Someone please tell me what I can do to help L&L recreate the problem, because I really don’t want to try to convert my five novels in progress to another program…
mmm, I saw I think 2 who said they still had a problem with specific files, though every other post from those who had tried the process seemed success. So, yes there is a way to work around it, but not necessarily for everyone and every project.
They have received a number of log files and are working on them, don’t know if they need more.
I’m sure they are working on it, but a short „Hi we’re still working on it“ would be very reassuring.
I don’t blame the developers for the bug and I understand that it just might not have been possible to hunt it down yet. But on the other hand it looks like it’s related to the whole problem of the syncing process being complicated and tedious. I’ve always defended Scrivener and I’m a long and loyal user, but right now I’m just longing for a writing app where my files are just there and where switching between Mac and iOS works seamlessly (also in terms of features and user experience). I would have never believed I‘d say this and I don’t want to sound sulky, but I think I’ll have a look at an alternative app, at last until syncing gets better and the iOS app gets closer to the Mac app (which I’m sure one day will happen and then I’ll return. Or maybe earlier, when I start missing all the cool features Scrivener had and three others haven’t).
That is pretty much the gist of Katherine’s post late on 1 October. She also points out that it seems to be an Apple bug. So it might be better to light a fire under Apple instead of LitnLat. It seems that Apple broke it, so they will probably have to fix it.
Yeah, I have two projects that crash the app if I move them into the new folder I created. Maybe it has something to do with snapshots or a file type like PDF being present or some other feature - I thought it was due to the .scriv project size but others are clearly able to move large ≤ 110mb projects into a new folder and sync without issue. I am not.
This issue has to be a QA nightmare since every time we users think we stumble on the the perfect recipe for disaster (or ’steps to reproduce’ this issue with 100% accuracy) another user in these forums with the same scenario has no issues.
For myself, it feels pretty mind boggling:
• It appears new iPhone device with new OS report this issue 100%. Yet, I’m under the impression some new iPads have this issue and some new iPads don’t.
• Older devices with new OS appear to have no issue. (Why? Processor type?)
• Some users move to a new folder and move projects one by one to success. Both small and large ( ≤100 mb) projects.
• Some users move to a new folder with ‘some’ level of success, with smaller projects only. Bigger projects crash.
• Some users report moving to a new folder success is 0%, with either size project.
The issue is so inconsistent (except in its awfulness) that it’s a pain to nail down. If we had 100% repro steps I’m sure they’d have a fix already.
I know there was an OS beta before Apple rolled out iOS 13.x.x. I don’t have any visibility into what came from L&L’s, or other beta user testing during that phase, but it must’ve not set off any alarm bells.
I wish I could help more but I’m at a loss for what to do next. I just keep refreshing this post hoping someone has stumbled upon a universal absolute.
(edit: grammer)
JustAnotherWriter, that’s just about the size of it. From the usage angle there are no good useful patterns. Even the new vs old device and processor type clues, fruitful and interesting though they seemed at first, ended up being more indicative of averages that absolutes.
But the log files that some of you have taken the time to send in have at least shown some more concreteness in their similarities. They do very much seem to indicate a RAM issue that, while it only happens in some usage scenarios, at least cause very similar logging results. The question now is how to optimise this main sync loop, if that proves to be the problem, particularly if we can’t get the fault to happen in the first place. Could be general optimisation is good enough, we’ll have to see.
My very low-info guess at this point is that iOS 13 has tighter restrictions on per-process RAM usage, and that some combination of unknown factors causes that to become more prevalent.
@AmberV, has anyone come forward with such a folder? If not, then there’s still one thing that an affected user can do to help out.
For myself, I’ve implemented the “Alternative Method”, described in the Knowledge Base article “Using Scrivener with Cloud-Sync Services”, towards the bottom of the page, using zipped backups. For the iOS side, I access the backups via the Files app, and de-archive them using the Shortcuts app technique that @ThisHereIsPete described in his post, [url]External backup for Scrivener iOS files? - #12 by ThisHereIsPete], with the slight change that instead of the “Save File” step, I use “Open in” so that I can open the project directly into Scrivener iOS. When I’m done on iOS, I export a backup manually to the same folder. It’s not as fast as the built-in Scriv sync, but it’s sure and with zipped backups can be used on any cloud service that integrates with the iOS Files app.
