I recently upgraded to Scrivener 3.4 and have encountered a bug when compiling and exporting to .docx. Word is unable to open .docx files created by Scrivener and I get the following message: ‘Word experienced an error trying to open the file.’
I am able to open the file with Pages – although a dozen extraneous pages have been added to the document. By cleaning up the Pages file and exporting to .docx, I am able to produce a Word document that Word can open… but this is obviously far from ideal.
Has anyone else experienced this problem?
FYI: Scrivener 3.4/ Word 16.92/ Mac OS 14.5/ 2019 iMac, Retina 5K, 27-inch
Many thanks Kevitec57 – the doc is definitely not still open. ie I tried quitting Word completely (and Scriv) and restarting it before making further attempts to open the compiled .docx. And there are deffo no extraneous sheets without content. Cheers, John
I’d suggest Compiling For: PDF and then Compiling For: Microsoft Word (.docx) as an option, but you’ve gone the Pages route already.
Check what a PDF compile renders anyway, i.e. whether the extra pages are produced.
Also look at your Compile windows. See the doc I have circled in this example. The icon shows its empty—to be worked on. Scroll your window to check.
A better check would be compile to RTF and open that in Word.
As RTF is Scrivener’s native format it means minimal changes in the compile process;
Word opens RTF perfectly (it’s actually the best RTF → DOCX converter… RTF was developed by Microsoft!);
Although Mac-Scrivener uses a DOCX compiler developed specifically by KB, rather than third-party code, compiling to RTF and opening on Word is more likely to bring to light any problems/differences.
My answer: forget about DOCX; compile to RTF and let Word do the conversion. Minimal processing at either the Scrivener or Word end.
Mind you, if the DOCX compile continues to throw up problems (is it just this project or does it happen with others?) I’m sure KB and Lit&Lat would be interested to get to the bottom of it. I don’t have Word, I’m a Nisus Writer Pro person, so I can’t do anything to check.
I too use Scriv and Nisus. Combining those with Bookends makes a compelling setup for academic work. Compiling to rtf which is my normal procedure and then opening with Word was fine apart from a few blemishes which were easily remedied.
To my mind this is a far better procedure than compiling direct to Word. The only reason I have a copy of Word is because the Uni kept sending encrypted files which only Word or Excel would open.
I have just encountered the same problem, and searching for a solution brought me to your thread. The difference is that I have been working on the same document in Scrivener for several days and have been compiling to .docx at the end of each day.
I didn’t encounter any of the problems till just now. I tested to see if the same problem happens on different projects I worked on in previous versions of Scriviner, but there aren’t.
Until this issue is sorted out, I will export in RTF as @xiamenese suggests.
I too am using the same setup, except I am on macOS 15.2:
Scrivener 3.4/ Word 16.92/ macOS 15.2/ 2019 iMac, Retina 5K, 27-inch
(On a separate note, I wish that Apple would release a new 27-inch of the iMac. I don’t want go on the mac-mini-and-buy-a-monitor route).
If you have Java installed on your computer, there’s an option to switch which converters Scrivener uses for creating the DOCX file. Go to Scrivener ▸ Settings/Preferences click the Sharing tab, then Conversion and tick (or untick) the option to Use Java converters for .docx. For those having an issue with compiling to DOCX, does this change your results?
For the case where the DOCX file created isn’t opening in Word, it sounds as though something changed in what’s compiling so that the file isn’t being formed correctly now. Especially @Darren, since this just happened and you’ve got a narrow window from when it worked to when it didn’t, if you’re able to somewhat isolate the changes—e.g. new files added to compile, formatting changes made to one of the compiling documents, changes to the compile settings—that would help identify the problem and potentially finding a solution.
If you’re able to share a sample project that exhibits the behaviour—e.g. a trimmed down copy of your project, text obfuscated via find/replace if you like–you can send that to our macOS support address. There will be a bit of a delay because we have some holiday catch-up to do, but working with a demonstration case helps a lot in tracking down and fixing bugs. Going the RTF route or switching DOCX converters if that works will both be the better solution for now, but definitely if there’s a bug in the converter we can address, we want to do that!
@MimeticMouton, I just tried to compile with the Java option checked. The good news is that the .docx is now opening in Word without a problem. Though it did take a little longer to process, I guess because of using Java.
I will try and send to you the sample project tomorrow after I have submitted a paper I am in the middle of writing up. (The editor is on my back for going just hours past the deadline! Lol!) How should I send it? By email? Could you give me the email address if sending it email is thing to do? At the moment, the file size only seems to be about 2 MB.
Many thanks Team Scrivener! I really do appreciate the support, both from the community and the L&L team. I’m sure I can manage with the RTF solution for now (I don’t have Java installed on my Mac) but I guess it would be great to iron out any bugs if they do exist.
All the best,
John
Just a quick note to let you (@kewms@MimeticMouton) know that I have sent you a copy of the project file for you to troubleshoot. I sent it to the support Mac email. All the best.
Darren
