Lost writing due to faulty syncing

[Rayz]

So what he said is correct: the issue is related to the beta release

No, not the beta release but other syncing software in general. And as far as Scrivener syncing with iOS devices only Dropbox is involved, not iCloud.

So what he said was essentially that no user would have to think about what they do. The software should understand it.

I'm afraid we're going to have to agree to disagree on that one. I was pointing out that highlighting beta software as an indication that syncing is a massive unsolvable problem doesn't really carry that much weight, which is what the message I quoted was stating. You're expanding it to the wider argument that has been carrying on here for years:

Everyone here has suffered some sort of computer mishap, so everyone knows it's important to back up your work.

I think the problem is that most people here have also experienced syncing that works without a five step process and a lingering sense of uncertainty, which is why this keeps coming up time and again.

[kewms]

I did not say that synchronization is an unsolvable problem. I did say that it is a hard problem and that many companies -- including massive companies with much larger resources than Scrivener -- sometimes have trouble getting it right.

And that, because synchronization is a hard problem, users should understand that a perfect, fire-and-forget solution does not exist, and therefore should make sure that their work is also backed up through other means. Maybe "everyone knows" that backups are important, but the number of people who actually act on that knowledge sometimes seems depressingly small.

Katherine

[devinganger]

I think the problem is that most people here have also experienced syncing that works without a five step process and a lingering sense of uncertainty, which is why this keeps coming up time and again.

I have experienced syncing that is allegedly easy. And I have also experienced the chaos that results when it inevitably goes wrong. One of the core values of Scrivener is that I can always tear apart the project format, without any special tools, and salvage my writing if I really need to.

[lunk]

I think the problem is that most people here have also experienced syncing that works without a five step process and a lingering sense of uncertainty, which is why this keeps coming up time and again.

I think the problem is that a lot people expect their devices to understand what they are expected to do, and to excute this without any time-lag, and this is the reason why this keeps coming up again and again.

Syncing in Scrivener doesn’t require a "five step process". It just requires a bit of patience on the Mac/PC side, the length depending on the WiFi speed, and a tap on an icon and a bit of patience on the iOS side, again depending on the WiFi speed.

Do you have any constructive suggestions for how the user can be forced to show this patience, and to stop them from putting their Mac/PC to sleep before the DB app has finished syncing, and to stop them from switching app on their iDevice in a way that causes the iDevice to remove iOS Scriv from working memory before they have synced with the DB server, and for this to be done in a way that still enables the user to actually do all of this if they really want to go on without complete syncing?