I have Scrivener 2 on my old MacBook (too old OS to use Scrivener 3) and iOS app with sync in Dropbox. I bought a new MacBook and downloaded Scrivener 3 to it. I selected the same sync folder that I used with Scrivener 2 on Dropbox. First Scrivener 3 complained it did not find any .scriv files from the folder. Then I tried again. This time it asked whether I want to update the .scriv file to newer version. I agreed to update it and the project opened. The folders and text file names and the structure in binder were all ok, but all the text files are now empty. And now they are also empty when I open the project with iOS. I can see there are .rtf files in the dropbox folder and text it those, but in Scrivener app everything is empty. How to fix this?
Exactly how did you do this?
Did you install the dropbox app on your new Mac, waited for the app to download everything from your Dropbox account on the server and then just opened the project in Scrivener the usual way (File → Open)? Or did you do it some other way?
I don’t know whether dropbox had downloaded everything to the server. However, I can see there are .rtf files of all my text files and those include the text also. Is it possible the update from Scrivener 2 -> 3 has somehow corrupted the .scriv file so it does not find the text in those files?
How and where do you see the rtf files? They should be invisible, inside the project package.
But did you install the Dropbox app on your new Macbook and allow it to download everything from the Dropbox server to your Dropbox folder on the new Mac?
I don’t know, I did not know I should always check the folder is updated. In any case, the project does not work either from Scrivener 2, iOS or Scrivener 3. Luckily I was able to compile the folders as pdf from iOS app before I synced it to Dropbox, so I didn’t lose my text. However, I had to spend 2 hours to copy the relevant parts of the text to the new project I created.
However, now I seriously have some mistrust for the whole app.
ps.
The .rtf files are visible in draft and notes forlders in Dropbox.
… meaning you looked at the project using the web interface? Or did you look inside the project package in Finder, using ’reveal package content’?
When you use Dropbox you need to have the Dropbox app installed because it is the app that takes care of upload and download between your Mac and the Dropbox server. So what it does is simply to copy files back and forth so that you always have the same files available on both your Mac and on the Dropbox server.
When you got a new Mac, all you had to do was to get the Dropbox app, allow it to sign in to your Dropbox account and wait until it has downloaded everything on the server to the Dropbox folder which it creates on your new Mac. When that was finished you could simply have opened the project in Scrivener with Open…
Very simple and straightforward.
Scrivener doesn’t know or care where you save your projects, so you must take care of that yourself. If you did something wrong in setting up the Dropbox connection on your new Mac, don’t blame Scrivener.
Just as a heads up––before Scrivener upgrades a project from v2 to v3, it creates a backup in the project’s then current directory. Between that and any recent backup you’ve taken––Scrivener can be set up to automatically backup (dated/zipped) and you can manually create one as well, plus Time Machine for example––a user is very well covered for any negative unintended consequence. If you run into trouble in the future, this’ll save you quite a bit of time and anxiety.
Project format upgrade excerpt from the Manual:
To be clear, here are the steps you need to perform on your new mac to get this all working. Some you’ve done, others, it’s not clear if you have, so read carefully, and verify that you’ve done them…
- Download and install the dropbox app on your new Mac: dropbox.com/install
- Once it’s installed, make sure it’s logged on using the same username and password as you use to access the dropbox website.
- Watch the icon in your menu bar until it changes to the neutral, “not syncing” version of the icon. This can take a while if you have a lot of stuff stored on Dropbox.
- Click on that icon, and choose the “pause Dropbox” option from that menu.
- Open the project(s) on your mac using Scrivener 3, and let it upgrade your project(s)
- Assuming everything went well, un-pause Dropbox. You might want to move the “backup” copy(ies) out of the Dropbox folder first, just to save time.
- Wait for the syncing to finish (watch the icon in the menu).
