I agree that multiple locations are absolutely essential for good backup! It sounds like we’re doing roughly the same thing, except for editing. I consider the backup files on Dropbox to be the source, and I always edit locally. And I also back them up locally.
The reason I edit locally is that on one or two occasions, using a project on Dropbox, I was editing a large project very fast, making large changes (which required longer transfer times to Dropbox), and while working in realtime I got out of sync with Dropbox. Some component files got corrupted, and data was lost. I recovered all of it from a very recent backup, but this convinced me that local editing was safer.
I totally agree with you. If the Scrivener iOS app didn’t require Dropbox for the source file I would absolutely always keep it local. That said, it’s been working very well.
iOS Scrivener does not require Dropbox. You can also use Apple File Sharing to transfer projects to/from your device. It’s less convenient, but it works, and it avoids the risks inherent in any synchronization service.
Then this is my mistake. I thought Dropbox was required for automated sharing of the Scrivener source file across Apple devices. I just checked the settings. How does one change to do this automatically from an Apple hosted (iCloud?) Scrivener source file instead of Dropbox?
Just move the project files from a Dropbox folder to an Apple iCloud folder.
BUT Apple iCloud known to be more unreliable than other sync services. Lots of chat about that for many apps on the “net”. I would suggest you stick to using Dropbox and focus on the writing.
Hey @Owen1, had a question: how exactly are you launching Scrivener?
It’s coming back to me now that the warning message might have been related to a shortcut I created to launch Scrivener. When I stopped using the shortcut, I think the warning stopped coming up.
Hopefully this isn’t a red herring! But I’m curious how you’re handling it.
I tried opening it both ways after reading your msg. you are absolutely right, the shortcut gives the error msg but opening it from the main window’s menu does not !! Go figure. Thank you tho for putting my mind at rest about having it run on two machines. It was a huge help. PS; I need to get around to your other responses on Synching as soon I get some time. Cheers.
Totally agree. My point exactly to OP. If it works for automated syncing -and Dropbox does- accept your fate. My 3-2-1 data backup approach (not exactly 3-2-1) is fully automated and now just requires me to validate it is correctly syncing and then backing up each day. It takes me 15 seconds to validate everything is automatically syncing and backing up to Dropbox (Scrivener source file shared across devices as Scrivener requires for iOS automated syncing), iCloud (primary sync of backup zip), Google Drive (most recent mirror sync of zip and 30 day max backup), iDrive (long-term backup of zip). No other interaction required beyond the discipline of a once a day 15 second check. Principle: Redundancy is your friend. (NB. All backup and sync platforms only need and use free tier accounts.)
My 3-2-1 data backup approach (not exactly 3-2-1) is fully automated and now just requires me to validate it is correctly syncing and then backing up each day. It takes me 15 seconds to validate everything is automatically syncing and backing up to Dropbox (Scrivener source file shared across devices as Scrivener requires for iOS automated syncing), iCloud (primary sync of backup zip), Google Drive (most recent mirror sync of zip and 30 day max backup), iDrive (long-term backup of zip). No other interaction required beyond the discipline of a once a day 15 second check. Principle: Redundancy is your friend. (NB. All backup and sync platforms only need and use free tier accounts.)