New here. I am trying out the 30 day trial and loving it. I have input everything into scrivener. Worried if something happens and I erase or things are deleted that they are gone forever. Is there a way to save everything into a file and put on an external hardrive? Is that suggested? What is common place?
Hi.
That is done via a backup.
The location and setup and automatic backups details are set in the options (Windows) / preferences (?) (Mac). … → File / Options
After which you only need to use File / Backup / Backup now if you opted to not use automatic backups.
P.S. I highly recommend checking (turning on) the settings to have your backups zipped and timestamped, in the options. It avoids mistaking the backup for the source project, among other advantages.
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Also, if you haven’t already done so, definitely go through the interactive tutorial in the help menu, as you work through the demo. The tutorial is a project of its own, so you can save it somewhere and set it aside, picking away at it as you have time. You can have it open while your main project is open too, and use what you learn in it in the main project.
Then, visit §3.1.1 in the user manual to briefly see what the demo version is, and move on to Chapter 5, which goes over what projects are, how you save them, where they save to (hint: you decide, when you make it). I would consider the first two major sections of that chapter essential reading. You really want to know how your work is saved and how to find your projects if you lose track of them. The remainder of the chapter is more along the lines of bonus knowledge.
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I have several articles on backing up and the settings you should put in place. Look at your options panel File > Options > Backup
File > Back up > Back up to allows you to save to a thumb drive.
Here is one of the backup articles under Scrivener Basics Back Up Options — My Writing Journey
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Hi, Danielle,
Some quick useful things to know:
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Scrivener is a well-tested program and rock solid in operation. A lot of thought and hard work has gone into making sure it never is the cause of losing your work.
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When you delete a document or folder from Scrivener’s Binder (on purpose or accidentally), it is not erased, it is moved into Scrivener’s Trash folder, and the trash is never emptied unless you explicitly ask for it to be.
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Most commonly, people have Scrivener set to automatically back up their projects when they close them. And by default Scrivener keeps several layers of project backups (you can adjust how many if you like). I recommend you have Scrivener save its automatic-backups as zip files, for various reasons.
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There is also a facility for “snapshotting” a document in a Scriv project, which basically tucks away a copy of the document for safekeeping and which you could revert to, if need be. Some people snapshot a doc before starting a major edit on it.
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