Some files sync, but others don't

Background: I’ve gone through the official youtube video, “Scrivener for iOS - Sync Demonstration”, and gotten syncing working … sort of.

The problem is that the .scriv file created on the Mac seems to sync nicely.

But the .scriv file, created in iPad, does not.

Here’s what I do. (i) I make edits to the .scriv file in the iPad. Since I’ve set preferences to instantly sync, it syncs instantaneously. Instantly, on my Mac, the Dropbox notification indicates that some files have been synced onto the Mac.

However, the actual .scriv in the Mac’s Dropbox file is unchanged. There is no change in its “Date Modified”.

When I try to open the .scriv file on the Mac, I get this error message:


The document “sample.scriv” could not be opened.

The project at “/Users/MyMac/Dropbox/Apps/Scrivener/sample.scriv” seems to be of an older format, but no binder.scrivproj file could be found inside it. It may be missing or corrupt, possibly because of a problem with the device on which it is stored, or because of a synchronisation problem.

Try ctrl-clicking on the project in the Finder and selecting “Show Package Contents”, then look for a file entitled ‘binder.scrivproj’. Ensure it has not been renamed by a backup routine. If it does not exist, try restoring from a backup.


The above error message does not make sense, because (i) the file was created by the iPad add, and (ii) I’m running the latest version 2.7 of Scrivener.

This non-syncing only is observed for the .scriv file that was created by the iPad. Whereas, for a test .scriv file created by the Mac, those files sync nicely.

Any suggestions?

The latest version of Scrivener is 2.8, not 2.7, and 2.8 is the only version compatible with iOS Scrivener.

Updating to version 2.8 should resolve your issue. Basically, iPad changes are stored in a separate “Mobile” folder to facilitate conflict resolution. Scrivener 2.7 doesn’t know this folder exists.

You can get the new version through our site, here:
literatureandlatte.com/download_mac.php
or through the Apple App Store, depending on how you originally purchased Scrivener.

Katherine