. The concern in the missive you originally posted, which is answered from Dropbox in the link I drew your attention to which is found inside it: Dropbox commitment to address external drives on MacOS

The problem as stated has to do with Dropbox on external drives – if you are using the normal Dropbox install on MacOS you apparently will not be affected. If you are using a location on an external drive, DropBox commits in that note to not change your situation utnil they haee a [proven] fix for that issue. It is not an issue in general with MacOS fileysystems.

  1. what I went on with @kewms about is another issue that is always there to nab the unsuspecting, that Dropbox’s change of operation some years ago (which I think is pretty universal with cloud drives by now) to not actually have their files in resident copies on your disk, unless you mark them or more usefully their folders to be always resident, or b) depend on the files to be delivered at use, which is not compatible with Scrivener, or if you try to use files when not connected to the internet.

Getting that situation fully qualified would be essential to your question of whether Scrivener would be reliable for you over Dropbox, for any platform connection including iOS/iPadOs.

Then, to close with Katherine’s observation, the testing you theorize has been done, long experience of many say the system works, and indeed the ball is in Dropbox’s court, properly picked up, and according to them not going to affect you at all, even were you to operate Dropbox from an external drive.

If you don’t believe Dropbox, once you actually read what’s recommended to you from them, then retire to assuring active projects in the Dropbox-recommended position on an internal Mac drive until results are in, institute adequate backups as you always should anyway if you care about your data, etc…

It’s Monday, but will still wish you well on this,
Clive

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