Dropbox zips everything and Scrivener doesn't see zipped files

[techwriterpro]

When I move my Scrivener files from my Mac to Dropbox they get zipped for some reason and Scrivener doesn't see them. What am I doing wrong?

[BookBoy]

Are you dragging the files into the Dropbox/apps/scrivener folder on your Mac? Or are you uploading them via the Dropbox website?

You should do the former.

[techwriterpro]

It wouldn't let me drag the files from the Finder to Dropbox. Will try with a different computer. Thanks.

[rasnell]

I sure hope a copy and paste works from within Dropbox because I'm in the process of moving 21,000 files and it says it will take 7 1/2 hours.

I can't believe there are 21,000 individual little files, but I have five backups for each project.

The tutorial really needs to explain every step of this dropbox prep and how to open an existing file in the app. Not a mention and yet it's probably the first thing all of us are trying to figure out. Just a hint for next update.

If this 7 1/2 hours is the wrong way, wow. (Dropbox message was way off; only took about three minutes).

[lunk]

When I move my Scrivener files from my Mac to Dropbox they get zipped for some reason and Scrivener doesn't see them. What am I doing wrong?

Are you moving them in Finder? Dropbox is just another folder in Finder, or at least that is the way you should handle it. And moving files within Finder doesn't Zip anything.

[lunk]

I sure hope a copy and paste works from within Dropbox because I'm in the process of moving 21,000 files and it says it will take 7 1/2 hours.

Are you sure you want to have access to ALL your Scrivener projects on you iDevice? ALL of them? Everything you have ever worked on in Scrivener?

The simplest way of doing it is to open the projects you are working on, and then "Save as.." to the correct location in your Dropbox folder.

[techwriterpro]

I sure hope a copy and paste works from within Dropbox because I'm in the process of moving 21,000 files and it says it will take 7 1/2 hours.

I can't believe there are 21,000 individual little files, but I have five backups for each project.

The tutorial really needs to explain every step of this dropbox prep and how to open an existing file in the app. Not a mention and yet it's probably the first thing all of us are trying to figure out. Just a hint for next update.

If this 7 1/2 hours is the wrong way, wow.

If you see file names written with ".zip" you'd better interrupt the process right away.

I agree, most people will want to IMPORT existing files right off the bat. This should be corrected in their .1 upgrade.

-Lou

[rasnell]

I sure hope a copy and paste works from within Dropbox because I'm in the process of moving 21,000 files and it says it will take 7 1/2 hours.

Are you sure you want to have access to ALL your Scrivener projects on you iDevice? ALL of them? Everything you have ever worked on in Scrivener?

The simplest way of doing it is to open the projects you are working on, and then "Save as.." to the correct location in your Dropbox folder.

The problem is that I don't know which note and rtf goes with each project. I simply searched in dropbox for the .scriv suffix and copied everything into the proper folder. Shocked that this was 21,000 files.

All of this is why we need a clear step-by-step in the next version of the tutorial.

EDIT: Dropbox said 21,000 files were moved. IOS says 6,126 files were synched and imported.

[rasnell]

Sorry, thought of a related question. Are we know going to have to change our settings in Windows and Mac to where project files are saved by default to make sure they point to this new folder?

[rasnell]

One final step after you've done everything in the message above, open Scrivener for IOS and click the synch button so it pulls up the list of Dropbox files.

[lunk]

Ok, a simple tutorial:

1. Open the project you are working on in Scrivener on your Mac/PC.

2. Click 'File- Save as' and save the project in the folder of your choice in the Dropbox folder on your Mac/PC

3. Close Scrivener.

4. Open iOS Scrivener

5. Click Edit and choose the Settings wheel at the bottom to choose the folder you created in step 2.

Done

When you are done editing on you iOS device, click the "sync" wheel-arrows and the iDevice says "Syncing with Dropbox"

Open Scrivener on you Mac/PC, open the project using "Open recent" and that's it! Your home again! Synced and ready.

[techwriterpro]

When I move my Scrivener files from my Mac to Dropbox they get zipped for some reason and Scrivener doesn't see them. What am I doing wrong?

Are you moving them in Finder? Dropbox is just another folder in Finder, or at least that is the way you should handle it. And moving files within Finder doesn't Zip anything.

I tried everything with two computers but it keeps zipping. It occurred to me that for security reasons I have to work with files that reside in an encrypted .dmg folder. This has never been an issue working with Alfons Schmidt' Notebooks however. At any rate I moved a small scrivener file out of that .dmg folder and put it in the regular Documents folder. I then opened it up (and modified it) with Scrivener. I then saved and quit Scrivener and tried to move (and copy) the file to Dropbox. Still zipped! I then tried their "basic uploader". Same problem.

But I found a work around: If I open the zipped files within Dropbox on my Mac, and save them there they are no longer zipped. iOS can see them and everything is fine. Unfortunately I can't unzip the files from my iPhone.

[lunk]

I then tried their "basic uploader". Same problem.

Who's basic uploader?

[BookBoy]

Don't upload anything to Dropbox. It sounds to me like that is what your are doing. When you install dropbox on your mac it creates a "dropbox" folder that you can see in finder just like your "documents" folder. Save your Scrivener projects in dropbox/apps/scrivener

I apologise if this is what you're doing, but mention of the dropbox basic uploader makes it sound like you are trying to upload to dropbox rather than just saving in the dropbox folder.

[rdale]

There are three "dropboxes", and I think there may be some assumptions/confusion regarding the difference. One is dropbox.com, the website; you can browse, upload, and download files and folder via that interface--this is NOT the way to set up syncing between the iOS version and a desktop version of Scrivener. Another "dropbox" is the program you download and install on your computer(s); on dropbox.com, click on your name/userid in the upper right of the page, and click "Install" to get the software. The third is the Dropbox folder that the software installation will create for you.

Once you've installed the software the FOLDER is what you'll interact with on your computer (everything else will be automatic). You simply move the .scriv folder (which is the scrivener project as seen on Windows) to the Dropbox folder, just like any other folder on your computer. There is no uploading (by you) required in this process. The software will notice that the folder has new files in it, and it will begin making copies and uploading those copies to dropbox.com for you. The iOS version will then have access to the project if you put it in the right sub-folder of the Dropbox folder.

Incidentally, if you have two desktop computers, and you install the dropbox software on both, files in the Dropbox folder on both computers will be syncronized to be identical on both computers, but you have to make sure that each computer is connected to the internet, and that you've given each computer sufficient time to upload and download all files first.