Mac to Dropbox/ Mac to iPad

[picypoe]

Does anyone know of any alternatives of uploading to dropbox from Mac, other than the official Dropbox app?

I thought I would be able to send .scriv to my iPhone > Files > and open in Scrivener. It works 50% if I cancel the sync mid-way. If i leave it on, it simply corrupts the project.

[JimRac]

Hi picypoe,

This forum Using Scrivener is for you to share your tips & techniques with others, not for tech support. See the first post under announcements for more detail.

I suggest you PM a moderator (see the bottom of this thread for a list) and request they move this post to either the Scrivener for iOS forum or the Scrivener for MacOS forum. Maybe let them make the call which forum is more appropriate.

Best,
Jim

[picypoe]

I am surprised we still dont have AutoBot which automatically anwsers all this ridiculous questions or moves it to appropriate place.

I just want my file on iPad, without the need of buying 3rd PC just to make the transfer

[JimRac]

You can definitely move your entire projects around manually (no syncing of individual changes) among your various devices.

However, if what you want to do is to automatically sync your changes, then my understanding is that 1) Dropbox app on your Mac and/or PC is a requirement, and 2) Dropbox app is NOT required on your iOS device.

But I'm a PC guy only, so cannot provide you details of how to set it up. That's why I recommended you get this post moved to appropriate forum, so the smart folks can help you.

Best,
Mim

[kewms]

You can use Apple's file sharing to transfer your project to the iPad without the use of Dropbox. See instructions here:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT210598

I do not recommend attempting to transfer projects to iOS via the Dropbox web interface. Because of the way Dropbox works, the likelihood of damage to your project is quite high.

Katherine

PS Topic moved.

[picypoe]

Getting file onto the iPad wasn't an issue in itself. The more important question is how to do it safely without breaking it (or at least move to iPad Scrivener app, as safely as native desktop Dropbox sync does, so at least it would be usable).

Whenever I would open .scriv in Scrivener app, it would start syncing immediately, after 1h waiting, you then try to open it and the file is corrupt. Sometimes it would fail mid-way, sometimes even after waiting until it syncs until 100% it would stil be corrupt. Sometimes cancelling the sync, in the beginning, would at least let you preview the file (but obviously without most f your data) .

Nevertheless, I think I found somewhat a "solution". 0 corruptions so far. When importing file into Scrivevener app on an iPad - don't import it into Dropbox straightaway. Firstly, Import it to your devices local storage space > test the file > and if all looks good then you can move into Dropbox (through Scrive app itself). Don't move files through dropbox app, or any other file manager as that will also screw-up the .scriv - and the project will be invalid.

Even that's an acceptable solution, it still not as efficient as the original Desktop Dropbox sync, which will sync only updated files rather the whole project.

[lunk]

Whenever I would open .scriv in Scrivener app, it would start syncing immediately, after 1h waiting, you then try to open it and the file is corrupt.

How many other files and folders do you have in the Dropbox folder you have setup iOS Scrivener to sync with? To many files/projects/other stuff makes the process slow and unreliable.

Sync works as it should since Apple updated iOS. Which version of iOS are you running?

[picypoe]

Whenever I would open .scriv in Scrivener app, it would start syncing immediately, after 1h waiting, you then try to open it and the file is corrupt.

How many other files and folders do you have in the Dropbox folder you have setup iOS Scrivener to sync with? To many files/projects/other stuff makes the process slow and unreliable.

Sync works as it should since Apple updated iOS. Which version of iOS are you running?

1 project - which by the look of it has 2k~ smaller files, which takes about 30min - 1h to sync (if done purely through iOS Scrivener app). If done outside, it works much faster, but leaves the project corrupt.

My usual workflow is to sync with Dropbox, and then auto-backup to Google Drive. So if anything happens I can always grab the copy of the cloud. Regardless, I am on PC, Mac or iOS. But of recently, I can't use Dropbox on iMac, so the alternative was to get the project of this iMac onto machine which support Dropbox, then sync it from there onto iOS. I was thinking maybe there was a more efficient way, without need of me moving the project around. Or at least maybe sync it to Dropbox from the same iMac but just with different software.

iPad / iPhone both on 13.6
iMac still on Majove - 10.14.6

[JimRac]

Nevertheless, I think I found somewhat a "solution". 0 corruptions so far. When importing file into Scrivevener app on an iPad - don't import it into Dropbox straightaway. Firstly, Import it to your devices local storage space > test the file > and if all looks good then you can move into Dropbox (through Scrive app itself). Don't move files through dropbox app, or any other file manager as that will also screw-up the .scriv - and the project will be invalid.

Yes, I believe this method is your only choice. That is, there's no more efficient way.

