First off, I’m really excited about having the opportunity to use Scrivener with my Windows unit. My girlfriend has bragged about this program for the last year and I’ve been so jealous. Now we get to be on the same page…woohoo.
On a side note, I downloaded the Beta version on both of my computers at the same time today. When I tried to email myself the file from my desktop to my laptop, I got the following error when trying to open it:
“Project is incompatible w/ this version of Scrivener”
I’m confused because I downloaded the Beta version at the same time and don’t know if I missed something, or if this is/will never be available to be done.
How are you transferring the new project between the computers?
I’ve copied both the .scriv folder and brought over a zipped backup. That is how I work between my desktop, laptop, and netbook. So it does work to move between machines.
Yes, you need everything contained within the project.scriv folder.
The best way to move from machine to machine is to File “Backup to” and check the zip file. Save it to your desktop and then email that. That way you can be sure you are grabbing all of the files and not just the .scrivx file.
Think of the project.scrivx file as a giant index. It tells the application where to find all of the files, last update times, etc.
Another way to move back and forth is to take the whole directory, copy it to a flash drive, etc.
Or right-click on the directory and choose to “Send to” a compressed zip. As olorinpc points out, the .scrivx file is just the control file. It’s what describes the project and is very important, but by itself it is just a skeleton. The meat of your project are all in the other folders along-side it. So best practice is to grab the “my project.scriv” folder above both of them.
Everything above about the folder is correct. A project folder contains 3 subfolders: Files, Settings, Snapshots, and also the Project file itself. Without all the components, the actual .scrivx item won’t open.
I use DROPBOX myself, and my entire project folder resides in side my Dropbox. So when it autosaves, it autosyncs. It’s made bouncing back and forth between computers simple and saved my ass when one of the laptops lost power in the middle of a session of writing. I switched to the other, and it had up to date files already ready for me to open. I only lost five words.