Add Google Drive access and dark mode to iOS (iPad)

[mattpurtell]

I'm not able to open or read my documents from Google Drive on iPad from my MacBook, that I have purchased Scrivener for Mac, but Dropbox? I would have to pay $100 a year for more than free, basic 2GB in Dropbox.

When iOS (iPad) would have dark mode available for Scrivener, just like it has dark mode on Mac computer?

[Silverdragon]

iOS Scrivener already has Dark Mode. Open the tutorial, tap on the gear icon in the lower left corner, and turn it on.

Hope this helps!

[devinganger]

Google Drive is currently not recommended for use with Scrivener projects, as it is not kind to the underlying Scrivener project file format and has been observed to cause corruption of Scrivener projects.

Last I knew, L&L have stated that they have no current plans to support any sync engine other than DropBox for iOS, based on the combination of "won't break Scrivener projects," "widely used by enough people it's worth supporting," and "has an appropriate API that lets us code support on iOS."

[mattpurtell]

Appreciate it and I will reconsider Dropbox for just Scrivener. Is there any alternative app anybody could be able to read or view Scrivener files from Google Drive on iPad and/or for Android OS?

[devinganger]

None that I'm aware of -- as far as I know, Google Drive is extremely likely to mangle Scrivener projects, so I don't see anyone putting the time in to develop such an app.

However, Scrivener for Mac (and Windows) does have the External Sync feature where you can export selected documents in your project to RTF files in a specified folder, and then those files can be read and edited with your favorite RTF editor (and one would presume that folder could be synced). Later, the edited files can be re-imported back into their proper place in the Scrivener project.

If you go that route, you need to be careful to ensure that you aren't trying to access the file(s) from multiple locations simultaneously, and that you give ample time for your sync engine to finish updating changes.

[rdale]

I would have to pay $100 a year for more than free, basic 2GB in Dropbox.

I've never paid for dropbox. I don't store scrivener backups on the service anymore, but I could easily fit all of my "live" scrivener projects into 2GB of space. It's not practical to keep all of them on Dropbox for the purposes of syncing with iOS however. After about 20 small, or 4-5 very large projects, syncing gets slow.

[Silverdragon]

What RDale said. I've never needed to go beyond free with Dropbox. I'm using Google Drive for Scrivener automatic backups; because I have them set to save as .zip files there's no danger of corruption. If I need to restore one for some reason, I copy it to my desktop and then expand it. I've also set the backup option to include the date in the backup name. Because of all these precautions I never get the dreaded "live project in backup folder" message.

[mattpurtell]

My complaint originally was, Google Drive's list of just a few options with good prices, not to mention free 15GB I'm still using, I don't need 1TB that's all Dropbox only offers, beside its free 2GB, through I don't mind paying if Dropbox had other options but I don't have anything to fill up 1TB, not even in next decade. I like to keep everything in one place but I guess I'll have to use two places (Google Drive for everything and Dropbox for Scrivener files only) without making organization less simple. What about file sharing between two devices over same wireless router, aka FTP (not much experienced with Bluetooth)? Is FTP optional for Scrivener iOS, perhaps?

[kewms]

You can use iTunes file sharing to transfer Scrivener files if you'd prefer not to use Dropbox.

Katherine

[brett]

Couple workarounds for the Dropbox issue beyond the already excellent suggestions, some of which I use too.
First, you can get more space by referring friends to dropbox. I doubled or tripled my free allotment this way, although admittedly this was back in the day before everybody already had it.

Second, if this works for your needs, you might export the finished story/book/whatever out of Dropbox to Google Drive, then delete the project from Dropbox.

That’s what I’ve done, except using iCloud Drive instead of Google. I pretty much use Dropbox only for shared folders (lots of folks I work with share info that way), and for Scrivener projects in process. Once I complete the project, I export the compiled draft to a Word or rtf or text file, and store that in iCloud Drive, where I have plenty of space on the dollar per month plan.