Yesterday, Scrivener suddenly stopped saving, both auto-saving and manually. I click Save and the usual save animation doesn’t pop up. When I checked in my save location C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\LiteratureAndLatte\Scrivener\Backups, the file count hasn’t increased. I’m right in the middle of a heavy revision and can’t afford to lose my work. Nothing has changed on my system. I haven’t installed any Windows updates or new software. I’m at a loss. Can someone help me, please?
I would first try to “save as” my project to a different location. (Giving it a different name, to avoid later confusion.)
If that works, backup this “save as”.
And most likely work on this new version from there on.
I’d also test other projects to see if the issue is global.
Look to see if the drive (or a root folder leading to the project’s folder) isn’t read only for some reason.
. . . . . . . . .
I had a somewhat similar issue in the past. At fault was my anti-virus. But I was getting error messages. Not just nothing happening.
→ The solution was to whitelist Scrivener in the exclusion settings of my antivirus.
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Thanks for responding, Vincent_Vincent.
I should have mentioned that I’ve been using Scrivener since November and have always been able to save, until yesterday.
I should have also mentioned that “save as” works, no problem. During my revision, I’ve been saving my WIP with a “save as” every single day with that day’s date to make it easier to refer to in the future should the need arise. For example, Project 1 - 2nd Story Level Revision (2022-06-06). “Save as” worked fine yesterday and today. I’m not having problems with it. However, I’m not able to “save” my new “save as” afterward.
However, I’ve just learned that the Backup on project open is working but the the Backup on project close is not. I just set it to see if it would work as it wasn’t set before. I’ve tried changing other Backup settings and resetting them but the issues remain the same. I always close Scrivener and reopen it to test if changing settings makes a difference.
As mentioned, the auto-save, “save” or Backup with each manual save is not working.
File/Back Up/Back Up Now works no problem and saves to my backup folder C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\LiteratureAndLatte\Scrivener\Backups
The issue is global. I’ve opened up entirely different projects and the same exact same issue is happening with them as well.
The folder where I save my Scrivener projects is not “read only.”
Scrivener is already whitelisted in my AV software.
Check if the project file itself isn’t read only.
I would have otherwise said that everything you said points to your antivirus, but you say it is already whitelisted. (Maybe reconfirm that ?)
I’ve checked my project files and none of them are set to “read only.”
I just confirmed that Scrivener is whitelisted in my AV and it is.
At least now we know that the problem is with your system; and not with your project itself.
A couple of things worth considering:
- By default the total number of backups in your backup folder will not increase, past a certain point. If you go into the Backup settings panel, you’ll see there is a setting for capping the number of backups per project to a certain amount (5 by default). So initially it will increase, with a new project, but once you hit five the oldest will be replaced by the newest. Thus, the more important thing to check is modification dates in the folder. You will also find a setting to put a date stamp on backups instead of generic numbers—that can also be useful.
- The other thing is that there is no save animation, and in most cases saving will involve very little actual work because it is only going to be saving the specific internal files that were modified since the last auto-save—that may in many cases only be several seconds of work, a sentence or two in a single file. So the more useful indicator here isn’t going to be progress bars, but actually verifying whether or not things are saving using other methods. Save As on the other hand, must duplicate potentially hundreds of files, and so yes that is going to take longer and be more noticeable.
The issue is global. I’ve opened up entirely different projects and the same exact same issue is happening with them as well.
So if you create a new blank project, type in a word, close it, open it, type in another word, close it and open it, you get what? No words at all, one word? Another thing worth noting is that there are a lot of files in Scrivener that save normally that don’t have to do with content. Stuff like split views, what you have left selected in the binder, the last search you ran… these are all things that must save. Do they also revert?
I’d go into the General: Warnings options tab, and enable logging. That should let you know if there are complications in saving files.
Thanks for responding, AmberV. A part of this response is addressing a now-deleted response from another member but I figure I’ll provide the info nonetheless.
It makes no difference if I use Ctrl+S or File/Save. Neither works.
My saves are located in C:\Users\Me\AppData\Local\LiteratureAndLatte\Scrivener. This is in my Scrivener options. I do not have a custom location set in my project options. This is the only location my files are being saved in and always has been since I installed Scrivener.
I have my options set to: Keep all backup files. There are 845 files in that folder. I have not run out of space on my SSD.
I have use date in backup file names selected. Nothing is being overwritten. My saves are zips and the files names look like this: Title - 2nd Story Level Revision (2022-06-04)-bak-2022-06-04T23-11
This is a brand new issue. I haven’t touched my settings anywhere. After months of using Scrivener and manually saving multiple times daily, it became an issue yesterday.
