# Transferring projects from another computer **URL:** \ **Category:** Scrivener\ **Tags:** support, os-related, basics\ **Created:** [January 13, 2022, 9:13pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562 "2022-01-13T21:13:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 10:29pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/61 "2024-01-01T22:29:41Z")
Hi. (Scrivener needs the whole of the project folder.) Open the project in Scrivener on the source computer. Use `File / Backup / Backup to` Check the box option to zip the backup. Transfer that backup to the other computer via a thumbdrive or email. Unzip it and voilà. . . . . . . . In any case : If you plan on going back and forth between the two computers, that is not a good way to go about it. Use sync. ---
**Author:** ![furillo](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/f/9f8e36/32.png) [@furillo](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/furillo)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 11:23pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/62 "2024-01-01T23:23:33Z")
Once again you saved my bacon, Vincent\_Vincent. The email transfer technique worked great. Thanks loads! How does Sync work? ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 11:27pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/63 "2024-01-01T23:27:17Z")
You are welcome. Just in case I didn’t formulate it clearly enough: If you plan on taking the project back and forth between the two computers, that is not the way it should be done. This works for a one time transfer, but otherwise you may (eventually most assuredly will) have issues. To work a project on more than one machine, you need to use sync. (Or a good thumbdrive – the project sitting on it (that’s how I handle it) – and systematic backups because thumbdrives are not that reliable.) ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2024, 11:36pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/64 "2024-01-01T23:36:52Z")
> [@furillo](#): > > How does Sync work? You need to create a sync folder (`File / Sync / With external folder`)that is then hosted on your cloud account (Dropbox preferably) and that syncs between your computers. I won’t go further into the topic, as I don’t use sync. (In short, I don’t know enough to answer that confidently.) **[I don’t know]** Lots of people to help with that here, though. First step would be to read the manual on the topic. The main reason for sync is that this way there is only one version of the project. Should you simply bounce the project from one computer to the other over and over like you just did, you create a new version each time. It would only be a matter of time for work to be lost. You’ll work on the wrong version, or overwrite the most recent one, etc etc. (All bad things…) ---
**Author:** ![rms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/rms)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 5:52am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/65 "2024-01-02T05:52:52Z")
> [@furillo](#): > > How does Sync work? In addition to @Vincent_Vincent’ sage comments and advice, yes see the “Scrivener User Manual” for how to setup syncing, and also see resources on Literature & Latte’s web site > **[Using Scrivener with Cloud-Sync Services / Cloud Syncing / Knowledge Base -...](https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/cloud-syncing/using-scrivener-with-cloud-sync-services)** ---
**Author:** ![kewms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/kewms/32/15720_2.png) [@kewms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/kewms)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 7:08am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/66 "2024-01-02T07:08:48Z")
> [@Vincent\_Vincent](#): > > You need to create a sync folder (`File / Sync / With external folder`)that is then hosted on your cloud account (Dropbox preferably) and that syncs between your computers. Not if you’re using Scrivener on both devices you don’t. Sync with external folder is only intended to be used when sharing a Scrivener project with some other application. ---
**Author:** ![Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/vincent_vincent/32/19680_2.png) [@Vincent\_Vincent](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/Vincent_Vincent)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2024, 2:59pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/67 "2024-01-02T14:59:41Z")
Thanks. I thought I knew at least that bit. 😬 ---
**Author:** ![pique](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@pique](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/pique)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 12:12am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/68 "2024-02-04T00:12:44Z")
I am nearing the end of my free trial, which I have been using on my husband’s laptop, since my laptop is too old to use Scrivener. I have bought a new laptop specifically so that I can use Scrivener–it will be arriving in about a week. I will keep Scrivener and all my files on my husband’s machine as a backup location (though I don’t plan to update anything onto his machine.) My question is: what is the simplest, most painless way to make this transition _without_ using the cloud/dropbox/etc. I do have a 1 TB external SSD I can use to transfer the files. But I am unclear on exactly where to find the right files/folders and how to save them to the external drive so that they will simply open up in Scrivener on my new laptop without any grief. What I want is to download and install Scrivener to the new machine, then plug in the external SSD to the new machine, locate _all_ of my Scrivener projects and have them load into the new download of Scrivener perfectly intact with all metadata, notes, etc, so that they will function exactly as they did on my husband’s laptop. Maybe this is already simple and I’m over-explaining, but I have a real dread of ending up in the weeds with this, and I don’t have a lot of patience for those kinds of complications. I am not going to be using any cloud services. I want to keep everything on my SSDs. Please explain to me step by step exactly what to do? Many, many thanks. ---
