Unable to open iOS/MAcOS projects in Windows

I have my projects on DropBox and can work with them just fine from iPad and from MacBook. However, when I try to open these in Windows (I do have purchased versions of all), I get the message that "“The Project XYZ could not be opened. The project you are trying to open was created or saved using a newer version of Scrivener… You need to update…” I do use most recent Windows version. What is wrong here?


I wanted to delete this post, but then I thought it would be helpful for somebody else in my situation. Basically, current Windows version (1.9x) cannot read current MacOS and iOS version (3.x). Why don’t they have it in big letters when they accept payment for it? Selling incompatible old version is not nice unless it is clearly stated right there.

I don’t discount the validity of your experience. As a note for going forward, you should be OK with using your 1.9x Windows-created projects with iOS, and iOS-created projects with 1.9.x Windows—as long as you don’t touch them with either MacOS Scrivener 3.x or Windows Beta 2.9x. iOS Scrivener was designed to use either the (Mac Scrivener 2/Windows 1.9.x) project format or the newer Scrivener 3 project format.

To work around your difficulties using all three systems, you can either

  1. On your Mac, use File->Export->As Scrivener 2 project… . This gives you a project that will work with Windows 1.9x, and can be used with iOS Scrivener as well. If you open it again with Mac Scrivener 3, though, it will be updated, and you’ll need to go through the export process again.
  2. You can use the Windows 2.9x beta (for Scrivener 3.) You can download it here: https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/scrivener-3-0-beta-release-candidate-10-download-links-change-list/38228/1 By all reports, it’s stable, though there are still a few kinks in compilation. Depending on when you bought your current Windows version, you’ll either get a discounted or free upgrade to Windows Scriv 3 when it’s finally released.

Hope this helps!

In addition, Scrivener for iOS understands and works with both v2 and v3 projects. However, if I remember correctly a project that is created new on Scrivener for iOS will default to the v3 format. You will need to convert those projects (using Scrivener for Mac) back to the v2 format using the process that SilverDragon outlined. In the future, create a new project on Scrivener for Windows 1.9, and then Scrivener for iOS will recognize it is a v2 formatted project and you should not have any issues with the format.

Once v3 for Windows is out of beta, we (the community) expect it to have the same functionality to export a project back to v2 format that Scrivener for Mac 3.x has. That doesn’t help you right now, but it should make things easier going forward.

If you need help getting a project converted, feel free to reach out to me in a PM. I have both Mac and Windows and am happy to help folks get their projects down-converted.

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. Of course, having spent some time now I know where it all stands. I guess, it is frustrating that the company did not make it very clear when selling the program. There is no single word about this incompatibility, just that you pay for ver 1 that does not mean anything since version numbers for mac and win could be different.

Also, converting is out of the question. I tried simple projects and encountered many many problems, especially if dropbox is involved. I guess, I’ll just wait for v3 since I already paid for the obsolete v1.

You can install the version 3 beta now, by downloading from here:

Working between the two platforms is discussed in the main Scrivener 3 product page, here:
literatureandlatte.com/intr … crivener-3

Katherine