As you suggested, I just created a totally new blank project. I typed a single word in it, closed without saving, reopened and nothing. It was blank. I retyped, clicked “save” and nothing again. The project was blank when I reopened it. There was no new file in my backups folder in either instance. When I selected “Back Up/ Back Up Now,” a new file was created, however. When I reopened it, the word I typed was there that time. When I clicked “save as,” I was able to save it in my projects folder. Again, what I typed was also there when I reopened it.
I misspoke when I said “save animation.” I meant to say the “creating backup” animation. My files are large as I’ve dragged inspiration images into them. That said, I’ve been checking the number of files in my backups folder and it isn’t increasing when I exit or click “save.” The number of files does increase when I click “back up/ back up now.”
While I’m by no means a Scrivener expert but I’m very comfortable using it. Quite frankly, I love this software. I prefer it over MS Word for writing fiction. Also, I used to work in acceptance testing, building test cases for reported software bugs, so I’m really familiar with figuring out software issues. The thing that has me baffled right now is that Scrivener is saving under certain circumstances, as I’ve mentioned, but not others. It’s more confusing since I haven’t touched my settings in months and the problem started yesterday, out of the blue. Normally, I’d blame a Windows update but it hasn’t updated in weeks. Neither has anything else on my system.
I tried reinstalling over the existing installation but this didn’t change anything. I haven’t tried uninstalling and reinstalling yet but that is my next step, I suppose. Before I do that, with regards to enabling logging, can you tell me what to look for?
Thanks for your help. I really do appreciate it.
Clearly, something is preventing pre-existing files to be modified on your system.
I’d investigate thoroughly in the properties and permissions.
Right-click your project’s .scrivx file → security
Since you said even new projects are not saving past the initial save, perhaps investigate on one. You’ll have less files to go through. And without any consequences to an eventual user error.
Thanks for looking into this further, @Vincent_Vincent.
At any rate, I did as you suggested. First I checked the new blank document I created (Right-click-> Properties-> Security). Next, I checked the other projects I tried to save yesterday and today plus a few from weeks and months ago, for good measure. For each, I checked the .scrivs files in my projects folder and unzipped some in my backups folder to check their .scrivx files as well. “Allow” is checked for each and every last one, exactly as shown in your image. Not one is set to “read only.”
The project’s folder is .scriv
The project’s file is .scrivx
I realized that after I typed and edited my post but you were quicker than me. Sorry about that.
I have my extensions normally hidden and I’m brainfarting right now. I’ve been looking at this too long. Again, sorry.
ETA: it is the .scrivx files I checked, not the folders
It’s ok.
But I am out of ideas.
I really appreciate that you tried. I’m just going to back everything up and export my last revision to Word, just in case. Then I’m going to reinstall. Fingers crossed it’s just some weird fluke. Wish me luck.
Before reinstalling Scrivener, perhaps try another software (text editing or not) and see if it behaves the same…
Otherwise, if you reinstall, don’t rush it. Save/backup your preferences first, along with your compile formats.
(Better safe than sorry.)
And yes, good luck. Hopefully that’ll fix your issue.
@Nyx I know you’ve already whitelisted Scrivener, but as an experiment you might try disabling your AV temporarily. Scrivener’s seeming inability to save to disk seems like the root cause of these issues.
Also, heed the excellent advice from @Vincent_Vincent to take the uninstall slow and make sure you save your preferences and compile formats first. 
It will save you lots of time on the back end.
Best,
Jim
@Vincent_Vincent I’m having no problems with any other software. I’ve been using Excel, Word, Photoshop, Sigil, and a few others without issue. This is the one and only thing that’s been acting up. I really appreciate the advice. I honestly hadn’t thought of doing either of those things. I’ve saved my preferences and will start with the compile formats next.
@JimRac Thanks for responding. I tried disabling my AV and anti-malware apps but no luck. I’m just completely baffled.
I truly appreciate how much help was offered here today. Even though my issue isn’t resolved, you’ve all brightened my day. : )
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…yet.
Keep us posted. 
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Have you checked the Event Viewer for error records that may seem related to your problem, such as file access/file read errors? To get to the Event Viewer, click the Start button, type Event, then click on Event Viewer. You will see a window like this:
On the “Overview and Summary” pane, you can expand the “Error”, “Warning” and “Audit Failure” sections if their error count is not zero.
You can also expand the “Windows Logs” section of the tree on the left side, then check the Applications, Security, and System sections for errors and warnings.
If you are not familiar with the Event Viewer, it can seem intimidating because of the volume of information and because some of the messages are cryptic. But it’s good for Windows users to at least be familiar with it because Windows logs a lot of information there that can sometimes pinpoint exactly what went wrong.
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