Syncing with Scrivener

Sorry that this is causing issues for you with your syncing. As Matt mentioned earlier, we work directly with the scrivx file, so are not completely sure why the external folder would be picking up changes, but we will create a ticket to look into this at the earliest opportunity.

There is currently no way to do this, but it is something we are planning to add.

Thanks Jess. Please see the URL linked diff-file of the .scrivx-file between version after the Scrivener 3 closure and the same file after the Aeon 3 closure with only two scenes changed: Every single BinderItem ā€˜Modifiedā€™ field is updated by Aeon 3. No wonder Scrivener 3 gets confused next time I start it.

Hello everybody,

does anybody know how to ā€œunlinkā€ a Scrivener item from a Timeline item? It seems that when the Binder item is ā€œnewā€, you can choose to ignore it and later on bind it to some Timeline item. Unfortunately, it seems there is no turning back once you have linked it to an Aeon item, pretty weird to me.

Thanks,

Matt

Hi Matt,

Unlinking synced items from either Scrivener or Ulysses is not currently possible. I have already raised this as an issue. Hopefully it will be added in a future release.

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Thanks for the answer!

Hopefully sooner than later, because ONE single mistake during a sync might mess up everything and force you to start from scratch. :fearful:

There is a simple solution to save your project. There is an option in Scrivener ā€œBackup on project closeā€.

Yeah, youā€™re right, and Iā€™m already making backups that way. I was lazy in my answer.

I meant ā€œrestart syncing setup from scratchā€, if you made lots of changes to your sync settings.

I see there is a similar backup feature in Aeon, I might give it a try, to avoid these worst case scenario.

Thanks for the answer,

Matt

Aeon makes backup each time you save your project

Well, A backup stored in the same location as your main project file is not much of a backupā€¦

If your file system, or disk get faulty, you have lost both your main project and you backupā€¦ If you donā€™t also use another backup software/regime in addition.

I store aeon project file in the folder of scrivener project folder. So when I start syncing prosess both files are backed up in that directory that I chose in Scrivener settings.

You can store your main project where you want

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And the backup is stored at the same locationā€¦

Iā€™m not sure how much of an issue this really is.
Most people have only one disk. So their realistic protection from disk (or file system) failure would be a cloud drive. Their second option is a deliberate manual save to a memory stick or other external drive. And location makes no difference.

The backup provides a degree of version control enabling rescue from software or user issues.

Iā€™m sure some of us have a multiple hard drives and formal overall backup systems with extensive version control. I certainly donā€™t need individual programs muscling in on that.

Though for something as complex as this, I usually like the ability to set my autosave frequency, though Saving doesnā€™t take much effort, and Save As allows you to save a copy anywhere you want.

And when you have done a ā€œsaved asā€ the project you works on is the ā€œsaved asā€ project, not your original, so you will need to close that and open your originalā€¦

None of this is a good practice for backup and safeguarding dataā€¦

Luckily I have some other mechanisms running

That was my main point - those that understand the need already have systems set up to do it.

No, you simply alternate two locations. One will have the most recent save, the other will have the next most recent. Simple manual system.

I store my projects in Dropbox.

Seriously not a good practice in any thinkable way regarding safety, it has nothing to do with safety, and if you work that way, you will have different ā€œinternal application backupsā€ for the different files.
And at some point a user might lose track of what file they actually work onā€¦ so I really hope you donā€™t recommend that to anyone as a ā€œbackup solutionā€.

But of course, if you donā€™t like a good backup feature, any ā€œworkaroundā€ will doā€¦
The ā€œbackupā€ in AT3 is a false safety point, and is actually nothing but a ā€œversion pointā€ of the project, itā€™s of course really great to have version control in a content creation software, but that do not equal a good backup function.
Just like the ā€œSave restore point every x min.ā€ in Word and other Office tools is not the same as a backup of the document.

I tend to also think about those who donā€™t know much about backup and content safely store their contentā€¦ I have helped to many people (including overconfident writers who thought their Mac was ā€œdoing it for themā€), trying to recover lost data the last 20-25 years or soā€¦
Some people need a little ā€œextra helpā€ to get things set up a good way, and a good backup function in a software is one step on that road.

So for me, the only good backup solution for any software, is to have setting for where a user save the backup, it should be one of the mandatory settings for any software that creates contentā€¦ and it should be possible to set the intervals for the backupā€¦ Regardless if its a full or incremental backupā€¦
If people then choose to backup to their working directory, regardless if itā€™s online or not, itā€™s their active choice to do soā€¦

A ā€œbackupā€ is not a backup if it by default is saved to the same folder as the ā€œoriginalā€, it is only a copy, or as in AT3 a versioning function, nothing else, it will never be anything else, until it is saved in another location than the working project, and that location should preferable be on another physical storage deviceā€¦ and it do not help anyone to speak heresy.

Actually I disagree completely.
This is not a backup solution. A backup solution is a process/programs(s) independent of any individual software that produces content. It should cover the whole system.
Having individual apps doing ā€˜backupā€™ really is a recipe for a memory nightmare.

I donā€™t know about false safety point. I agree itā€™s not really a backup - it is a limited number of version points. This is sufficient to help people with the problems they encounter more often. And more explicit that Wordā€™s restore points.

Canā€™t lose track of the file - creation time in the OS gives you the sequence. It supports the possibility of different physical devices. Allows users to know explicitly what they are doing and where the data is. It supports a planned programme (eg memory stick every day, external SSD once a week). Itā€™s not as good as a proper backup program and system, but it is capable of being applied systematically within the limits of the system the user possesses.

not everyone is as clever as youā€¦!

I have cleaned up in companies where their users had 50 or more copies of the same document spread around and where they open and edited different documents on a daily basis, ending with a massive complain about ā€œunstable systemsā€ and ā€œother users delete my editsā€.
I have been working with this the last 15-20 years or so as a IT consultant and network administrator.


If a software say it has ā€œbackupā€ it should be a backup as I described earlier, if not, they need to call it something else, because when users read ā€œbackupā€ they think its a magical save all to a magic place where its safe foreverā€¦

When a software say there is ā€œbackupā€ in the software, it needs to be a REAL BACKUP function, else, they need to call it something elseā€¦ Not everyone that use AT3 are as clever as you or has worked with computer systems for most of their adult life, so try to put yourself in their shoes!
Donā€™t run around give bad advices, or actually, just do that, because then those of us working with data restoration and helping people with good backup solutions will keep our jobs for a long time.


And as I stated before, and it is still valid even though you try to argue against it, the ā€œbackupā€ in AT3 as it is now is only a ā€œversioning managerā€ā€¦ and as an digression, that can also be set in the Windows file system, without any problemsā€¦ for those who knows how to do itā€¦

You clearly just argue to argue and try to get the last wordā€¦


Software with a good backup feature is nothing like that, it is actually the opposite, because if you have a good backup in software, you will be able to save all backups to one location and set your backup software to backup that folder, instead of having to backup and keep track of 10-150 or more different folders where users save their workā€¦
And if a user donā€™t know how to install and run a backup utility, at least they can copy that one folder to an external location or 3.

You can disagree as much as you like, itā€™s a free world, most of it at leastā€¦
Jjust do not run around and advocate heresy!

Yeah, I can confirm this happens to me too. Each time I perform a sync from Aeon, Scrivener tries to resync the external folder as if each file was modified. Obviously itā€™s not the case, as you have already pointed out, but I suspect ā€œlast edit timeā€ or something like that comes to play (considering thatā€™s the only way Scrivener has to detect external changes, I guess).

Matt