I can’t open any of my pre-existing project files. But I can create and reopen new projects.
When I try to open any projects that I had been working on previously, I get one of two errors:
(1)
'Update Project?
The project you are trying to load uses an older file format. Would you like to update it? A copy of the old project will be saved in the same directory.’
Following this prompt achieves nothing except a duplicate sets of files, neither of which contains a project I can open.
(2)
‘Scrivener project file not found’.
In each case the application itself just fails to open or fails to load a project.
I’m using the same and only release of Scrivener that I installed:
Version: 3.1.5.1 (2073405) 64-bit - 06 Jul 2023
My laptop details in case relevant:
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home - version 10.0.19045 Build 19045
Device: Acer Extensa 2540
I’m not storing or backing up the project files to a virtual or synchronised drive or anything like that; just the plain old Documents folder on Windows.
Well I’ve tried moving the project folders to different directories to see if it makes a difference but generally, no: I save backups to an external SSD.
Take a broken project and copy it to a new folder and then rename it ‘[project].zip’ or ‘broken.zip’. You may need to check your windows settings in order to make sure the extension of the files is also changed (or you can use the command “ren project.scriv project.zip” from the command prompt).
Now, unzip broken.zip. You will see a folder named the [project].scriv where [project] is the original name of your project.
Inside that folder you will find [project].scrivx and more folders.
At this point, rename [project].scrivx to ‘[project].old’ or simply delete it (you are working from a copy right?)
Next go into the ‘Mobile’ folder and copy from that folder ‘binder.mob’ into the higher directory and then rename ‘binder.mob’ to ‘[project].scrivx’. Remember to sub in here the name of your project.
Zip up the [project].scriv folder, then rename the archive to “[project].scriv” and try to open it with Scrivener. It will throw up some sync errors, but show resolve the sync issues and may leave you with a working project.
I highly recommend that if this does work, you “SAVE AS” and start working on the newer copy.
You can look here to see how I did it several years ago. If you do look there, I was using the Mac version of Scrivener, and so things look a little different, but “show package” in Mac is the same for you as renaming the project to a .zip file and unzipping it, with more steps.
While I’m able to overwrite a .scrivx project file with the content from a ‘binder.backup’ (as it’s called in Windows) and reopen it for new projects that had no problem to begin with, this does not work for the affected files.
I still get the same ‘The project you are trying to load uses an older file format.’ message.
Doesn’t the button in the “Choose Scrivener Project folder” dialog say “Select folder”? Click that. You’ll find the imported Project at the bottom of the Binder.