Then you can use DropBox sync to share the project between your two iDevices.

Finally, to get the project off one of your iDevices and back to your iMac, you can use iOS Scriv export. Either email it to yourself, or send a zipped backup to Google Drive, and copy the backup to your iMac.

[lunk]

1 project - which by the look of it has 2k~ smaller files, which takes about 30min - 1h to sync (if done purely through iOS Scrivener app).

That’s impossible. The syncing procedure only upload/download changed files. Are you moving the project out of and into the Dropbox folder every time on the Mac or PC? The simplest way is to use Dropbox, provided you have the DB app installed and running on both Mac and PC and don’t have a lot of other files and stuff in the folder iOS Scrivener is trying to sync.

Where in the Dropbox folder is the project saved?

[kewms]

But of recently, I can't use Dropbox on iMac, so the alternative was to get the project of this iMac onto machine which support Dropbox, then sync it from there onto iOS. I was thinking maybe there was a more efficient way, without need of me moving the project around. Or at least maybe sync it to Dropbox from the same iMac but just with different software.

If it were me, I'd use a USB stick to get the project from the iMac to a Dropbox-supporting machine, then I'd sync from there to the iPad via Dropbox as normal.

As I said, I wouldn't trust any method for transferring from the iMac to the Dropbox server other than the Dropbox software.

Katherine

[picypoe]

1 project - which by the look of it has 2k~ smaller files, which takes about 30min - 1h to sync (if done purely through iOS Scrivener app).

That’s impossible. The syncing procedure only upload/download changed files. Are you moving the project out of and into the Dropbox folder every time on the Mac or PC? ...

I don't think we can be selective with what we sync from within the project?

PC & Mac all auto-backup to Gdrive. As such, I usually work either of the master file or the latest backed-up file from GDrive - whichever is more up-to-date. And if I know I gonna need to work on the go from any of the iOS devices, then I drop it into Dropbox from my PC to sync.

In regards to "impossible", if you ever have will-power, you can try it yourself: Airdrop your full .scriv project to your iOS device and then through Files app "Open in Scrivener", when prompted: Save to Dropbox. If your project as big as mine, you should have at least 30min for a cup of tea, On iOS, I am not 100% sure, but it looks like, if you have 2 projects with the same name, for safety reasons, it will automatically add -1 suffix to your project, therefore re-syncing whole project rather just the updated parts. The re-sync might also be happening and the suffix -1 added, because original project was created on PC (and which is already in Dropbox), and I try to rewrite it with the project from MacOS. Really have no idea - didn't have time to test it. It definitely would be cool to have "merge" or "replace" feature when working with duplicates on iOS, just like on PC or MacOS when you try to overwrite the files. Or at least Dropbox Web UI to support uploading packaged files. But that ain't gonna happen ...

In any case, it looks like I will have to stick to the basics.

[picypoe]

But of recently, I can't use Dropbox on iMac, so the alternative was to get the project of this iMac onto machine which support Dropbox, then sync it from there onto iOS. I was thinking maybe there was a more efficient way, without need of me moving the project around. Or at least maybe sync it to Dropbox from the same iMac but just with different software.

If it were me, I'd use a USB stick to get the project from the iMac to a Dropbox-supporting machine, then I'd sync from there to the iPad via Dropbox as normal.

As I said, I wouldn't trust any method for transferring from the iMac to the Dropbox server other than the Dropbox software.

Katherine

I must completly agree on this. I tested so many different apps both on iOS and OS. Tried zipping, unzipping, compiling and decomp., in various formats, tried transferring over FTP, all would be either extremely inefficient or simply break the project. Running Dropbox natively is the best. Moving/copying projects also seem to be better done within Scri iOS itself, rather than any other FIle Managers for Dropbox. Remote access through SSH, RDP, VNC to computer with working Dropbox, sometimes helps too.

[kewms]

What you are describing is not a "sync," it's a straight up copy.

Which is fine, but yes, it involves copying the entire project from one device to the other.

Synchronization, which does indeed limit itself to only changed files, is only possible via Dropbox. If you choose to use another mechanism, figuring out what has changed and what hasn't is up to you.

Katherine

[lunk]

I usually use three Macs and one iPad. All Macs have the Dropbox app installed and running and my current projects are saved in a subfolder of the Dropbox folder, which means they are all availabld from any of them at any time. And my iPad syncs with that folder, which means only changed documents are downloaded/uploaded when I use it.

My backups are in a completely different place. Zipped and with date and time in the name, done automatically by Scrivener.

If you use Dropbox, why are you moving the whole projects? Why not use Scrivener’s built-in system for syncing and backups?