I import and export a lot esp with short stories that get workshopped of otherwise fiddled with after the initial push to Word.
I thought I was getting pretty good at this, but… I just went to import a file and instead it imported the entire folder of Word files (I thought I was clicking on the Folder in Finder to get it to open to the subfolders). Luckily, this came in blank. However, I tried again, managed to get to the subfolder, but then it did the same thing–I tried to open the subfolder to select the file I wanted, and instead it pulled in the entire subfolder. This time it all came in.
So… is this something to do with Mavericks? (Because another thing is does is SOMETIMES, but not other times, show me the files the way it shows photos… with icons going across the top half of Finder, and a list below. I thought in that case I’d clicked on the file I wanted, but it still brought the whole folder in.)
I DON’T WANT all this stuff in Scriv! How do I get it out? Moving to trash keeps it all in the project still, and there doesn’t seem to be a way to empty trash without emptying ALL the trash.
And how do I get it to select a FILE instead of a Folder? Even when, for some reason, the next time Finder opened in the normal view without all those stupid icons across the top, the arrow from the subfolder pointing to the column that would normally list the files contained was grayed, and the column was blank.
So,when you import a file, does it get removed from the place where it was before, in the Mac directory? I don’t remember it working that way in the past, but now the entire “Finished Stories” subfolder in Finder is empty of content, but appears in Scriv…
Well, it is the Bank Holiday weekend, so we are all enjoying Easter and not on duty.
I don’t know how it disappeared from your Dropbox directory but I can tell you with 100% certainly that Scrivener didn’t do it. When you import a folder or files into Scrivener they are just copied - the original files are not touched at all, and there is certainly no way that Scrivener could remove them.
As for removing files from the project, you have to move them to the Trash and then empty the Trash. There is no way of selectively emptying only some of the Trash at this time (though that’s something that might be added in the future).
There’s nothing new with Mavericks here. It has always been possible to import whole folders into Scrivener - if you select a folder in the “Open” panel and then click on “Import”, then the whole folder will be imported. If you want to drill down into the folder, you should double-click on it. Make sure that only the file you wish to import is selected before clicking “Import” or hitting return. Alternatively, of course, you can simply drag the file from the Finder into Scrivener’s binder.
Oh, that’s right, Easter. THANK YOU for responding, I appreciate it.
I DID do the double click as you said to drill down into the subfolder. And it pulled in the whole folder. Three times, with different folders (tho two came in blank, prob because they were so huge). And now the folder is empty in Finder. I’ve imported dozens of times and never seen this at all–I double click, get the file I want and import it. Now I’m afraid to try it ever again…
Though usually I click import first and then go select the file. I’ve always done it this way with no trouble. But is that what went wrong?
So, how do I get that Folder OUT–not just into trash, but back into Word where it belongs?
What might be different is how you’re viewing the files in Finder. If you’re using the column view (where selecting a folder will display its contents in the column to the right) or the Cover Flow view (where you see the icon at the top and the folder structure below) then double-clicking a folder from Scrivener’s Import dialog will import that entire folder, just as if you had single-clicked the folder and then clicked “Import”. In the other two views, double-clicking the folder will open it to display its contents as Keith described, and you’d need to select the folder and click “Import” deliberately to import the entire folder’s contents.
In all cases, though, Scrivener just copies the files; it doesn’t move anything. I’d try using Spotlight to search for your missing folders/files; they may just have gotten inadvertently moved to another location on your computer. If all else fails, you should be able to log into the Dropbox website and recover everything from the history there by viewing deleted files and then choosing the restore option.
Thanks. I never did find those files. Exported them all back out of Scrivener and emptied the trash. Hope there was nothing important in the trash.
So that remains a mystery.
And I just had that column thing happen with an outlook attachment and was wondering if that’s what had happened with this. Which leads to another question. WHY, nearly every time Finder opens for one thing or another, is it in a different view? If I tell it list, I mean list. And if I tell it name I mean name, not date. And if I tell it put folders on top, I want those on top FOREVER. But that’s a tangent.
