Scrivener 3.1.5.1 for Windows - the research and trash root sections are missing from the binder. I cannot add any folders or files. Also all files inside folders in the binder are no longer showing. All of the work in my binder has turned into folders only with no files and even the folders in the Research section are now in with the folders in the draft section. Is this a bug? Is my Scrivener corrupted? Please let me know the best course of action to fix this. Should I uninstall and reinstall Scrivener? I’ve already restarted the computer, reinstalled the latest update 3.1.5.1 and nothing has fixed the issue.
Are you Syncing to a cloud service and the sychronisation didn’t complete?
To add to @AntoniDol’s point, if you are using a cloud service (OneDrive, DropBox, Google Drive, iCloud, etc. ) –
All of them have a feature whereby your files are only stored in the cloud, and are downloaded to your device as you need them. (E.g., in OneDrive this is called Files On-Demand.)
Scrivener does not work well with this feature; see this Knowledge Base article.
Go to your cloud service’s settings and disable this feature.
Best,
Jim
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Also backup files as zip files which are more stable and unzip on your computer for extra security. Set up backup on close in options panel under backup and look at general settings as well.
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AntoniDol @JimRac and @GoalieDad thank you for your posts. I’m not synching to a cloud service. I have Scrivener set to backup on close and it saves the file to my computer. I also have the automatic backup set to save the last 10 backups as zip files. Thank God I have these! I don’t know what happened, but my latest save and backup got corrupted. I tested the Scrivener program with the tutorial file and it opened okay, including the Research, Trash, and files in folders. So I opened one of the older zip backups and it was okay - except it didn’t include all the work I’ve done in the last couple of weeks… I did export a pdf of the chapter I was working on at the end of the last day I had made changes, so I didn’t lose the work I had done. It took a while to implement all the changes into the older Scrivener backup file, but it’s all caught up now. I hope this NEVER happens again and I’m so grateful that I didn’t uninstall and reinstall Scrivener, or I would have lost all my program settings. I’d still like to know how or why the file broke. I didn’t do anything differently and it’s always worked in the past.
Also: Your sync service may well give you the ability to exempt the things in a given folder, for example, a folder that contains all your active Scrivener projects. Thus, if you really do have independent need to leave that remote-only option enabled, you can still set things so your Scriv projects are still stored locally (as well as synced).
(( I think anyone who does not absolutely need such a /remote only/ service, should switch it off. It is the precursor bait to a world where people pay subscription fees for access to your own files. Fight the Power! Having said that, having a good backup practice is essential.))
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Suggest a usb drive and backup every day on project when actively writing. If have 10 backups did you open the most recent backup? At most should be 1-2 days old if actively writing.
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Sounds like you’re back on track from a backup, but I’m wondering from the description if you were viewing a collection rather than the full binder. That could make it look as though some items were missing, and depending on the type of collection, others might be showing out of binder order.
For reference, this post explains a way you could check in the future and how to get back to the regular binder if that’s the issue:
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That’s possible, especially if I was searching a generic word that would have listed many things in the draft section and the resources section all together. Thank you.
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