IT WORKED!!!
iOS sync hadn’t been working since iOS 13(.x), and I was just able to make it work–here’s what I did:
- I had a bunch of Scrivener projects in the /Dropbox/Apps/Scrivener folder, along with a couple of non-Scrivener documents. I moved all but two projects to another Dropbox folder. I also kept Scrivener theme files in the sync folder.
**Let Dropbox finish syncing. - Removed and reinstalled iOS Scrivener app.
**Ensured that Dropbox had finished syncing. - in the iOS app, pressed the sync button.
**Waited. It took some time–10 minutes, maybe? But sync didn’t want at the ‘Downloading file list…’ message
–Tested: made small change in one project, synced–it worked. !!!
In short:
- clean up and trim your /Dropbox/Apps/Scrivener folder (or other sync folder)
- remove and reinstall iOS Scrivener
**Make sure you allow Dropbox to sync. You know what happens if you don’t.
- sync.
**Wait.
For reference, one project is 250 MB; the other 24 MB. Other projects I had in that folder ranged from 5 to 30 MB. It may be that the issue is solved just by reinstalling the app, so you could try that first. My folder had gotten cluttered, including with Scrivener projects in older formats.
Thanks for sharing! Hopefully it helps others, but removing and reinstalling the iOS Scrivener app unfortunately didn’t work for me, and I did try doing it after paring down my sync folder and removing a bunch of old stuff. 
(I’ve tried removing/reinstalling it several times throughout my whole trial-and-error situation to no avail.)
Rats, TQLOS. I probably missed your post, and was excited to offer some help. Maybe for some…
Wishing you good luck!
Glad to hear that trimming the folder down helped. That’s something I’d recommend doing periodically anyway. The design intent for this feature was always within the threshold of syncing what you are presently working on, rather than to operate as a repository for everything you’ve ever done. There is local storage for that, if you want it made available. But keeping the sync folder itself trim and currently relevant will only speed everything up in the day to day.
It shouldn’t of course break if using it heavily, though!
I think that given the most recent conclusion this wouldn’t be of much help. Since the problem does seem to be triggering a system memory related abortion of the process, it’s very unlikely to be related to specific content—and given how memory related issues can be seen on one system but not another, it’s not even a sure thing that what never works for one person would never work for anyone else.
As for the alternate sync methods, I think it’s great that iOS 13 has finally made Files a viable hub for data. I’ve been thinking of sorting out a Resilio Sync workflow now that AirDrop is too flaky to depend upon. In the past that wasn’t something I could do, since the Resilio client itself on iOS can’t send folders to other apps.
Ultimately that should be the dream goal for this system. The reliance upon every single developer inventing their own sync integration with every other tool that people want is just insanity. That philosophy in general is what holds this system back in my opinion. You can’t spend your time making your own software if you have to spend your time reinventing stuff the OS, and integration with the OS, should provide to all software equally.
I understand. My own favourite mind-mapping app, iThoughts, recently abandoned its excellent Dropbox sync in favour of a solution involving iCloud Drive and Files app. Sad, as the iCloud solution devised is much less flexible, but given the vocal resistance to Dropbox I’ve heard on this forum and others, plus the advantages of a manufacturer-supported solution, the developer’s decision is hardly surprising.
Soldier on, L&L! I hope you find this bug soon!
Trying this now. Dropbox is in the process of syncing the Scrivener project files (which is better than previously, when Scrivener would just crash as soon as I tried to sync Dropbox). Crossing fingers that it’ll go through?
ETA: It worked 
Good luck, everyone <3
So quick background: I have an iMac, an iPhone 8 Plus and an iPad Pro 11" connected to Dropbox.
A while ago I made changes to 2 Scrivener Projects on the iPad Pro, but when wanting to sync, it always crashed. So, not wanting to mix up the system any further, I didn’t touch these projects from the phone or the Mac anymore for days.
What I did today was through the Files App and iCloud Drive, copy (via duplicate) the files from the On My iPad - Scrivener - Dropbox folder, to my iCloud Drive. I checked on the iMac and they had the latest changes. Okay, so far.
(still ironic that I could get them off through Files and iCloud, but anyhow)
Then, on the iMac, I copied those files from iCloud Drive to my Dropbox folder, so at least they had the latest versions now. Then I opened the iOS app on my iPhone. It showed changes to those files, I let it sync, and it worked. So far, so good.
