Using Scrivener and Google Drive

Scrivener Scrivener for macOS
1

Hello,

I use Scrivener 2.8.1.2 on a Macbook Pro. My files are on my Google Drive.

I bought an iPad recently, and installed Scrivener on it. I see that Scrivener is able to Sync/ Access files on Dropbox, but I don't see Google Drive.

I have 2 questions:
1. Is it not recommended to use Scrivener with Google Drive?
2. If it's okay, how do I access them on the iPad in the Scrivener App?

Thanks in advance for your reply.

Regards,
Rajnesh

2

No, Google Drive is not a recommended sync solution for two reasons.

  1. Between Macs/Macs, PCs/PCs, Macs/Pcs, Google Drive has a tendency to corrupt working projects. There are many strategies for a potential file sync client to use. Some of them are more likely to corrupt a multi-file complex file format like Scrivener’s. (Note that the Scrivener file format grew out of the package feature of the Mac OS file system, where one can encapsulate many files and folders into a single file in the Finder, but this did not stop Apple from getting support for packages wrong in their sync solution, so this is a hard problem.) Dropbox doesn’t corrupt Scrivener files during transit, as long as you follow a few simple rules.

  2. Dropbox is the only widely used and free solution that is cross-platform and offers a decent API for third-party developers. This was important during the development of Scrivener for iOS, as that platform is sandboxed – my program can’t access your program’s file even though we’re installed on the same device, and vice versa. On a Mac or PC, Dropbox (and other sync apps) is a little app that runs in the background and copies files to/from your hard drive and Scrivener can get to without knowing or caring that it’s interacting with Dropbox.
    On iOS, that’s not possible; I can’t run a DropBox (or other sync) app that handles the file transfer piece and makes the files available for other apps. Scrivener (and the other apps) have to put the sync piece inside their own app. That’s quite a bit of coding to include and get right, so it doesn’t make sense to put the work in for a sync platform that is known to break your data even when you’re doing everything correctly.

3

Thank you Devin.
You answered my question.

Warm Regards,
Rajnesh