I’m on my Mac so I do need the Mac version. I’m currently using the trial version of Scrivener, as I compare it with Ulysses. I have had Dropbox installed for years, so that’s on board and good to go.
I don’t believe there is an iOS trial, or I’d go that route too.
If you have the Dropbox software installed on your Mac already, simply save to the Dropbox folder as you would to any other Finder location. The “sync” commands in Mac Scrivener are completely irrelevant unless you’re synchronizing with iOS Scrivener or an external application.
Katherine
I have all the possible flavors of Scrivener (Mac, Win, Linux, and iOS) and I manage to sync everything rather successfully.
My recent acquisition (MacBook Pro), however, might require me to re-arrange my working settings:
I have a project, hosted on Dropbox, and thus accessible to all systems. All I have to watch for to ensure proper synchronization is that the file is only open on one machine at a time.
What if I have it open on the laptop and need to work on it offline (on the train, etc.)? I imagine that I should disable auto-save feature (since I may not be connected to Dropbox every so-and-so seconds)? Do I just clear the “auto-save-every-X-seconds” field in the preferences?
I understand that I have to make sure that I must connect to Dropbox and save the work I did while offline before opening the master file on any other box.
Am I missing anything?
Thank you!
Yes, you are. You are missing the fact that the files you are working on are saved on the machine you are currently working on, and not uploaded (actually copied) to the Dropbox server unless you have a working internet connection. If you think the connection is unreliable, disconnect completely and keep working. When you have a reliable internet connection again, activate WiFi and the Dropbox app will copy any changed files to the Dropbox server.
Your project isn’t really stored in the cloud. You only have a copy of it there (as long as you restrict yourself to reliable services like Dropbox…)
Excellent point, thank you.
The fact that your project exists on both the Dropbox server and each synchronized device is critically important for two reasons.
On the positive side, this allows you to work offline with no prior planning.
On the negative side, this is why synchronization errors exist: because the local copy and the Dropbox copy disagree about what the “correct” version of the file should be.
Katherine
Is it possible to use ‘version history’ in Dropbox to revert to an earlier version of a Scrivener project? I assumed that it would be possible to do so, but now that I would like to revert to yesterday’s version of my work I don’t see ‘version history’ appearing as an option in Dropbox when I right-click on my .scriv file. Anyone have more information about this issue?
Version history apply to files. A Scrivener project is a folder so it won’t work. It could crash the project if you reverted changes in individual files without ‘the Project’ knowing about it.
Good to know, thanks for the reply lunk!
You might have a look at Scrivener’s automatic backup files, which can be found (on the Mac) by going to Scrivener -> Preferences -> Backups and clicking the button to open the backup folder in Finder. That’s probably the fastest and easiest way to revert to a previous version of a project.
Katherine
I experimented a little and successfully got a Scrivener project to sync between my MacBook and my iPhone using Dropbox. The project lives in:
/Users/pip/Dropbox/Apps/Scrivener/novella-notes.scriv
I’m not sure if I’ll actually do much writing on my iPhone, but since it works, I thought I could sync other projects with Dropbox. The best reason for me is that it would be nice to use my iMac’s big screen when I want to, and to use the MacBook when I’m out and about.
I did read the caveats about Dropbox syncing, which as I understand them mainly comprise of:
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Never open the same project on more than one computer at a time. (OK, I have no problems with that!)
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Make sure Dropbox has fully synced the project before you start. Question: couldn’t this be difficult to ascertain if you have a lot of Dropbox syncing going on all the time? How could one ever be sure that Dropbox has fully synced?
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Let Dropbox finish syncing the project before sleeping or shutting down. Again, how could one ever be sure of this?
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Back up locally to each machine. This I can do.
Another question: Should my other projects to be synced by Dropbox also go in the Dropbox “Apps” folder as well (like the iPhone-syncing “novella-notes” one above)? Or is that only necessary if you want to edit them in your iPhone? I guess they can actually live anywhere in the Dropbox folder?
That could be a problem, if indeed Dropbox is constantly churning given your workflow. You might place trust in the little checkboxes it draws beside files in Finder (if you don’t have that feature turned on it is a system Extension). If the project has a green checkmark beside it, in theory it is good to go even if there is still networking activity going on in other folders.
