Updated Scrivener 2.8 won't open old Scrivener files.

[Neni]

Help!

Updated Scrivener (in hope of using iOS version on iPad and iPhone later) on my Macbook Air (OS X 10.11.6, just updated prior to Scrivener update), BUT, when I opened the last Scrivener project I was working on, project opened fine, but within a few seconds, this popped up:

"There was a problem saving the project 'Blahblah.scriv.' Not all recent edits could be saved. Files that could be recovered have been saved to -----------.scriv Recovered. The project will now close.'

When I clicked 'OK', project closed. I go to where the recovered file is and it's an rtf file.
No matter what files I opened in the Project, they all do the same thing.

I'm afraid to open another project to test if it's just this project or all projects because I don't want my other projects corrupted.

I quit Scrivener and Restarted computer, but problem persists.

I did backup whole computer to External Drive prior to updating, so should I just delete this Scrivener version in Applications and then move the 'old' version back?

Not sure what happened? Help?

Thank you.

Neni

[AmberV]

Hmm, upgrading the software might just be a coincidence here, rather than the cause. To me this sounds more like a permissions problem with the project itself, perhaps caused by some other recent activity (backups, system updates, etc.).

What you are describing is normal procedure for when Scrivener discovers it cannot save to a file it needs to save. As a protective measure it saves recent work to “recovery” files outside of the project, to avoid potentially lost work, and then shuts down. That’s all that is happening, there isn’t a risk of corrupting anything.

I would try the steps described in the knowledge base: Fixing Read-Only Projects.

[Briar Kit]

And if you want to be cautious, create a new Scrivener project and use that for testing before opening a working project. (I keep a dummy project for testing. I open it first whenever there is an OS or application update, or if I want to try doing something complex that I have never done before in Scrivener.)

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[Neni]

Thanks, Amber.

You're right. It's probably a permission problem. I did all the steps in the link and it still won't let me open the file. It was an old Scrivener file from 2013 that I'd saved to an external drive from husband's old laptop that crashed since. I didn't restore my new laptop from a full backup of his computer because I didn't want many of his stuff... so I started afresh with just applications and files etc.. I want from the external drive.

I copied this particular Scrivener file from external drive to my current laptop's desktop... and can't open it. In fact, can't seem to open any old file from external drive...

Would I have to restore from a full backup from his old computer from external drive in order to open these files? It's years of Scrivener files that I'm trying to recover... HELP.

Neni