Dropbox is useful, but it is intended to be a synchronization service, not a backup service.

Dropbox is currently the ONLY service that supports the Scrivener file structure for syncing. Therefore it is the only service recommended by Literature and Latté for use in syncing between iOS (and possibly soon Android) devices and Windows or Mac Computers. If you are going to sync between multiple devices with Dropbox, I do not recommend using it as your sole location for backups. I believe live projects (the items you are syncing) and backups should never be on the same drive/location unless you also back up elsewhere. Why? In the event of catastrophic failure if they are in the same location you may lose both your live projects and backups.

Dropbox rules

1. Always close the project before syncing to the cloud. Make sure backup is completed BEFORE shutting down your computer.

2. Must allow your Dropbox sync to be complete BEFORE shutting down the computer. (Do not shut down your computer, or allow it to sleep before syncing is complete.)

3. When you open on a different computer, the changes will be reflected in the project.

4. ONLY ONE computer can be using a given project at one time. Never open the same project on two devices at the same time.

5. Maintain a local backup separate from the Dropbox folder as an additional backup. This can be to external drive/USB key as well. Use the Menu command File > Backup > Backup to -to choose your local backup location outside of Dropbox.

6. Make sure Dropbox is configured to store your Dropbox files offline on your computer. This will avoid potential sync issues that can affect a Project’s integrity. (see detailed instructions on this at the end of the article)

7. You can sync between iOS and Win/Mac without the iOS device being registered as one of the three, provided you do not log in via the Dropbox app on the iOS device.

8. Strongly consider backing up your Scrivener projects to an external drive or a USB key as an additional precaution.

9. Note: Damage to one copy of the project can propagate to all of the synchronized copies. In one case, a user forgot to de-authorize his work computer when he changed jobs. When his former employer wiped the hard disk, they wiped out both the “cloud” copy and his own local copy of his work. Dropbox by itself is not a secure backup strategy. Set the number of backups to a large number if you can to minimize this risk.

10. Dropbox by itself is not a secure backup strategy.

11. Be cautious with "smart" synchronization: many services will offer you the opportunity to "optimize" your local storage by storing less recently used files exclusively on the company's server. Unfortunately, these services do not always handle Scrivener projects correctly, which can cause some of the component files in your project to appear to be missing or blank. We recommend ensuring that Scrivener projects are always available "offline."

Using Dropbox on Windows:

Install Dropbox on windows. It will create the main Dropbox folder and subfolders. For ease, you can create an “App” subfolder in your new Dropbox, and add the entire scrivener project (image folders etc. as well as the .scriv). Classically, IOS/IPAD will look for an App folder and keep Scrivener projects inside. (I strongly suggest default folder should be Apps/Scrivener.)

Once you create this folder, now drag/upload the Project folders you wish to share into this folder. If the upload stalls, pause the upload process for 30 minutes and try to resume. This will often finish the process.

Using Scrivener on the Ipad or Iphone.

Now install Dropbox on your iPad/Iphone/device. Make sure all your folders are properly synced. [This may take time.] Link device to Dropbox. You will need to allow time for the sync process to finish before opening a project on the Ipad, or I phone.

Setting Up Dropbox Sync

To set up Scrivener for iOS so that it can sync with Dropbox, follow these steps:

In Scrivener for iOS, make sure you are viewing the Projects list and that you do not have a project open.
Tap the sync button.
Tap Link Dropbox in the menu that appears.
If you have the Dropbox app installed on your iOS device, it will now be opened and you will be asked to grant Scrivener access to your Dropbox account. If you don't have Dropbox installed, a sign-in form will appear inside Scrivener. Either way, follow the in-app instructions and give Scrivener permission to access Dropbox.
Once Scrivener has been allowed access to Dropbox, a Dropbox Settings panel will appear, asking you to choose a Dropbox folder. This is the folder you will use to sync projects between devices. Only projects stored inside this folder will be synced.
For now, we'll leave the default folder selected (Apps/Scrivener) and tap Done. Just note that you could have chosen another folder if you wanted.

Scrivener is now linked with the Apps/Scrivener location in Dropbox, but the folder is not created until you add a project to the folder on iOS and sync.

To add a Project to Dropbox do this:

Tap the + button at the top of the screen.

Enter a title for the new project and tap Create.

Choose Dropbox as the location to save.

The new project opens automatically. Tap < Scrivener (or < Projects on iPad) in the upper left to return to the projects screen.

Tap the sync button.

Troubleshooting IOS/Ipad Syncing Issues

See the full article on the L&L website.

