Scrivener iOS syncing via Dropbox continues to crash the app

Rayz · December 31, 2019, 7:47am

Silverdragon:

@Rayz,

Very interesting info! Hierarchies and filenames—hmmm…

This makes sense as the Scriv 3 project structure added a layer of internal hierarchy as well as a LONG filename (a UUID) for each file in the Binder. If the bug is indeed related to filename length and hierarchy depth, then folks still using Scriv 2 Mac or Scriv 1 Win should see this problem less often. (No UUIDs, shorter hierarchy.)

I’d like to add this information:

99% of the filenames internal to the project are not under user control. The hierarchy internal to the project is not under user control either. (What you see in your Binder bears little resemblance to the on-drive structure).

You could rename each project (by using Save as…) to something very short. Don’t bother to rename anything in the Binder because those names aren’t used as filenames. Don’t bother to rearrange your Binder to shorten hierarchies as they don’t affect the structure Dropbox sees. You could also change your sync folder to a folder to a top-level Dropbox folder with a single-letter name (like “S”), thus shortening both pathname and hierarchy (as compared to /apps/Scrivener).

Hope this helps.

EDIT: I see @drmajorbob already provided most of this info, with illustration. But the shorter project name and top-level single-letter folder might still be of some help.

Yes, I read drmajorbob’s comment. Shame. I thought it might be something that would be easy to test out.

lunk · December 31, 2019, 7:58am

Even if individual path names are only half a dozen characters, having a deep folder structure could add quite a lot of characters.
My own complete path to the sync folder and the project to sync, on the Dropbox server, is:

Scrivener projects/Scriv active projects/projectname.scriv

… and the project with the longest name has 59 characters plus .scriv, so in total 99 characters in the folder name/path.

drmajorbob · January 1, 2020, 8:34am

I wouldn’t keep inactive projects ANYWHERE in that hierarchy. They use space on your iOS device even if you never open or sync them. Hence, I have no hierarchy below ~/Dropbox/Apps/Bobby Scrivener/

I haven’t seen the sync crash, either, but I don’t claim a simple file structure is responsible for it.

lunk · January 1, 2020, 8:45am

No they don’t, because it is the folder Scriv Active Projects that I sync, not the parent folder.

drmajorbob · January 1, 2020, 11:00am

With 345 posts in this thread so far, does that mean less than 345 users have complained? Subtracting duplicates, Literature & Latte posts, and posts like mine, is it less than 50 users, perhaps?

Does that mean the problem is incredibly rare?

NoHope · January 1, 2020, 9:31pm

That’s something I’ve wondered. How many actual cases.
I’m not trying to minimize the impact it has on those with the issue, just wondering how large a sample have the L&L team to try to lock down the cause?

drmajorbob · January 2, 2020, 6:14am

If the length of a pathname is the issue (which I doubt):

Snapshots have longer pathnames than anything else.

The first snapshot in the image has pathname =

/Users/savage/Dropbox/Apps/Bobby Scrivener/Divided Minds.scriv/Files/Snapshots/7AD5EAE9-CC9E-437B-A770-B36E4C37276B.snapshots/2018-01-31-21-03-10+0000.rtf

lunk · January 2, 2020, 7:18am

@drmajorbob
You’re iOS Scriv does sync, doesn’t it?

derick · January 2, 2020, 4:12pm

I’ve tried that I believe but I can check it again back on my mac. I have tons of snapshots in that project, too.

kewms · January 2, 2020, 5:10pm

Clearly not large enough. As I said upthread, we have been unable to find a reproduction case. Collectively, the L&L team has a pretty diverse array of devices and projects, and none of us are seeing it.

Katherine

drmajorbob · January 2, 2020, 7:37pm

It does.

drmajorbob · January 2, 2020, 7:40pm

What’s your sense of how many are affected?

If < 100 posted the problem here in over 3 months, does that mean anything?

kewms · January 2, 2020, 7:53pm

There’s obviously a huge selection bias: people who aren’t having the issue don’t post. On the other hand, the thread is visible enough that some people who are having the issue may have seen it, read it, and decided they didn’t have anything to add.