I would be cautious with that approach. I have seen those indicators give incorrect information before, but I’m not a user of Dropbox aside from a little shared folder stuff. So I’m no expert and my concerns may be dated to earlier and buggier iterations of their Extension that encountered during iOS sync testing.
In fact disregard most of the instructions relating to iOS <=> macOS/Win syncing. When it comes to working between two or more Macs there is no sync code, no designated folders, no merging of changes—you are strictly using the underlying technology and capabilities afforded by the basic technology. In essence: little more complicated than a folder full of .docx files, where MS Word has no clue that you’re even using Dropbox to maintain the same set of files between multiple systems.
Do you need all that file activity on the computer you’re using with Scrivener? If not, consider Dropbox’s selective sync feature to isolate one or two locations where Scrivener projects reside from those other files. Otherwise, your only recourse is to leave your computer running for a long period after you close a Scrivener project before moving on to another computer or device, in hopes that all the activity happening in that time includes your project files.
But if I excluded the Scrivener project from Dropbox’s selective sync, how would I work on it ???! Or, do you mean exclude everything else? That wouldn’t work for me.
I’m coming to think that Dropbox syncing is inherently problematic.
Yeah, I meant isolating the locations of Scrivener projects so that you could sync them, excluding other frequently synced files/folders, but just on one of your computers-the one you’re writing on. But if you need that data on that computer, or generating that data from it, then that’s not going to work well for you.
Would moving to another sync service for your high-traffic syncing needs work, so that your Dropbox data is less volatile?
Why is Dropbox syncing all the time? If you’re uploading a big project for the first time, that might take a little while, but once you’ve done that Scrivener will only save (and Dropbox only upload) things that have actually changed. And similarly for other programs on your system: they shouldn’t have anything to save if they aren’t active.
Now, if you’re running some kind of automatic backup to Dropbox, that might create a lot of activity. IMO, that’s not really a good use of Dropbox because it’s too easy to change (obliterate) files accidentally. You might consider something like CrashPlan for that application instead.
With regard to Scrivener specifically, Dropbox will show you the files that it is currently/recently syncing. If you’ve shut Scrivener down and Dropbox reports that it is syncing something other than Scrivener files, then you’re probably safe. But this is one more reason to keep a local backup, just in case.
Katherine
Hi. I’m a Scrivener user since 2010, but new to this forum. I haven’t checked through many of the previous posts to this Dropbox topic, but has iCloud been discussed previously? Is this an alternative to Dropbox? I want to work across two Macs.
OK, so a simple Search would have give me the answer! From what others have written, it appears iCloud is NOT to be trusted. Unless anyone has an update on this.
Nope, no changes. We do not recommend iCloud for live Scrivener projects.
Katherine
I just installed Scrivener for iOS this weekend (already owned Scrivener for Mac) and tried to set it up so that I can work on project files either on my iMac or iPad - syncing through Dropbox.
After reading through the tutorial and help info, I moved two project files to the Dropbox > Apps folder. That allowed me to see and open the files on my iPad, but now I am unable to open those files on my iMac. I get errors saying "The document “Title” could not be opened…
Now on my iMac, the Dropbox App folder only shows a file called “scrivener.scriv” - more error messages when I try to open that and see what is there. “One or more of the files could not be found inside the project package. Try restoring from a backup or create a new project,…”
The files are still visible on my iPad.
Anyway, much of the advice here is over my less-than-tech-savvy head, and I’m unsure what to do next. Since these were two newly created projects and I’ve got little to lose, I’m tempted to just blow everything up by uninstalling/reinstalling Scrivener for iOS and deleting the apps folder in Dropbox so that I can start over (seems like it might be faster than continuing to lose my day to a carousel of neverending error message).
Wondering if there’s a “for dummies” style Dropbox setup tutorial…or some method for getting this setup and working that I might be able to do correctly since I have no idea how I managed to go so wrong.
Any advice is appreciated. I really want to figure out how to do this right, otherwise I’ll be too nervous to put my faith in the fact that I won’t lose work when switching devices.
Thanks~