Scrivener is no longer in sync between my 2 Macs & Dropbox when one Mac's OS was accidentally upgraded

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
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Hi there!

Yesterday I was using Scrivener 3.3.6 on two Macs:

  • A 2015 MacBook Pro and a 2017 iMac both on Monterey 12.7.3 which was the highest OS version I could use with the MacBook Pro.
  • I would use Scrivener interchangeably between the two. Everything was working fine.
  • If I opened Scrivener on one laptop while it was already open on the other Mac, I would be notified that Scrivener was open on another device and I had to close it over there before continuing to launch it on the Mac I was currently seeking to open it up on.
  • Scratchpad additions worked great too. I would make adds on one laptop and they would appear on the Scratchpad on the other Mac.

What has changed today is that my wife pushed through an OS upgrade to Ventura 13.7.5 without consulting me :face_with_peeking_eye:…

I thought things could go on as before but I just noticed a different behavior:

  • I can open Scrivener on both Macs without getting a conflict message which I take is not normal.
  • When I make an addition to the scratchpad on the MacBookPro and close the Scrivener project, the change does not appear on the scratchpad when Scrivener is open on the iMac and vice versa.
  • When I make a change to a document while on the MacBookPro in a project then save it and close Scrivener, the change does not appear when I pull up Scrivener on the iMac and vice versa.

Can you help me sort this out?

Please note that I am pointing to Dropbox from both computers and Dropbox is where I save all Scrivener files. When I look at the directory structure of each computer my files appear in the dropbox folder that is in each. Let me show you some pictures:

1. Dropbox files on the MacBookPro showing my main Scrivener file called MEDIUM ARTICLES on Dropbox.scriv which is located in the Dropbox folder.

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2. Dropbox files on the iMac showing my main Scrivener file called MEDIUM ARTICLES on Dropbox.scriv which is located in the Dropbox folder.

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3. Scratchpad file on the MacBookPro showing my main scratchpad file Scratch for A3.1.rtfd.

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4. Scratchpad file on the iMac showing my main scratchpad file Scratch for A3.1.rtfd.

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5. What I am noticing though is that the Dropbox icon appears on the MacBookPro in the upper right hand corner of the screen as you can see below…

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6. But does not appear in the iMac as shown below…

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7. Furthermore when I go to Dropbox.com and look on the Dropbox user interface from the MacBookPro I see MEDIUM ARTICLES is updated as of 9:00pm (see below red circle) while concurrently when I access Dropbox from the iMac and log in I see the MEDIUM ARTICLES file is updated at 10:pm (see below blue circle). See the two pics below:

From the MacBook

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From the iMac

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So what do you think is going on here?

Do I have two instances of my files on Dropbox?

I feel like I need to sync my iMac anew with Dropbox because it was missing the Dropbox integration icon? If this is the way to go then can you point me to where I can find some instructions?

I don’t really want to reverse the OS upgrade.

I am all open to your kind suggestions….my main concern is to not cause any jeopardy to my files.

Much much appreciated for your advice.

Tom in Seattle. :pray:t2:

2

I didn’t go through your long post. If this issue faced me, I’d start again. I’d make sure I have full system backups of both machines (TimeMachine or equivalent), and that I have secured backups of all Scrivener projects. Then I would remove Dropbox on all machines, re-install Dropbox with current versions, configure Dropbox and Scrivener exactly as documented by L&L, and allow the machines to re-sync. Might take time for that full re-sync.

Just what I would do.

L&L provides some FAQ on Dropbox syncing on their web site.

https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/ios

Dropbox provides guidance on removing Dropbox

And Dropbox support may be a resource you could use.

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Well, I think the issue just fixed itself…I basically went on Dropbox with the iMac and logged in. Then I was checking to see if the dropbox app was installed on the iMac and it was so I clicked on it which must have started the sync process and now the dropbox icon is there on the iMac and files are syncing between the two computers….

Phewww!

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Ah. Who would have guessed logging in would be necessary! :wink:

Well done.

5

Glad to hear you’re back on track.

For anyone else reading the thread, this image was the clue. Dropbox needs to be installed, running, and logged in to your account. If it’s not, and you can’t figure out why not, contact Dropbox support.

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