Using Scrivener with Dropbox

[cheryl]

I finally got back my old version through dropbox.
Ignore the previous post. Thanks.

[carphie]

Pls forgive me if this has already been covered. I've lost hours trying to fix a Syncing problem--though not my main text, which I'm grateful for.

Originally I used Scrivener on my MacBook. Because I was traveling, I got the Scrivener app for my iPad, transferred my project and continue to write. On my iPad, I added Dropbox and used it and Scrivener, no problems. Now that I'm home and want to use my MacBook (which also has Dropbox), it won't "read"/sync the most up-to-date project on Dropbox via the iPad. (My fear is that the Old Project will override the New and I'll lose my edits.)

On my iPad, I see "Conflicts" from my many attempts to sync. How do I sort those? But mainly, after syncing didn't work, I copied the project from my iPad to Dropbox. Then on my MacBook, I tried to open the project through Dropbox--and it still shows me the Old Project. It's like it's not seeing the updates?

I'm not the most computer savvy, and I know I obviously messed up somewhere, I just don't know where. Please help. Thank you.

[Zena]

I use Scrivener on my laptop, and I back up on Dropbox. I just lost a month's worth of work (I have to re-enter it from hardcopy). Suddenly Scrivener would only open the version from a month ago. Not obvious I was doing anything weird--it just started telling me that I might have Scrivener open on another computer. I do *print* from another computer, but I never edit or open Scrivener on it--just Dropbox. I've never received any warning about my saving practices. I didn't know until now that there were even issues between Scrivener and Dropbox. Not sure which of these distinguished programs to ditch, but one of them is going.

[lunk]

I do *print* from another computer, but I never edit or open Scrivener on it--just Dropbox. I've never received any warning about my saving practices.

How can you print a Scrivener project without opening it?

How could Scrivener know what you were doing with your files on the Dropbox server from outside of Scrivener?
Did you by any chance do some cleaning of the Dropbox folder in Finder on the other computer?

[kewms]

I use Scrivener on my laptop, and I back up on Dropbox. I just lost a month's worth of work (I have to re-enter it from hardcopy). Suddenly Scrivener would only open the version from a month ago.

Have you looked for Scrivener's automatic backups? You can find them by going to Scrivener -> Preferences -> Backups, and clicking the button to open the backup folder in Finder.

Katherine

[Zena]

I do *print* from another computer, but I never edit or open Scrivener on it--just Dropbox. I've never received any warning about my saving practices.

How can you print a Scrivener project without opening it?

I print the PDF file generated by Compile. Scrivener's not required to open it.

How could Scrivener know what you were doing with your files on the Dropbox server from outside of Scrivener?
Did you by any chance do some cleaning of the Dropbox folder in Finder on the other computer?

That's the mystery! Believe me, losing a month's work without any sign I'd done anything weird is highly disturbing. I did do some cleanup of the Dropbox folder, but on my home laptop--not the alien computer.

[Zena]

I use Scrivener on my laptop, and I back up on Dropbox. I just lost a month's worth of work (I have to re-enter it from hardcopy). Suddenly Scrivener would only open the version from a month ago.

Have you looked for Scrivener's automatic backups? You can find them by going to Scrivener -> Preferences -> Backups, and clicking the button to open the backup folder in Finder.

Katherine

The backed up file is the one missing the month's work. There may be some saved pieces in there, but a whole section is just ... gone.

[lunk]

I did do some cleanup of the Dropbox folder, but on my home laptop--not the alien computer.

The Dropbox folders are synchronised between computers. That’s the whole point of Dropbox. If you clean the Dropbox folder on one computer it is cleaned on any other computer as soon they are started and sync their content.

[Zena]

I did do some cleanup of the Dropbox folder, but on my home laptop--not the alien computer.

The Dropbox folders are synchronised between computers. That’s the whole point of Dropbox. If you clean the Dropbox folder on one computer it is cleaned on any other computer as soon they are started and sync their content.

Yes, of course. You asked whether I had cleaned up the Dropbox while using the alien computer. I hadn't.

Four days later, I've lost a month's work without having done anything obviously stupid or unusual, and I have little to no response from the Scrivener support team.

[lunk]

And your cleanup of Dropbox was done how?

Scrivener doesn’t move around things or delete projects so it must actually have been something you did. But without knowing what you have done or where you save your backups, we can’t help you.

About L&L’s support. Have you mailed their support? This is primarily a user forum. We try to help one another as best we can, but for that we need more detailed info. If you say that your recent projects were deleted, the only one that could possibly have done that is yourself.

Have you checked the ’Recently deleted file’ using the web interface to Dropbox? And have you checked the Trash on your computers?

[Zena]

And your cleanup of Dropbox was done how?

Scrivener doesn’t move around things or delete projects so it must actually have been something you did. But without knowing what you have done or where you save your backups, we can’t help you.

About L&L’s support. Have you mailed their support? This is primarily a user forum. We try to help one another as best we can, but for that we need more detailed info. If you say that your recent projects were deleted, the only one that could possibly have done that is yourself.

Have you checked the ’Recently deleted file’ using the web interface to Dropbox? And have you checked the Trash on your computers?

I am aware that I may have "done something", but nothing I did was obviously dodgy. I made a fuller post in a new topic in the main forum where I described what I did. Yes, I have emailed Support. I've heard nothing, four days. I realize that blaming the victim is the natural mode here, but consider that the program may have some quirks that have destructive outcomes even when no one does anything obviously stupid. Users should know this, and make their choices accordingly.

[Zena]

Maybe it's time to unpin this thread? It risks fooling people to think there is something weird about using Scrivener with Dropbox.

Ah, good one. Having just lost a ton of work and time, I think it's still worth keeping up.

[lunk]

Maybe it's time to unpin this thread? It risks fooling people to think there is something weird about using Scrivener with Dropbox.

Ah, good one. Having just lost a ton of work and time, I think it's still worth keeping up.

Where did you find that comment? To my knowledge I have never posted that.

[kewms]

Maybe it's time to unpin this thread? It risks fooling people to think there is something weird about using Scrivener with Dropbox.

Ah, good one. Having just lost a ton of work and time, I think it's still worth keeping up.

Where did you find that comment? To my knowledge I have never posted that.

May of last year: viewtopic.php?p=233747#p233747

Katherine

[AmberV]

Yeah I think it's still worth stating that one ought to be cautious when using sync technology in general. On the other hand, it's a bit of an exaggeration to say that work can be *lost* through using Dropbox. In my experience that doesn't happen. Not being able to see the data Dropbox moved out of Scrivener's view isn't the same as losing it, unless one makes no effort to find the data I suppose.