But this topic hasn’t seen anywhere near the amount of activity of, say, the Windows/Paddle licensing issues we had a while back, which would have affected a very large fraction of our Windows users.

I wouldn’t want to speculate on numbers or percentages, except to say that there are enough to make it clear that there’s a real issue, but not enough to demonstrate a pattern that would help us track down the problem. (That is, we don’t have enough information to say that X device/project combination is more or less likely to run into it.)

Katherine

Tannille · January 3, 2020, 8:47am

I received a new iPad Pro for Christmas. Haven’t had a chance to work with it much and only downloaded a handful of apps including Scrivener. At first it synced fine. Days ago, I converted a Scriv 2 file, containing a course with some multi-media (4-5gbs), to scriv 3 and crash. Sync is broken on the new iPad. Still works on iPhone 7+ & iPad Pro gen 1 (all using latest iOS).

My uneducated guess is, there is something about the new iPad and perhaps converting Scriv 2 file to Scriv 3 (as others have said).

kewms · January 3, 2020, 4:55pm

Hmm. Could you clarify the specific sequence of events, please?

That is, was it (Scenario 1)

Sync project A in Scriv 2 format, all is well.
Convert project A to Scriv 3 format.
Crash

Or (Scenario 2)

Convert project A to Scriv 3 format
Sync
Crash

The question being if the problem comes when converting a project that’s already been synced. The new format is a substantial change to the project structure, so converting it would force the sync step to essentially replace the whole thing.

So, if the series of events was as in Scenario 1, here’s something to try:

Move the project out of the Dropbox folder on the computer.
Synchronize, which should remove it from the iOS device entirely.
Move it back and see if it synchronizes successfully.

Katherine

Tannille · January 4, 2020, 2:40pm

Hi Katherine,

Scriv 2 doc was synced. I made a copy and converted to Scriv 3. Both the back-up and converted file were in the sync folder when it crashed. I deleted the ios app for a clean download and it kept crashing.

As suggested above;
I moved the files in question out of the sync file. All other files synced like a charm. Added the Scriv 3 file and it crashed. Took the Scriv 3 file out and tried the Scriv 2 file, no problem syncing. Not sure that it helps but I have many other Scriv 3 files that sync fine, just the one file is a pain (perhaps the size?)

I made another Scriv 3 copy of the file. It’s crashing on sync.

Many thanks

lmariam · January 4, 2020, 6:20pm

I use DropBox and Scrivener on both PC Windows 10 Pro and MacBook Air running the latest version (14.15.2?) and have experienced no problems with either DropBox or Scrivener. I move back and forth between operating systems seamlessly. My desktop is Win10 and I use interchangeably my MBA and Lenovo Laptop running Win10 Pro.

The only trick I’ve learned is to go into the default installation of DropBox and uncheck the option to throttle uploads, which is checked by default. What you’ll find is that making changes takes sometimes minutes to upload and you get corrupted data in the cloud.

Go into Preferences | Bandwidth and set both Download and Upload rate to “Don’t Limit”

I always make sure that before I close the lid on my laptop, I look at the DropBox icon and make sure it says “Up to Date”

Silverdragon · January 4, 2020, 7:51pm

And how does this affect iOS sync? There are no such controls in the Dropbox iOS app,

kewms · January 4, 2020, 9:12pm

And if throttling is the issue, does the iOS sync perform more or less well depending on the connection you’re using?

Katherine

crauson · January 8, 2020, 12:12pm

This is my first post in this thread, and I’m just writing into to politely express my frustration not just with the syncing issue, but with the tone of the response from L&L. I’ve been a user of Scrivener since nearly the beginning and have turned over a dozen other people on to it. It’s an amazing piece of software.

However, both my iPad (11" pro) and iPhone (XR) have been crashing on sync attempt in Scrivener ever since the iOS upgrade. I understand that much or perhaps even all of the issue/fault is with Apple. Fine. But what I don’t get is why L&L representatives on this forum – in this thread – are so dismissive of the issue and the people who have it. It feels as if they are attempting to aggressively minimize it and portray the people who have it as rare and almost as trouble-makers who are stirring the pot by harping on and on about their supposedly rare issue. I believe it is a lot less rare than you think. And even if it is uncommon, please take it seriously and treat your users with respect.