How to Safely Sync Your Scrivener Writing Projects Using Dropbox

As a writer, you want the freedom and flexibility to work on your book, script, or other writing project from anywhere – your desktop computer, laptop, and even your phone or tablet when you‘re on the go. Scrivener is one of the most popular apps for long-form writing projects, with powerful features like a built-in outliner, tracking statistics, research repositories, and publishing tools.

However, Scrivener wasn‘t designed for real-time collaboration or working on the same project across multiple devices simultaneously. By default, each Scrivener project is a self-contained file meant to be used on a single computer at a time.

The good news is that by using a cloud storage service like Dropbox to store your Scrivener projects, you can easily sync your work between a computer and other devices like a laptop, iPhone or iPad. This allows you to access your writing projects wherever you are. However, syncing Scrivener projects does require some important precautions to avoid potential issues like conflicted copies and even data loss.

In this guide, we‘ll walk through everything you need to know to safely set up Scrivener and Dropbox syncing across your devices. We‘ll also share some critical best practices for avoiding problems that can corrupt your project files. Let‘s dive in!

Benefits of Syncing Scrivener Projects

There are some major advantages to syncing your Scrivener projects via the cloud:

• Access your work from any computer by simply installing Scrivener and Dropbox and logging into your account
• Make quick edits or jot down new ideas from your phone or tablet when you‘re away from your desk
• No need to manually move project files between devices using flash drives or email
• Automatic cloud backup protects you from losing work if a device is lost, stolen or damaged

Syncing can greatly streamline your writing workflow and provide peace of mind. But there are some crucial points to be aware of before you start storing Scrivener projects in the cloud.

Important Precautions When Syncing

Scrivener project files are complex packages containing many text documents, images, settings and other data. They weren‘t built for simultaneous access across devices like Google Docs. Trying to work on the same project from two places at once is likely to cause problems.

To minimize the risk of sync conflicts and data loss, always follow these guidelines:

Only open a project on one device at a time

Never try to edit the same Scrivener project on your computer while it‘s also open on another computer, or your phone/tablet. Close the project on one device before opening it on another. Scrivener can‘t merge changes from multiple sessions, so you‘ll end up with diverging copies that are difficult to reconcile.

Always wait for sync to complete before shutting down

After you close a project on your computer, give Dropbox a minute to finish syncing any changes to the cloud before putting your computer to sleep or shutting it down. This ensures your other devices will receive the latest version and avoid conflicts. Look for the "Up to date" message in your Dropbox menu before you step away:

[Screenshot of Dropbox sync indicator]

Back up projects regularly

In the rare event that a sync problem damages your project file, regular backups provide a safety net to roll back to an earlier version. Scrivener can automatically back up projects for you on a schedule. Double check that this is enabled in Scrivener‘s Backup preferences:

[Screenshot of Scrivener backup settings]

With those precautions in mind, let‘s look at how to set up syncing between Scrivener and Dropbox.

How to Sync Scrivener with Dropbox on Your Computer

The easiest way to sync Scrivener projects is to simply save them inside your Dropbox folder on your computer‘s hard drive. As long as the Dropbox desktop app is installed and signed in on that computer, any files you put in that folder will automatically be uploaded to the cloud and synced to your other devices.

To set this up:

1. Make sure you have installed the Dropbox desktop app on your computer and signed into your account
2. Open your Dropbox folder in Finder (Mac) or Windows Explorer (PC) – this is usually located at /Users/[your username]/Dropbox
3. Create a new folder inside Dropbox where you will store your Scrivener projects, e.g. Dropbox/Scrivener Projects/
4. In Scrivener, go to File > Save As and navigate to the folder you just created
5. Click the Options button and make sure the "Compress project files" option is checked, then click Save

[Screenshot of Scrivener save dialog with Options]

Your project is now saved in Dropbox. Any changes you make will be synced up to the cloud automatically after you close the project.

On another computer, simply repeat the steps above to install Dropbox, then open Scrivener and use File > Open to access your synced project in the Dropbox folder. Remember to close the project on one computer before opening it on another to avoid conflicts.

Syncing Scrivener Between Computer and iOS Devices

Scrivener offers a full-featured iOS app that allows you to access and edit your projects on an iPhone or iPad. An iOS device can be a great way to take your writing with you and work on it anywhere. And with Dropbox, it‘s easy to keep your projects in sync between computer and iOS.

Here‘s how to set it up:

1. On your iOS device, install the Scrivener app from the App Store (requires a separate $19.99 purchase)
2. Open the Scrivener app and tap the Dropbox button in the bottom right to link it with your Dropbox account
3. Log into Dropbox if prompted, and allow Scrivener to access your files
4. Tap "Link" next to the folder in Dropbox where you are storing your Scrivener projects (the default is /Apps/Scrivener)
5. Once your projects have downloaded, tap on one to open it and make edits

[Screenshot of Scrivener iOS linking screen]

Whenever you want to sync changes between your computer and iOS device, simply tap the Sync button in the top right of the Scrivener app. This will upload any changes from your device and download updates from Dropbox. You can sync manually or set the app to sync automatically when you open or close projects.

The iOS version uses Dropbox for all of its file storage and syncing, so you don‘t need to worry about conflicts with projects open on your computer at the same time. However, we still recommend getting in the habit of doing a manual sync and waiting for it to complete before putting Scrivener into the background on your device.

Why You Should Avoid Using Google Drive

In theory, any cloud storage service that syncs a folder on your computer should work for syncing Scrivener projects between machines, not just Dropbox. However, the developers of Scrivener strongly warn against using Google Drive for this purpose, as it has some unique behaviors that can cause problems:

• Some users have reported Google Drive corrupting or deleting Scrivener projects entirely, causing loss of work
• Google Drive may try to convert Scrivener projects into Google Docs format, making them unusable
• Issues with Google Drive not downloading the latest project version, leading to lost changes

While some writers use Google Drive without any problems, the risk of damage to your projects is much higher than with other cloud services. Considering how precious your writing is, we strongly recommend sticking with a well-tested solution like Dropbox to avoid potential heartbreak.

If you do choose to take the risk of syncing with Google Drive, be absolutely meticulous about keeping frequent backups of your projects. In the event of a sync failure, you may be able to roll back to an earlier version of the project in your Google Drive version history, but there are no guarantees.

Conclusion

Syncing your Scrivener projects across multiple devices using Dropbox can be a game changer for your writing productivity. With a little discipline around closing projects and keeping backups, you can harness the full power of Scrivener no matter where you are or what device you have at hand.

The key points to remember:

• Always close your project on one device before opening it on another
• Give Dropbox time to finish syncing before putting a computer to sleep
• Let Scrivener run automatic backups frequently just in case
• Use the iOS version of Scrivener for the most seamless mobile sync experience
• Avoid Google Drive for syncing Scrivener projects due to the higher risk of data loss

Now that you know the best practices for syncing Scrivener with Dropbox, you‘re ready to take your writing to the next level. Happy writing!