I thought: maybe I should now just delete the Scrivener App from my iPad and re-install, let it re-sync. I tried, but when re-syncing, the iOS app on the iPad didn’t ask me with which folder it wanted to sync, and just made its default Apps - Scrivener folder. Which is empty. Okay, I thought, weird mistake, I went through the settings, couldn’t find the setting to sync to another folder. Well. I’ll download the Dropbox App on the iPad, maybe that will help to connect it to the right folder. So I de-installed Scrivener again, removed (on the iMac) the empty Apps - Scrivener folder, and installed the Dropbox app on the iPad. Opened it. First it asked me to first decouple like 12 devices to only have 3 devices left, with their new restriction on devices. Fine. I checked off all old devices that were still registered, until only my iPhone, iPad and iMac were left. Next step: re-install Scrivener iOS, and probably now it will link straight to the Dropbox app and ask me which subfolder to pick. No, again: it shows me the usual splash screen, and when I push the Sync button, it automatically makes it’s own Apps - Scrivener folder, which is of course empty. I have an own Scrivener folder on the root (I only use Dropbox for Scrivener at this point anymore) but there seems to be no way to link to it. I now tried again, de-installing and re-installing iOS Scrivener, and it just always makes its own folder instead of letting me pick which one to link to.
So now there are no projects active on my iPad. And I theoretically could move all my 20 GB of Scrivener folders again to the new folder the iPad creates, but then I’ll have to re-sync on the phone as well, and at this point I’m a bit sick of the whole thing and I want to avoid spending again time for maybe nothing.
I’m now doubting about just working with a manual copy to iCloud Drive from every device, which at this point with Files and iOS 13 seems to be going well but I only tried it with 200MB Scrivener Projects, and not with my bigger (maximum) 8 GB Scrivener projects.
Why didn’t you tell iPad Scrivener to look in the correct folder?
Edit -> Gear wheel -> Dropbox settings
Damn I feel stupid now. I knew there was a way, but I was searching through the Settings App, and went to the question mark, etc. Don’t know why I missed. I’ll update to let know if sync worked.
EDIT: Still crashes, unfortunately…
I’m happy to report that I finally got my biggest project to sync! I used the method up-thread of creating a new Dropbox folder, syncing to the empty folder, copying one project into the new folder, then syncing again, and so on. I had tried this before, but I started with the smaller projects and it worked for those, but then crashed once I added the big project. (The smaller projects are 40 MB and 70 MB, the big project is 525 MB.) This time I started with the big project, and it worked!! 
I’m using an iPhone 11 Pro Max with iOS 13.1.2.
The big project is the only one I really need to have on my phone right now, and since I’m afraid of causing another crashing situation if I add any more projects into the new folder, I’m just going to have that one big project on there and hope it keeps syncing without issues.
I had had no problems on my iphone or ipad until tonight - just got a new iphone 11 pro max to replace my 7 plus after the microphone stopped working… now Scrivener crashes every time it tries to sync on the new phone 
Yes! Finally! I had just a few projects in there so thought I’d just uninstall and reinstall. No go. Wouldn’t do a thing. Then I slimmed down my Dropbox > Apps > Scrivener folder and it did.
One key change I made: I deleted subfolders within the Scrivener folder and just put all projects directly in the Scrivener folder. It had worked fine this way before the upgrade. So perhaps you aren’t allowed to have subfolders in the Scrivener folder under iPad OS anymore?? This could explain why some folks can sync and others can’t.
Where I use Scrivener: on a Macbook Air (MacOS10.4.6) and an iPad Pro 11" with iOS 13.1.2 installed.
Hi Amber,
I’m glad you are looking for the concerns of your Scrivener users. In our facebook forum, many writers are close to give up on it, since they can’t get sync working anymore. Many do not have the skills to access the synchronization on a directory level or understand / execute “workarounds”.
Honestly, it also makes no sense to me to shrink or tweak the directory since Dropbox would update only the changed files in a package anyway. It worked perfectly before and I can’t see any reason why it should not work with iOs 13. The file list downloaded prior to sync process cannot be the cause for the overflow but this is the moment, when the Scrivenerapp always disappears from the screen.
I also do not want to search for “workarounds” or copy directories or project files around, since this is not a quality process. I rely on Scrivener for my work and really would like to ask for a systematic solution.
If DropBox sync does not work for whatever reason, please make iCloud sync available.
The sync process can be much better controlled than in the past and all I need is an automated solution for what I’m forced to do by hand right now. (Copying project files via iCloud from my Mac to the iPad and back).
Greetings,
Thomas