I suggest pausing Dropbox because there are a lot of file moves and folder creations being done when Scrivener 3 upgrades a project, and I don’t like relying on Dropbox to interpret all of that correctly. It may not be necessary, but it can’t hurt to take those steps. Also, be sure to let/make dropbox sync on all your other devices before opening projects in Scrivener first; it’ll take a while the first time after upgrading large projects, and you don’t want Scrivener to try and open them before they’re completely up-to-date.
I have been using only Scrivener 2 trial version for 3 weeks - how should I know these things about the dropbox sync? I have been doing SW professionally for more than 15 years, mobile phones, web programminf etc. Scrivener is not just an app, it is also a service. My expectation for commercial SW is that it guides the users and is “bullet proof” for data. Why is there no mechanisms for making sure the sync file is up to date? (I know it would be possible to do it.) Or why there are no mechanisms that make the newbie user aware that he must check these things himself? Writers can not be expected to have advanced technical skills and even an SW engineer like me can make this kind of mistake…
I used MacBook and iOS apps with this same file for 3 weeks without problems and was not expecting to have problems with new mac either…
I opened the automatically generated backup files - no text in those either. I guess it saved the corrupted/partially synced .scriv file to the backup also.
Anyway, now I understand what the problem is - the .scriv file (or actually it seems to be rather a folder, I guess that is why the app does not know if it is fully synced or not) was not fully synced when I opened it with new mac. So it was transferred to Scrivener 3 format before it was fully synced and that’s why the text is lost. Fortunately I managed to compile the files with my iOS app before syncing it and thus I did not lose the texts alltogether.
Because Scrivener isn’t in charge of the sync, much like it’s got nothing to do with the copy operation from a thumb drive to your hard drive, for instance. To Scrivener, it’s just another folder on the hard drive.
On you old Mac, if you have it available, check out the Scrivener->Preferences->Backup settings. There should be a button to open your automatic backups folder, from which you should be able to recover the full project as it existed prior to moving to the new Mac. Hope that helps.
Indeed, a rdale says, Dropbox is nothing to do with Scrivener - it’s an entirely separate app - so if you use it to sync files between your machines you need to understand how Dropbox works in order to use it properly with other apps. It would be the same no matter what sync solution you chose - iCloud, Google Drive or anything else. Scrivener has no way of knowing whether all the files it needs are downloaded and it has no way of forcing this since Dropbox is a separate service you are using. When syncing - a general rule with syncing services - you need to keep keep an eye on the progress of the syncing service to ensure files are downloaded.
Incidentally, Scrivener is not a service - it is an app. We work hard to ensure it is as stable as possible and not prone to data loss, but we have no control over third-party syncing services, which the user has to take responsibility for.
But most importantly, I’m glad you’re up and running again!
All the best,
Keith
Well, for the user it is service and should be thought of as one. Writer doesn’t buy an app, he buys means to achieve ends. For me it is to have possibility to work on the same text via different machines - in my work, at home, on the move.
Why wasn’t I aware of this possibility for losing my work if I don’t pay attention to dropbox sync progress? I think it is quite common use case that people use sync with different machines, buy new machines etc. Well, it’s not my software to worry about, but I’m sure this use case can be solved better way. I think it is not enough to say that “user has to take responsibility for understanding the sync services” as it is vital use case for you guys. I wouldn’t consider buying Scrivener if it didn’t have this feature. The cloud is where everything is moving to. The SW that can handle it trustworthy, beats the competition…
Before buying and using an app, it’s my responsibility to learn how it’s used, including how to use any optional third party service feature available. Syncing using a cloud service without learning what the best practice for use is? I wouldn’t let myself down like that; I’d experiment with it several times with test projects.
Back to the app though––at the top of the list of things to learn about an app is how its backup features work, and how to integrate them with my overall backup plan. Whether by a hardware fault or software one, a sync service error or an operator one, damage could happen to my work. The recovery prep work/planning is my responsibility for whichever OS and apps I use. Although I’ve practiced recoveries using backups, I’ve never had to use them because of any type of failure using Scrivener.
