Hello, I need help in understanding Scrivener’s “save” and “backup to” functions. I am automatically saving my work in a folder created in my “documents.” I also have “Backup to” set to go to Dropbox. In either case the list of saved documents exceeds the instructed “keep 5 documents” to the point of driving me crazy.
What am I doing wrong? I haven’t changed the name of my project. Is it wrong to save the project to two different locations?
I love Scriveners, but on occasions it gets confusing. I hope you can help me. Thanks.
Okay first of all, like programs such as OneNote and Evernote, you don’t really have to save in Scrivener; that just happens while you work. So the only thing that really matters for most people is where the project is located. You can read more about this in §7.3, Saving and Making Copies, pg. 48 – 9.
Now, you mention that you “…have ‘Backup to’ set to go to Dropbox”, but I’m not sure what that means specifically. The File/Back Up/Back Up To… command (§7.8.3, Manually Backing Up, pg. 56) is for creating independent one-off backups, with optional zip compression, to a location and filename of your choosing—it asks you every single time what you want to call it and where you want to put it, that’s why I don’t understand what you mean about setting it to go to Dropbox. No automated system will interrupt it. Nothing in Scrivener will ever delete those backups you make with this command. They are yours to take care of and maintain.
What it sounds like you’re thinking about is the automatic backup, that happens when you close the project by default. That’s the one that has a limit of five (although that can be set up to a limit of 25, or removed altogether, so you if you’re talking about this, and not the aforementioned menu command, then you might want to check your settings).
I don’t know what you mean by this. It is only possible to save something in a single location, with computers using the common desktop metaphor. The way around that is links and shortcuts, but the stuff is still in one spot.
At any rate, it might be a good idea to go through Chapter 7 in general, in your user manual, if you want to get into how everything works in a detailed fashion.