Scrivener iOS syncing via Dropbox continues to crash the app

yep still crashing for me too

:cry: No success either, at least not on both of my iPads after installing iPadOS 13.2.

iPad Pro (12.9 inch) ➜ successful sync
iPad Pro (11 inch) ➜ crashing like before

Thanks for the updates, even if they aren’t good to hear.

I’ve got the 12.9" iPad Pro as well, which is why I don’t think I can reproduce this problem myself.

I have the 12.9 iPad Pro though and it’s still crashing for me. As is my iPhone XS Max. My iPad Pro 10.5 works fine. On a separate note, the scratchpad is still crashing the app on Catalina. But don’t let that worry you just yet. The sync crash is far more frustrating.

Just to add to the information pool, I was also having the issue on both an iPad Pro 11, and an iPhone XS.

I performed the fix that was suggested earlier (unlink Dropbox, link a new folder and progressively move projects into it) and it seems to have worked - although note that I have only moved one project back, in contrast to the 15+ projects I used to have linked.

Heard from users of IA Writer, Paper and Procreate that this might be a Dropbox bug which has been fixed since by the devs of those apps… :confused: Could maybe the LnL team send just an email off to those guys to ascertain whether it’s the same issue?

I have the 12.9 iPad Pro 3rd-gen and my projects definitely crashed on sync there.

I have an iPad Pro 9.7 inch running 13.1.3. It syncs fine. My iPhone Xs Max with 13.2 won’t sync with dropbox. I have not tried all the solutions as of yet mostly because I don’t use my Phone for Scrivener all that much and can live without it. It is annoying.

you can probably move more - in the end I only had one project that crashes the whole sync - but unfortunately it’s an important one…

I have the newest iPad Air and latest iPadOs 13.
I moved my files and managed to sych all files except 2 files.

The differences between the successful and the unsuccessful are that the unsuccessful file are …

  • bigger 25-400 mb
  • contains embedded and bigger images, jpg, png, and pdf.

/anders

Well, don’t get me wrong. I certainly appreciate to hear about workarounds that may help to keep on writing and syncing.
However, for me the main issue is: It worked perfectly before, even with 15 project files in the sync directory but with iOs 13 something has changed that is crashing the process. I still hope the developers find the issue since a manual transfer works fine but is painful. I was looking for a way to script the process, using the new “Shortcut” App but it seems it has no file transfer procedures. All I need is an iOs script that copies my project files from iCloud into the scrivener directory on the iPad and back. I keep on trying …

Not so much. “Works for me.” Doesn’t really add anything to solving the issue unless you can diagnose ‘why’ it works for you.

Essentially, you’re tone is saying it’s not an issue, which is false. In fact, this should be a priority 1 issue as it cripples the entire functionality of the app for the users experiencing it.

On a lighter note, I really like your username: Lunk. It’s a great character name. :slight_smile:

If it would help, I’d be willing to donate a project that won’t sync. It’s from an already published work.

If it works for 90% of the users and not for 10% the interesting part is what it is that differs between the groups. Initially it was suggested that older devices worked and newer didn’t. That turned out to be wrong, when owners of newer devices who did not have problems did report that.

Since a fix may tale a while, I have to move forward since my work cannot wait …
Although it is not recommended, I’m using iCloud to sync.
Choosing this way, it is important to watch the project files completing to sync on iCloud once updated on the mac.
Recently, the visibility if a project file has been synced completely has improved.
Still, copy files manual (by hand) from the iCloud into the Scrivener iPad directory and back, is a pain.
I was therefore using “Shortcuts” with help from Siri to automate the process and testing it right now, so it is experimental.
I figured out, if I chose shortcuts to copy a project file, which is not yet completely synced, icloud will first copy the project once completed. To prove that, I was choosing my largest project file (450 MByte) to test it out.

For those of you, who want to take a look how that works, I recorded a short VDO on my iPad.
The process starts with "Hey Siri … Projekt kopieren (copy project).
With only a fey interactions, I get the project synced,
A similar shortcut is required to copy it back to the iCloud.
If the file already exists, a dialog is showing the option to overwrite or to keep both files.
The VDO starts with an empty project list. At the end, the script is opening Scrivener again, rebuilds the search index (only once) and shows the project completed.

It’s not perfect and the user is still in charge to control the whole thing, but better than nothing for now …
https://youtu.be/O7F33XK-O0M

I am having this same Dropbox crash with Scrivener which started immediately after the first iOS 13 upgrade, BUT only on my 3rd generation iPad Pro 11”. The syncing continues to work without a hitch on my iPhone 6 Plus and my iPad Pro 12” second generation. I tried unlinking/relinking Dropbox; deleting/reinstalling Scrivener from the iPad Pro 11”; deleting Dropbox and Scrivener. The result is I cannot sync my iPad Pro 11” with either the iPhone or second generation iPad Pro 12” even though the iPhone and iPad Pro 12” continuing syncing with each other correctly.

I hope this information contributes a piece of the puzzle that helps solve this problem.

On my iPad Pro 9.7 inch with 256 GB, it works fine. On my iPhone Xs max, also with 256 gb, it doesn’t work even if i switch folders. It looks like its working, and then it doesn’t. I have decided simply not to use it on my iPhone until there is a fix. Not that crucial, although slightly annoying, that I give up on iPhone as long as my iPad continues to work.

Hi Thomas, thank you for your efforts. I’ve also been doing the whole copying through the Files app thing manually since it stopped working at the 3rd week of September. On one hand I think it’s really annoying that this has been going on now for a month and a half, on the other hand, it proves that the iCloud copying (it’s not the same as iCloud Sync) works reliably, quick and transparant. This was not the case in previous versions of iOS.
It makes me doubt about just doing that as my default and leaving Dropbox for what it is. BTW, my projects sometimes go to 1-10GB (10GB is the biggest one) and they all have been uploading quickly and reliably. Both from an iPhone 8 Plus and an iPad Pro 11", and a 2015 iMac.

What I wanted to ask is: you put on a command and it started copying a project. How did it know which project to copy? It just took the most recent one? I don’t think your shortcut is a good option, because my projects are now not all together in a Scrivener folder anymore on my iCloud Drive, which would make it more difficult to make an automated shortcut, but I’m curious. Thanks again!

Hi,
Well, the shortcut is not picking a project file by itself, it is user controlled. In other words, I select the project from the dialog and then the shortcut copies it into the Scrivener iPad directory. So it is not fully automated but just supposed to make the copy hassle a bit easier.
Greetings,
Thomas

I would here share an observation about this important bug.
Since the failure and in waiting for the fix, I choose a method to continue working on the go. When crashing, I delete the Dropbox’s file for sync my Scrivener project and create a new one. So I sync only the project in progress and one by one, I can wait three or four day after adding a new one in sync file. When crashing I repeat all the process.
I notice that :
– The project causing the crash not depending on his weight. The same project could causing the crash today and not the day after.
– The most remarkable thing is that, when crashing, on Mac, I slipping out my projects from the sync file and… On the IOS the sync doesn’t crash anymore and the project causing the crash is correctly sync. But of course it disappear at next sync because not more present in the cloud.