**Author:** ![GoalieDad](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/goaliedad/32/28584_2.png) [@GoalieDad](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/GoalieDad)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 12:35am UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/69 "2024-02-04T00:35:20Z")
Use file\> back up to and manually backup each scrivener project as a zip backup. Can save to external drive. Then unzip/ extract each backup and save in a scrivener backup folder on new labtop. Install software then open new project folder and then open the scrivx file for each project. You will need to reset backup locations as well. ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/amberv/32/13021_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2024, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/70 "2024-02-04T13:31:48Z")
As [noted above](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/moving-projects-to-new-laptop-open-existing-projects-from-moved-back-up-folder-or-moved-projects-folder/128795/2), we have a checklist that will help you get your settings, templates, backups and so forth all located, for easy transfer / backup with a drive. As for your projects, well we can’t help with that too much since it is up to you to organise them and choose where to save them. You might want to use File Explorer to search for folders ending in “.scriv” though, as that is what a project folder will be named like, with that whole folder needing to be copied. ---
**Author:** ![pique](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/p/5daacb/32.png) [@pique](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/pique)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 6:56pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/71 "2024-02-05T18:56:47Z")
Thank you! Where exactly is the checklist you mention? I am not finding it. Is it necessary to save the projects in zip files? Can’t I just save them unzipped? ---
**Author:** ![rms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/rms)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 7:13pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/72 "2024-02-05T19:13:53Z")
To find the check list, click on “as noted above” to find the post with the link to the checklist. ---
**Author:** ![AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/amberv/32/13021_2.png) [@AmberV](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/AmberV)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2024, 11:19pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/73 "2024-02-05T23:19:25Z")
> [@pique](#): > > Is it necessary to save the projects in zip files? I wouldn’t go through the trouble in most cases, if you are using local file sharing or physical disks to copy data. That is going to be so fast (especially with SSD) either way that it wouldn’t be worth the manual labour to zip and unzip everything. If you were using cloud, then yes definitely, that can shave off hours, depending on how many projects you have and how large they are. ---
**Author:** ![RWFlater](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/13edae/32.png) [@RWFlater](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/RWFlater)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 10:04pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/74 "2026-06-29T22:04:04Z")
I’m rather inept with technology. I was using Scrivener on my old Dell laptop. I just bought a new HP. I was able to find my contract number and download Scrivener, but not all the projects I was working on and backing up appear on the HP. What can I do to bring all my work over to the new computer? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Dodds](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/john_dodds/32/31445_2.png) [@John\_Dodds](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/John_Dodds)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 2:06pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/75 "2026-10-21T14:06:03Z")
Is there a quick way to transfer a novel I started working on with Scrivener on a Mac, then continued it on older Scrivener on a PC and to transfer it back to the Mac version? ---
**Author:** ![rms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/r/f6c823/32.png) [@rms](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/rms)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 2:56pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/76 "2026-10-21T14:56:18Z")
Very easy way. Make a backup zip file on the PC, copy to a USB stick or email (or other way like network share, sync service, … whatever you know how to use) it to get to the new machine, unzip into working folder, e.g. **~/documents/scrivener,** and there you go. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Dodds](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/user_avatar/forum.literatureandlatte.com/john_dodds/32/31445_2.png) [@John\_Dodds](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/u/John_Dodds)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562/77 "2026-10-21T15:43:45Z")
Thank you. That sounds pretty straightforward. [Previous page](https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/transferring-projects-from-another-computer/125562.md?page=3)