Scrivener Back Up On the Mac App Store

Hello all,

UPDATE 20/03/13: We are now back on sale, and Scrivener on the Mac App Store once again works on 10.6.8. Thanks for your patience. For a quick overview of some of the changes we had to make in order to pass review this time, please see this post:

https://forum.literatureandlatte.com/t/comparison-to-other-word-processors-and-writing-tools/68/1


NO LONGER APPLICABLE:

(This thread was originally entitled, “Scrivener Temporarily Withdrawn from Sale on the App Store”.)

I’m sorry to have to inform our Mac App Store users that we have had to temporarily withdraw Scrivener from sale on the Mac App Store. We hope it will be available again in the next few days. For a full explanation of why we have had to make this decision, please see my blog post here:

literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=348

All the best,
Keith

Really sorry to read about your travails, and the possible removal of the enhanced doc exporters from the Mac app store. I guess for MAS users, it’s back to wishing Apple would make better exporters, or that Scrivener becomes so popular you can hire someone to code & maintain them in native Cocoa code.

Good luck in getting back to the app store quickly!

What about if I want to use the website dload instead of the Appstore one. I recently bought Scrivener v2.4 (just days ago) and running without a problem so far (Mountain Lion 10.8.3). Deal is, I know this is an issue on 10.6 and I’m thinking about the future. What about if I want to run the web version dumping the Appstore one? Can it be done? I mean, most probably Scrivener will be back there, but if not, (I’m being the darkest of the darkest here and I apologize) can I still get updates to my app version? I’m talking about what you mentioned here: “(Incidentally, because of some of the changes we are being required to make, we cannot guarantee that Scrivener on the Mac App Store will have as good support for .docx, .doc and .odt formats in 2.4.1 and future releases. This does not affect the version on our site.)”

Polinbach, if you just delete the App Store version and install the downloaded version, everything should work fine, assuming you’ve run the App Store version at least once. There are more extensive instructions for doing that here: literatureandlatte.com/blog/?p=340

Hi,

Yes, as ChiaLynn says, as long as you’ve run the Mac App Store version on your machine at least once, the version from our website will recognise you. We have no intention of leaving the MAS, so the withdrawal is just a temporary measure since we can’t very well sell software we know won’t work for the 10.6 users who buy it, and it will be back up once Apple have cleared everything (eventually!). Thus, if we do have to remove features at all, you will just be able to run the version from our site. (The good news is that Apple has said I can keep the Java prompts for the .docx etc converters “for now”. We do have to remove MultiMarkdown, but that can be installed separately anyway.)

If the worst did ever come to the worst, we would ensure our MAS users had a way of transferring to the version on our site. And if you really want to move to the version on the site permanently, you could drop Apple a line asking for a refund and then just purchase from us directly. Now would be a good time to do that, since you can point out to them that we aren’t available at the moment - that should be good cause for a refund, I would think.

Again, I’m sorry about the inconvenience all of this has caused. It’s ridiculous that something that could have been fixed instantly and have caused no problems for our other users has had to come to this, but I guess when companies reach a certain size, rules prevail over common sense.

All the best,
Keith

Thanks guys for your prompt and informative answer. Hopes this deal gets solved the best possible way, since it’s a nice software with a great support service.

Also, if you do want to essentially migrate to the direct-sale version, this article will help you locate and copy your automatic backups, preferences and other custom settings like templates and presets, to the location that the direct-sale version can use. Because of sandboxing, the two versions cannot share data.

If the website version will work so long as the MAS version has been run at least once, why do people making a permanent switch need to get a refund from Apple and then repurchase from you directly?

I am an MAS buyer and will switch to the website version if it has more Scrivener-goodness, but don’t see why I need to refund and repurchase if all works okay after a simple download. A tad confused.

Is there a long-term problem in switching sans refunding and repurchasing?

Millie grazie

Mac

Not at all, but some users may be unnerved by our temporary withdrawal from the App Store, which is the only reason I mention it.

Ah, I see. Many thanks for that. I’m certainly going to switch to get the max from Scrivener.

Out of curiosity, do you know how the sales split between the MAS and direct downloads? Most OS X users come to you direct?

I bought via the MAS simply to save the hassle of having to set up account and payment details with another site. Something very wonderful about the one click nature of having an MAS account and being able to purchase at whim.

Of course, that was before I realised how much I would come to rely on Scrivener and how I am now longing for the iOS version of that, as well as Scapple.

In that Scrivener has saved me from having to use MS Word, I will be eternally grateful. E.TERN.A.LLY.

PS the text at the side of the message window says BBCode is off. Have checked user settings, where it says BBCode is on. Something to do with me using an iPad at the moment?

We sell a fair few more via direct-sales than through the Mac App Store (fortunately, given the current debacle). But our Mac App Store sales are significant (for us - a drop in the ocean for Apple, of course).

