Scrivener is a creative writing software which provides useful tools to write Scripts, Research papers, Books etc. Scrivener is very popular among novelists, screenwriters, journalists, translators and more because of its features and tools if provide.
But like other general software, Scrivener also has got few issues that have reported by people who use it. And the most common one is the Scrivener won’t open issue.
Therefore in this guide, You will learn how to fix Scrivener app not responding/ not opening issue on your Windows PC.
Table of Contents
Why Scrivener Won’t open?
In the new version of Scrivener, there are some reported bugs of this software that prevent it from loading. So if there is nothing wrong with your computer, the software might not respond or will not open because of these bugs.
But there a lot of times this happens because of incompatibility or some other missing software like visual C++. These kind of reasons will prevent Scrivener from opening.
No matter what the reason is, in this guide you will learn how to get rid of this issue. Let’s see how to do that.
How to fix Scrivener Won’t Open Issue
Here I have given you 4 methods to get rid of the scrivener not opening issue, all you have to do is follow the steps carefully.
01 – Install Visual C++ (Reinstall if already have installed)
Scrivener is based on C and C++ programming languages. Therefore the software needs C and C++ runtime libraries in order to work properly.
By installing C++ , we are going to install those libraries in your computer. So that you can get rid of scrivener not opening issue. Here is how to do that:
If your computer is running on Windows 10, then the C++ packages are already installed in your computer. In this case, you have to reinstall it.
- Click this link to visit official website and download latest Visual C++ 2010 to 2013 package.
- Go to settings and then Apps. (Use Control panel if you are using Windows 7 computer)
- Scroll down and look for Visual C++ 2010 to 2013 packages installed, if installed, then remove the packages.
- Now install the packages that you have downloaded.
- After install everything, Restart your computer.
02 – Change the Compatibility Mode
Uses have reported that they could open and work with Scrivener software after change the compatibility mode.
If the first method did not work and your PC is running on Windows 10 or 8 you can try this method to fix the Scrivener won’t open issue.
Note: This method won’t work on Windows 7
- Go to the installation folder and Right click on Scrivener Application
- Go to Properties
- Click on Compatibility tab
- Check the box under Compatibility mode
- Now select Windows 8 or Windows 7
- Click apply and then OK
Then you can open the scrivener to check if the problem is solved.
03 – Run Windows troubleshooter
Windows operating systems comes with an inbuilt tool called “Troubleshooter” which can detect issues on certain programs and automatically fix them.
So you can use the Windows troubleshooter to scan and fix issues that prevent Scrivener from loading.
Let’s see how to do that:
- Go to Scrivener installation folder and right click on the application
- Click on Troubleshoot compatibility
- Wait for few minutes until the troubleshooter finish scanning
- After Scan completes you will see potential errors caused the application to not respond
If there is a green mark next to error that means the troubleshooter has fixed that issue. Although you will see Apply fixes button if there is a manual permission is required.
After all done, you can open Scrivener and see if that worked.
04 – Download Older version of Scrivener
If Scrivener still won’t open, then you have to download and install an older version of this software.
The problem is that if you are using the latest Scrivener 3 it is not backward compatible. That means you won’t be able to work on your current projects on Scrivener 3 in an older version of Scrivener software.
But this won’t be a problem if you have a backup of your project. Because Scrivener creates old version of file whenever you save a project.
Therefore you have to get that backup file somewhere else before installing the older version. Here is how to do that and install an older version of Scrivener.
- Go to Users\AppData\Local\LiteratureAndLatte\Scrivener\Backups
Note: If you cannot AppData folder, click the View tab on top and Check the box Hidden Items
- copy the entire backups folder to another drive/location
- Now go to settings > Apps and uninstall Scrivener
- Go to this link and download a previous version
- Install
Conclusion
That is it. I hope you have fixed the scrivener won’t open issue. If the software keep not responding, please contact the customer support of Scrivener.
Leave a comment if you have any question regarding this guide. Also it would be helpful for people if you can comment which method worked for you.
