That was a good idea to check but the box to not back up this project is not checked.
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I upgraded my operating system to Sequoia and am now able to âkeep files downloadable.â When I opened the project after that the files in the binder showed with writing like normal files but when I open them they are still blank (and then after that the rectangle in the binder becomes blank).
I donât know if this helps but after this happened, the only backup I had for the last two weeks (which is the one that was generated when I closed the project on discovering the problem) didnât snow any text for those files in preview in the finder. But that same back up in iCloud drive on my phone did (and does) show text for those files in preview (even though there arenât rich text files for those files). Again, I really just want to know if there is anything else I can try to recover my missing text. Happy to share screenshots if that helps.
And thanks very much to everyone who has offered advice!
Seems to be some confusion. I donât get the preview thing, as commented above
These are the settings I suggest for iCloud
DO NOT select Optimize Mac Storage - that potentially moves files to iCloud and Scrivener projects should not be opened from a cloud service. They must be stored locally.
Screenshot is from Sequoia. These options have been available on all recent macOS.
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I need to use optimize storage - I have way too much data not to have it turned on. But with Sequoia thereâs an option to tell iCloud to keep an individual file downloadable at all times. I now have my project set to that. But when all of this happened my project was downloaded. And it was open when the files went blank so it wasnât an error with opening it that caused the files to go blank.
Obviously I canât see whatâs happened on your system.
The keep downloaded in your scenario sounds your only option, given your storage constraints but (and this is where during my time with Apple I came across multiple issues) iCloud is a notoriously lazy sync for starters which has caused endless issues.
If your Scrivener project was originally on iCloud and was opened from there (something that should never happen) there are so many ways a sync could go wrong. This can happen over time, so issues may not be noticed, and the backups being made can simply back up those errors. The file you selected to Keep Downloaded could already have the errors in it. (Why I always have 25 backups set - gives you more options to work back to a good file)
If you changed to keep downloaded then opened a project before a sync had completed who knows what could happen. I honestly do not have the greatest faith in iCloudâs conflict resolution.
The L&L staff may have some viable suggestions, which may entail sending them a zipped file of the project, but FWIW, mine would be, STOP poking around and opening projects. Get someone with IT quals and hopefully a Scrivener background to look at your system and collection of files etc.
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Thanks for all this! Again, the project was open and downloaded and the text was there. I closed the computer and opened it again the next day and the files were blank. This project in question was downloaded the entire time and was not opened or closed between when the text was there and when it disappeared. Iâve used Scrivener for over a decade and stored my files in iCloud for at least three years and never had problems before.
FYI the only projects I opened were copies I made to poke around in.
This is not something that Scrivener itself did, or is capable of doing. When a project is closed, itâs âinertâ from Scrivenerâs point of view.
I think the missing backups may be a clue here. Are you running any third party backup or cleanup utilities other than iCloud? Does anyone other than you have access to your computer, including remote access via a cloud service? Because your symptoms indicate that something is âhelpfullyâ removing older files.
(Incidentally, you might check your iCloud account to see if the backups have been whisked away to their server, too.)
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Thanks for responding! So the project wasnât closed if that makes a difference - it was open on my computer. I finished writing for the night, closed my laptop lid and the the next day the files were blank. But I never closed out of Scrivener. I do not run any third party backup (I connect a time machine drive to manually backup but it wasnât connected in this period). I am not running any cleanup utilities. No one else has access to my computer including via a cloud service. Note that the files that went blank are within the project and by no means the oldest files in the project.
But you said above you have macOS optimise disk. True? That process will delete files. Nothing to do with Scrivener. And all the things you describe above messing with backups may have had a negative impact.
oooooohhhhh
If you close the laptop with Scrivener running, Scrivenerâs automatic backups wonât run. So that explains why they are missing.
So weâre back to iCloud and âOptimize filesâ as the most likely culprits.
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Yes but I had restarted my computer a couple of times in the two weeks prior to the files disappearing which obviously closes out of Scrivener and that did not generate backups. I have no backups between January 5th and January 18 when the problem occurred and I closed and reopened Scrivener to see if that would make the blank files reappear. Also during the time the files disappeared, the project was downloaded.
Itâs set to move things to the cloud not to delete them. I only âmessed withâ copies of my backups that I moved to a different location for safety. I have older backups of the project, January 5 and older. I just donât have any between January 5 and January 18, despite restarting my computer (and consequently closing Scrivener) at least twice.
If those files are still on your computer, why donât they occupy space anymore?
Because they are moved to iCloud.
Exactly. They donât exist on your computer afterwards.
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Yes. But they are in the iCloud. So if backups had been moved to iCloud I would see them there. In any case, the project from which the files disappeared was downloaded over the span of time during which the files went blank.
Are you sure? Because you wrote âI now have my project set to that.â If it wasnât set to that before and your computer ran low on free space back then, itâs likely macOS would âoptimizeâ some project files away. Scrivener projects contain a lot of files, and likely plenty that could appear as ânot in useâ (no saved changes for a while).
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A file that has been moved to the cloud does not exist on your local computer and will not be accessible by Scrivener.
A Scrivener project contains both an index file used to build the Binder and potentially hundreds of document files that contain your actual content. If the index file is present on the local computer but the document files are not, the result will be exactly what you are seeing.
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Again, my project was downloaded on my computer when the files went blank. All the files would be in the project, right?
Yes. Because you can see in a Finder window if a project is downloaded or in the cloud. This project was downloaded at the time the files went blank. I now have it set to always stay downloaded so it canât move to the cloud in the future, but it was downloaded when the files went blank. Also the files that went blank werenât the oldest, they were fairly recent.