Literature and Latte has plenty of documentation available about backups (auto and manual) and syncing. Whichever syncing service you choose to use is where to go to learn in depth about it. I don’t often use the cloud but when I have, I’ve had no trouble syncing Scrivener projects or backups. L&L’s held up their end of the bargain with the documentation, and they do their best to help people recover from bad circumstances. The negative criticism in this thread made about them isn’t logical or fair.
If you think the learning process could be made better, there’s a feedback sub-forum here:
viewforum.php?f=5
Time to get to work, eh? Good luck.
Because you didn’t bother to crack open the Scrivener manual.
14.1 Scrivener Everywhere
Placing your Scrivener project into a cloud folder, so that it is available to every
computer you own, is today a natural concept that by and large works well with
Scrivener. Without going into great technical detail: a Scrivener project is really
a whole mass of files and folders, and since most cloud services are designed
around the concept of keeping folders and files together, there isn’t much special
you need to do other than designating that project as being synced in whatever
manner your service recommends.
To avoid conflicts with synced projects:
-
Always make sure your syncing software is done syncing before you open
a project. Research how your cloud software informs you of when it is
working and pay heed to it. Good syncing software will let you know when
it is moving data to or from the central server on the Internet. In the case
of Dropbox, a small icon will be placed into the status menu bar area, in
the top-right portion of your screen. Keep an eye on this indicator and
wait for the “all done” checkmark to appear before you open the project. -
Never open a project more than once. If all goes well, Scrivener will warn
you if you try to do this, but in some scenarios this warning might fail, so
try to always remember to close your project when you are done with it.
Ignoring this rule is a surefire way to cause major headaches. -
Always wait for your syncing software to finish syncing before you shut
down your computer. This is of course a corollary to the first rule. Just as
you should wait for your computer to be updated before opening a project,
you need to make sure that all of your changes made to the project have
finished syncing back to the server (and thus made available to your other
computers), before you put it to sleep or shut it down. <<
Suppose that you were saving a large folder containing multiple files – say a Scrivener project – to an external hard drive.
And suppose that, while the save was in progress, you yanked the power cord out of the wall.
What would you expect to happen to the file? To what extent would those consequences be the responsibility of Literature & Latte, or of Apple?
Saving to a remote server is very much like that, except that the number of things that can go wrong is much larger than simply losing power to an external drive.
We provide warnings. We explain in detail exactly what is going on. So does Dropbox in their own documentation. Both Scrivener and Dropbox backup your files.
But if you yank the cord out of the wall, I’m afraid you’re on your own.
Katherine
Well, actually I didn’t yank the cord out of the wall. I updated Scrivener app from 2 → 3 and the app itself asked me to update the project file from 2 → 3. I clicked “yes” and lost all of my text files. My expectation was that if the app asks me to do something it is safe to do so.
As said, luckily I was able to compile the iOS app before it synced with the corrupted file so I didn’t lose anything.
I am sorry if my critique seems unjustified, but I have been doing SW for 15 years. These are the little things that make the difference between a good app and great app. You have a very good application for my purposes for writing a book. You still have things to improve. Cloud sync made bullet proof → there is a slogan that sells product and beats competition.
Btw, usually I charge SW companies for consulting services. This one I do for free because I like the app <3 Don’t be defensive, listen to your customers. Just my 5 cents.
This is a user forum and most of the answers and the help you will get in here are from users, not from L&L staff.
As I already mentioned upthread, if you had bothered to read the few paragraphs on syncing in the manual, everything would’ve gone well for you, and we likely wouldn’t be having this discussion. But you didn’t, and that’s on you.
And I’ve been doing software quite a bit longer than that. Long enough that when I f#$k up, I own it. Apparently you haven’t reached that point yet in your career. Hopefully you will.
Yup, me too. My free advice to you is to spend a little more time learning how syncing services like DropBox work.