Here lately, everytime I open Scriv, I get the spinning rainbow wheel while scrivener “thinks” or is looking for something. I close projects before I quit scriv so i always get the splash screen. When I click on the open recent dropdown, the spinning rainbow wheel comes up. After 5-10 minutes, it will go away and I can function.
It’s random, not every time. Today though, it’s happened EVERY time I open scriv.
Thoughts? Suggestions? New feature?
Are there entries of projects in the “Recent” menu that are stored on an external or network drive (that is not available all the time)?
Which Scrivener and macOS version are you using?
That happens because they’re in my icloud folder. Older projects sometimes get uploaded and removed locally. But not so much anymore.
MacOS 11.7.0, Scriv 3.3.4
This happened a few times prior to the recent two updates, but I’m not ruling them out.
it just happened while I was writing… instead of typing, I’m watching the spinning wheel.
Is there a specific reason why you’re still on 11.7.0? Apple released ten updates after that (up to 11.7.10). If nothing else, and it might not be related, it’s probably a good idea to update now for the security fixes alone.
And also update to Scrivener 3.3.6. Can’t hurt.
That’s a huge red flag. Scrivener is very unhappy when projects become “available online only”.
(The solution is to store them in a place where that doesn’t happen, turn off “Optimize Mac Storage” in iCloud settings, and maybe also clear the recents menu.)
typo. 11.7.10
all of the recent projects are local still. If they sit for over a while icloud will change this. I know this is an issue.
I’ll update to 3.3.6. It popped up yesterday (or day before) when I was in the middle of something and told it to remind me later.
Did the update help?
hard to say. seems to be working ok so far.
I take the radio silence as a good sign. Or is it still spinning? 
The last three days I’ve opened it. One project in recent projects. Open the same project every day. And, 100% when opened, first time, and go to recent projects, the spinning rainbow wheel of death. AND, now it has also started doing it while writing. Takes about 3-5 minutes to “clear up”.
Hmmmm. What happens if you create an entirely new project and work in that (without any other projects open at the same time)? Just to make sure it’s not something in your current project causing this problem.
How big is the problem project?
Your answer about whether it was stored in iCloud was kind of vague. Have you explicitly told iCloud that this project needs to be available offline?
Do you see the same behavior if you open it from Finder, rather than Recent Projects?
Does this with all projects regardless of size.
iCloud folder is local, syncs with icloud (like google drive and dropbox folders for those who use that).
I turned off Sync and so far… so good. I was syncing to a dropbox folder for mobile editing. That’s all turned off now.
That doesn’t answer the question. All of those services create a folder in Finder, but the contents of the server may or may not be automatically downloaded to the local computer.
So it did in fact turn out to be an icloud issue with the local icloud folder not in sync or something. I went through some recommended steps and icloud finally got in sync, I haven’t had the problem in well over a week. I believe it may have had a bit to do with recent macOS updates for my version too.
I appreciate all the support! Thanks!