Hi, folks. I’m new here. I just put Scrivener onto a laptop (not this one) and haven’t had a chance to dive deep into the trial. So, here’s my question.
I mostly type in Google Docs on another laptop, because taking two laptops to work with me is cumbersome. How hard is it to take the files from Google Docs into Scrivener? I see myself typing in Google Docs during the day on my work laptop (for work writing), and into Scrivener at night on my personal laptop (for pleasure writing and my college work). I’d like for it to be as seamless as possible, although I do suspect I will have to do some manual uploading.
I’ll start by noting that Google Docs is web-based and uses its own, proprietary text engine. That means Scrivener won’t be able to natively import any materials you write in Google Docs.
I’ve seen past help tickets and forum threads where copying and pasting material from Google Docs into Scrivener might also cause some issues.
What I would advise is to have Google Docs export your materials as RTF files. It’s a file format Microsoft created that allows programs with proprietary text engines to share data. It’s also Scrivener’s native file format.
You can then use Scrivener’s File > Import commands to import those RTF files so you have the matching text in your project.
I’ll also note our advisory about using Google Drive for Scrivener project storage. Since that can cause data loss in unzipped .scriv files, I wanted you to have it for review.
Thanks for that. When I download and import the rtf, will it automatically replace the old file? If so, will there be a way to look at my version history?
To come at this from another angle, Scrivener has a feature that is designed specifically for the kind of scenario you are in: when you don’t have it available on some device, want to be able to edit or create content with regular text editors or word processor, and have those edits sync back into the project rather than all of this import/export/copy-and-paste stuff that isn’t super good for that.
You’ll find documentation on it in the user manual PDF, §14.3, Synchronised Folders. The basic idea is to set it up to use a cloud sync folder, and pick the file format (probably RTF), and then edit those files while on the go. When you load your project after returning home, it will detect changes, sync them into the originals (creating snapshots by default, so you can keep track of versions), and update the disk as well with any project revisions.
The only hitch is probably using a web app instead of software that can work with the file system directly. I don’t know anything about that, but you might look into LibreOffice, which is a free word processor that for many is powerful enough to replace Word. It handles RTF files effortlessly.
If you’re importing an updated RTF into the project, Scrivener will likely import it as a second copy. You could even rename each import with that document’s title and date so you can track the versions.
But, I also think AmberV’s suggestion might be a better option for you. That would then allow you to use Scrivener’s snapshots tool to keep track of each document’s revisions.
In the manual, snapshots are discussed in Chapter 13. You can access that PDF of the manual from Scrivener’s Help menu.
(BTW: AmberV is our Head of Support and the author of the Scrivener manual. He’s our go-to expert for Scrivener’s expected behavior.)