I am using Scrivener 3.1.5.1 64 bit. I just got a new computer with Windows 11 64 bit, and I can’t get Scrivener to work. Help! It opens to the beginning screen, but whenever I try to load my poetry file, nothing happens and it freezes. I write a poem in Scrivener EVERY DAY, so I would really appreciate help.
Thank you,
Skye
Does it happen with other projects too?
Does it freeze when creating a new project?
Hi Matt,
I can’t do anything. Even choosing a blank page instead of templates freezes it. I tried starting a new project, and that worked. But I have 1002 poems in my file!
I tried opening different project, no luck.
Skye
Did you download Scrivener onto your new computer directly from our website or transfer it from your old computer? Sometimes app transfers don’t work very well, so if you did that, I’d recommend doing a fresh install from our website instead:
- Uninstall Scrivener using the Windows uninstaller.
- When the uninstall has finished, open Windows File Explorer, navigate to C:\Program Files, scroll down to the “Scrivener3” folder. Make sure that the folder doesn’t contain any of your own files — if it does, then move them to a safe location. When you have done that, delete the “Scrivener3” folder, by right-clicking on it, then selecting “Delete” from the menu.
- Clear your browser’s cache and your Downloads folder, to make sure that you download and install a completely fresh copy of the application.
- Download a fresh copy of the Windows installer Download Scrivener - Literature & Latte.
- Run the installer, and follow the installation instructions that appear on the screen.
If you still have trouble after that, please let us know.
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I’m doing each step carefully. Interesting, when I got to Program Files, there is no Scrivener 3 folder there. So I checked Program Files (x86). Nothing there either. I’ll continue with all the steps.
Okay, I followed each step carefully. I’m having the same problem, although this time, it did create a folder under Program Files called Scrivener 3. It won’t load my poetry project, and if I click “blank,” the program freezes and doesn’t respond.
Is the folder holding your Scrivener project files synced with a third party sync service?
I was told by Scrivener to use Dropbox, because I sometimes travel and want to take my writing with me. It has worked flawlessly until now. So yes, the program is installed on my hard drive, but my files are on Dropbox.
Ok.Dropbox is great and works. but you need to ensure Dropbox is set to keep file “offline” and you give it time to complete sync. There are FAQ’s with guidance on L&L’s web site.
That being said, do you need to sync to another device?
The problem seems to be with the program itself. Without even trying to open a project, if I click anywhere, the program freezes.
I’ll look at the guidance, but I’ve been using Dropbox for about ten years with Scrivener without a problem on Windows 10.
How do I get to the FAQs? I’m on the website and looking. Could you send me a link?
Thank you…
And one other question: my backup is on my hard drive, but when I went to the most recent one, I didn’t find a .scrivx file to open. ???
https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/ios/dropbox-syncing-with-ios
My questions still stand and may be pertinent…
From the FAQ (thank you for the link)
- In Scrivener for iOS, make sure you are viewing the Projects list and that you do not have a project open. [[I can’t visit the Projects list. I can’t do ANYTHING or it freezes–and there is no projects list, because this is a new install.]]
In response to your other questions, I don’t know how to set Dropbox to keep the file “offline.”
And what do you mean, sync to another device? There’s my desktop, and the laptop. When I travel, I use Scrivener on the laptop. I don’t travel much, so I’m just trying to get it to run on my new PC desktop.
Just to be clear, is it iOS Scrivener or Windows Scrivener that is freezing? Or both?
Only on my Windows 11 computer. Only Windows Scrivener.
I’m sorry you’re running into an issue trying to get Scrivener running. Is this a new computer, with a newly created user account (that is, your Windows login), apps freshly installed, and preferences newly set up “from scratch”, without copying from an earlier machine? Or is it a system upgrade that retained your user account and settings from a previous version of Windows? I’m assuming the former, but it would be good to be certain, since if older settings went through an upgrade or were migrated to the new machine, that could be a factor.
If this is all new, Scrivener should be in trial mode until it’s activated, and it sounds like that window is never appearing for you—in other words, that’s probably where it’s freezing. Unless you did get it once and enter your license info to activate? Alternatively, if this was a system upgrade, the previous activation may still be intact, so you wouldn’t see that popup message.
Going back to this a minute, Program Files is the default installation location when installing Scrivener as an administrator; if you didn’t find the application there, you may have installed Scrivener from a non-administrator account, in which case the default location is %LOCALAPPDATA%\Scrivener3. It’d be worth pasting that path into the address bar in File Explorer to see if you find a copy of Scrivener, since it sounds like you may now have two copies installed. If you don’t find the Scrivener3 folder and contents in the AppData folder, you can use the search bar in File Explorer to look for “Scrivener.exe” and see if it turns up anything besides the copy you now have installed at C:\Program Files\Scrivener3\.
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Hello.
Completely new installation. My husband got busy with me too. If I remember–so darn much has gone on in the last 48 hours–I think I activated it. In any case, we tried this: on my old machine, I made a copy of my Scrivener file, and copied it to my hard drive. It opens!! I’m thrilled! But it’s not in Dropbox, which means when I travel (none planned right now), I wouldn’t have my file on the laptop because it’s not in Dropbox anymore.
When I did that search, nothing came up.
Glad you sort of back in operation doing the important things – writing.
Now, if you install and configure Dropbox per the instructions, and
- configure the files to be “offline” and not “online” where Dropbox will delete files on your local machine and Scrivener will complain.
- give Dropbox enough time to complete the sync, whether on desktop or laptop. This especially important for a new machine, but make it a routine to allow that time. Sync is not instantaneous (unless there is little to sync).
You’ll be good to go. I gave you L&L’s FAQ and Dropbox also has instructions, e.g. search internet for “dropbox offline files” like I just did to find the Dropbox Instructions.
Keep it simple. 
Dear rms,
Thank you. I’ll try that. Slowly. With care.
This has been a wonderful test in equanimity. I compile my poems every couple of weeks into a Word file, so I do that that. I have come to see how dependent I am on Scrivener. It PERFECT for a poet. All my poems in one place. I’ve been using it for about 15 years, but I only turned seriously to poetry 7 years ago. Two books coming out this year.
By the way, I don’t know how to use the backup it makes. When I went and looked, I didn’t see a .scrivx file–mind you, I wasn’t in the greatest frame of mind at the time.
–Skye
See Section 5.2 of the Scrivener Manual. No need to repeat all that here.
I save 25 copies of backups, automatically do them “on open”. And I save them as “zip” files. Your mileage may vary.
But it is in your interest to look at your configuration (under your control) of the automatic Scrivener backups and would be prudent to learn how to restore from backup as when the time comes to need to do it, no need for you to overly worry it–just do it.