I love Scrivener for Mac. I use it all the time. It works perfectly on my MacBook with Dropbox. That was also true with Scrivener for iOS. Recently, however, 4 files on iOS have become corrupted. I get the error message” Invalid Project. The project cannot be opened because it does not contain a valid binder structure file…”
I’ve tried deleting the 4 files from my iPad and then sync all. It doesn’t work. Help.
The symptoms indicate you have an incomplete Dropbox sync, or your Scrivener project files are “online” in Dropbox. Scrivener can’t find the files because (probably) not there and removed by Dropbox.
Go into Dropbox setting and change that folder to “offline”.
Hello! I am jumping in here, because I seem to have the same problem: when I try to open a file on my iPad I get a message “invalid project” because of “incomplete binder structure”. It also advises me to make sure that my projects are “completely uploaded” on the other devices. But honestly I don’t know how to do that on my mac. As far as I can see, when I close Scrivener, Scrivener saves my project into the dropbox, and that’s it. On my MacBook the files open just fine, and I don’t know how to make dropbox “extra synch”.
I did set the files “offline” in the iPad dropbox app, to no effect.
Help, please!
Did you set “offline” on Mac also? And, when you close Scrivener on Mac, give Dropbox time to sync. Scrivener on Mac not involved with sync. All done by Dropbox.
Remember that there are three places where project files exist: on Mac, on Dropbox’s Server, and iPad. All need time to fully sync.
Edit: Quick Troubleshooting for iOS Syncing / iOS / Knowledge Base - Literature and Latte Support
“Did you set “offline” on Mac also?”
Hi, thanks for replying.
I’m sure I am very ignorant, but, as I said, I don’t know how to set “offline” on my mac. Dropbox on my mac presents itself like a folder i can drag stuff to, but no menu, nothing to check or activate. However, the dropbox app on my iPad shows all my files and they appear to be synchronised (little green checkmark) And I know synching needs time, but how can I know, wether it has or hasn’t?
See the link to Dropbox instructions that I provided on Feb 3. Use the Dropbox App icon at the top of your mac screen (there is an official word for that row of icons but I forget) to see status of Dropbox sync. If the Dropbox icon not there or Dropbox not running, run it! More help on how to use Dropbox on their web site.
Ok, I deinstalled and reinstalled the dropbox app now, updated it to upon request from dropbox, and even found a way to set my files to “offline”. Unfortunately, the result is the same. The files are visible in the dropbox with little green arrows, both on Mac and on iPad. I can see them also in iPad’s scrivener app, and they appear to be synching when I press the synch button, eventually I get the message that I am up to date. And then, when I try to open a file, I get the same “invalid project” message.
Well, I’m stumped.
Are you sure the green thingies are not “arrows”?
Perhaps for reasons unknown, perhaps related to something related to Dropbox (but I doubt it if now you have syncing working), the files are actually corrupted.
If it were me, I’d go back to the first available automatic backup created by Scrivener on Mac, or the system’s TimeMachine backup, and restore the Scrivener projects.
Before resorting to the automatic backups on the Mac, try unlinking & relinking DropBox from iOS Scriv. This will ensure that any leftover crud from a failed sync is removed from iOS Scriv.
Ensure all projects are closed on your Mac and fully synced.
All of your synced DropBox projects should be gone from the iOS Project screen. Your local on my iPad projects (if any) should still be there.
Scrivener will resync all of your projects. This may take a long time. Monitor it.
When this is complete, try opening your problem project again on your iPad.
Best,
Jim
Post deleted by the poster…
Thanks, rms and Jimrac
I followed both your advices. What finally did the trick was deleting and reinstalling the scrivener app on my iPad. For now everything is working.
Thanks again, Gesine
Hey folks, I’m having this exact issue and none of the above steps will fix it. I ensured my macbook had fully synced the files. I disconnected and reconnected my iPad dropbox in Scrivener, I tried reinstalling Scrivener - nothing works.
Any fresh ideas? 
Any “corruption” if that is happening would probably be due to Dropbox, not Scrivener. Saying that, please check again that you have NOT enabled macOS iCloud disk optimisation and that in Dropbox the folder holding Scrivener project(s) is(are) set for offline.
Also see Quick Troubleshooting for iOS Syncing / iOS / Knowledge Base - Literature and Latte Support
Thanks rms,
For macOS iCloud: It’s giving me the option to optimize, so is it fair to assume it’s currently not optimizing? (There’s no toggle or anything)
Also, I couldn’t find any option to select specific folders for offline in Dropbox, but the overall “available offline” setting is applied. (I wanted to include screenshots here but apparently I can’t)
Or there are errors in say text you copy pasted in.
OK, toggled Dropbox extension on and off, restarted computer (based off some stuff I found on reddit) and this part is done. The folder for my projects is now “available offline” (individually)
Alas, no dice with the iPad, which synced again, having a functional project.
If you create a brand new project on the Mac, synchronize, then visit your account at Dropbox.com (using a browser), does the project appear there?
In particular, you’re looking for the .scrivx file inside the .scriv folder.
(Had to create a 2nd account to get around the 3-post max for new users)
Hi kewms! I created a new project. It automatically creates itself in the “Documents” folder, so then I close the project and manually move the .scriv to the Dropbox folder along with my other projects for it to sync. Everything syncs.
I go to my iPad and try to open the project, and I get the same error message.
Again, what do you see if you use a browser to visit your account at Dropbox.com?
Syncing is a two step process: From the local computer to Dropbox, then from the Dropbox server to your iPad. This is an attempt to determine where the process is breaking down.
On the web dropbox, I see the new .scriv along with my other .scriv files that are in the same Dropbox folder.