As for BBCode not working it is a mystery of the “Announcements” forum. Any thread I start here seems to turn off BBCode for everyone except me. And yet I haven’t turned it off - there’s just some bug in the forum install somewhere, but we’ve never had time to debug it (as you can imagine, it’s not exactly a high priority :slight_smile: ).

All the best,
Keith

Guess so much depends on how people learn about Scrivener in the first place. I like the convenience of the MAS as a one-stop shop, but it can be a place in which even the best software can melt into the background. If people know to search for a product by name, it is fine. But a more general search for a software genre can bring up so many competing (on the surface, at least) items that it is hard to know what to choose to buy. Your website trial offer must be a big selling point for you…something not available from the MAS, of course. Think I’ll have to sign up with you direct for future purchases. I’m hooked.

Understand re the BBCode. Yep, no one wants you to solve that conundrum when you’ve got major goodies waiting for your wizardry. Mind you, if I lived in Cornwall, I think I’d be out on the coast most days rather than coding. Beautiful part of the world.

Appreciate your help.

Takk min venn

Mac

It would be interesting to know how many buy from the MAS after specifically searching for it as opposed to those who discover it on the MAS - as you say, unless you have front page presence, it can be hard to discover software on there. It can sometimes be difficult to see what Apple does to earn its 30-40%. :slight_smile:

Yes, I think the trial definitely helps, and it’s important that users get time to test out complex apps such as Scrivener before buying. It’s a shame Apple hasn’t introduced some way of trying software on the MAS - but then, they haven’t done a lot of things that I was sure would be added eventually when it was introduced two years ago. (There’s no way to offer discount coupons or upgrade prices, for instance. That’s going to be fun when 3.0 comes around!) And it doesn’t help that they made me remove the mention of the trial on our site from the description on the App Store.

Thanks! Glad you like it.

It’s certainly beautiful, but also very wet. We don’t seem to have had a summer in two years…

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

Hello! I’m new to the forum although not to Scrivener.

I’ve grown impatient with Mac App Store over time and in the past few days scrapped my App Store version and bought the website one. When I downloaded it and ran it I expected to have to enter my newly acquired serial number but no, I didn’t have to do anything, it just ran.

Since reading this thread I’m wondering whether I’ve been stupid and not explained myself well enough to David at L&L sales and whether I need not have paid to get the website version. Could I have just downloaded the software and that would have been that? Not worried too much about the money, more my own possible stupidity.

I don’t want to run parallel versions, the website one alone will do.

Any clarification would be gratefully received.

Hi,

The version on our site will recognise you as registered user if you have run the App Store version at least once on your machine, which is why you weren’t asked to enter your registration details. We certainly don’t expect you to pay twice, though! If you want to switch to the direct-sale version and have already bought it as well as having purchased from Apple, then the first thing to try is to get a refund from Apple. Now’s a good time seeing as we are temporarily off the App Store. Therefore, contact Apple (via apple.com/support/mac/app-store/contact/ I believe) and tell them that Scrivener has been removed from the App Store because Apple’s review process is making it difficult for us to get an update out on there, and ask them for a refund because of this. Hopefully they’ll give you one - I have heard that they are very reasonable about offering refunds. If they refuse to give you a refund, though, please contact us on mac.support AT literatureandlatte.com, forward your correspondence from Apple (including your original receipt and refusal of a refund) and we’ll sort you out (say that you spoke to me on the forums). We will ensure that you don’t pay twice and have a working version of Scrivener, don’t worry.

Thanks and all the best,
Keith

Well that is most generous, thank you. It is more that I hadn’t explained myself well that concerned me! Off to Apple support it is then!

Regards

Ken

Just a quick note: the twice in the past I have requested a refund from Apple for apps (admittedly for iOS ones), they were provided when a reasonable explanation was offered. The one sticking point I found was that they refunded as credit to my Mac store account rather then money back onto the card I paid with.

This might be because they were under a certain cost threshold, or because I didn’t think to ask for a direct-to-card refund, or just Apple Australia doing things slightly differently, but if you don’t want mac store credit from the refund instead of actual money, you might want to put something in your refund request to that effect, just in case.

Okay, we are back up. In order to pass Apple’s review process, we have had to alter a couple of things:

  1. MultiMarkdown is no longer bundled with the App Store version of Scrivener, so MultiMarkdown -> LaTeX etc won’t appear in the Compile formats. However, you can install MultiMarkdown separately - if you need it, just download and install it from:

fletcherpenney.net/multimarkdown/

Also install any support files (LaTeX XSLTs etc). As long as you have a full MMD install, Scrivener will still show all the MMD options in the Compile menu and can carry on using it - it just needs to be installed separately now.

  1. You will most likely be prompted to point Scrivener to a backups folder when you first launch 2.4.1 on the App Store. This is because we are no longer allowed to set up a default location for the backup folder without asking the user permission. The same applies for the scratch pad, but you will be prompted for that location only when you first open the scratch pad window.

Thanks to all our Mac App Store users for their patience!

All the best,
Keith