1. Have you linked the correct folder (ie the one containing the Scrivener Project(s) you want to sync) to the Iphone or Ipad? The default folder should be in Dropbox under Apps/Scrivener folder. If you have already stored the projects in Dropbox in another folder, you will need to link instead to this folder.

2. Are you syncing the correct Dropbox account? If you have multiple Dropbox accounts, it is crucial Scrivener is using the same account on all the devices you want to sync. You can check this by opening Dropbox on the IOS device and browsing the files. Do they match the files on your Desktop or Laptop computer? If not then you are not using the same account.

3. Is Scrivener the right version for this? (Mac 2.8 or later and Scrivener on Windows must be 1.9.5 or later.)

4. Do NOT use External Folder Sync. This function is for other tools than Dropbox.

5. On your Desktop/Laptop you MUST USE the Dropbox desktop APPLICATION. This will access directly with the Scrivener projects on your computer. The projects you intend to sync must be in a Dropbox folder. Ideally, inside the Apps folder on Dropbox. Create this if this is not present and put the project folder inside.

6. LINK the Scrivener Dropbox folder to the IOS device. DO NOT use the Dropbox IOS app to open the Scrivener project folder.

7. Tap the IOS Sync icon in the Top right corner. Tapping this icon ensures your project are updated to reflect any changes made on another device.

8. Make sure the Scrivener project you are trying to open is not zipped. To open a Scrivener project it must be in its normal uncompressed state.

9. Clear the Dropbox cache. Go to the IOS app and reset Scrivener. Flip the switch to Clear Dropbox Sync Cache. Now quit, relaunch app and try again.

10. Invalid Project or Does not contain a valid Binder structure messages. These most often occur when the desktop computer Dropbox app did not fully sync before shutting down or trying to sync with the IOS. Go back and wait or restart the computer to finish syncing and repeat the process in step 7.

11. Finally, if all else fails, see if you can recover your work from a backup. You can open the Scrivener project which was affected and use the date search method to find all recently modified documents in your project. Use this phrase in the Project search window. Mdate:>Xd (where x represent how many days you want to look back for recently created of modified documents. If you use two then files modified or created in the past two days will be shown in the Project search window to help you check only the recently changed files for data gaps.)

Preparing Projects for Syncing

The most important thing to remember is this: to sync projects between your desktop and iOS device, projects must be inside the Dropbox folder you selected when setting up sync on your iOS device.

See this Scrivener article on this https://scrivener.tenderapp.com/help/kb/cloud-syncing/using-scrivener-with-cloud-sync-services

You want to make sure Dropbox is set to save files offline. (This keeps a local copy of the backup on your computer.)

How to set Dropbox to store local files offline:

There are two methods to store the files offline on your computer:

Method One-

You can right click on the Dropbox folder on your computer after you have installed the desktop app. Now you will see Dropbox options to Make files offline or to Manage Hard Drive Space. If you click this, you can view your Dropbox items as individual files or as folders (Use the folder view option).

In the situation below, Dropbox is already storing your files offline. This is shown by the green check next to the option Dropbox on hard drive. If it was online, you would have the option to make any folder you check offline as well.

Method 2-

Right-click on the app icon in your computer taskbar.

Click on the your avatar/name in the right upper corner of the newly opened screen.

Click Preferences and then click the Sync tab. See images below.

The Sync screen gives you multiple options. If you have the room choose Available offline and all the files will be available locally and in the cloud.

For more information about storing your Dropbox files offline look here.

Note computer backup services like Carbonite, IDrive, etc can also back up scrivener files to the cloud. Make sure where you store your zipped backups are included in the folders/files being backed up by these type of services.

The best way to make sure the Dropbox version is appropriately synced is to save the project in the Dropbox folder. This will place a copy both on the local hard drive and on the Dropbox server.

It would be wise to also arrange a backup to some non-Dropbox location, such as an external hard drive.

Check the Dropbox icon to make sure your project has fully synced to the cloud BEFORE shutting down the computer. This process will take a few moments and the syncing icon on the Dropbox app will show when the sync is complete.

Dropbox error messages:

If you try to open a project stored in Dropbox and see the message box stating that "Project X.scriv" could not be opened, then this is most likely a syncing error.

First check for your most recent backups and see if this will open and contains your recent project changes.

Use your Project Search and search by modified date. Using this method will reveal both recently created AND modifed files. The syntax to find all documents created in the last 5 days for example would be mdate:>5d Now, you can pick any number and typing this directly into the search window will preform the same search in the Project Search window rather than the special search by date function.

Note if there are sync conflicts and the files are recovered a copy of these items will be stored in a newly created folder called conflicts. You can review these documents to decide which to save.

Using Dropbox with Scrivener