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I'm using the Dropbox writing mode, and some content is not appearing in my book. What can I do?
I'm using the Dropbox writing mode, and some content is not appearing in my book. What can I do?

Keywords: Dropbox, images missing, content missing, changes not having any effect, Step 5

Leanpub Support avatar
Written by Leanpub Support
Updated over a week ago

We're sorry that you are experiencing this issue. The following guidance should help resolve the issue.

(Please note another version of this issue causes a Step 5 book generation error, where a book just doesn't generate at all!)

Usually when this happens, it means there is an issue with the connection between the author's manuscript folder on their computer, and the shared folder in the cloud, on Dropbox. In this case, there is nothing we can do on our end to re-establish the connection, but you can resolve the situation by creating a new shared folder.


Side Note! Before proceeding, we actually recommend switching to our GitHub writing mode, if you encounter issues like this! Here's the tutorial for the GitHub writing mode, and here's an article about switching writing modes.


To resolve this issue, please follow these steps:

1. To be safe, back up your book folder somewhere on your computer

2. Check here to verify the Markdown dialect you are using:

leanpub.com/YOUR_BOOK/settings/markdown_dialect

...making sure to replace "YOUR_BOOK" with your book's unique web address.

3. Switch to another writing mode on the Writing Mode page here:

leanpub.com/YOUR_BOOK/settings/writing_mode

We recommend you switch to the "In my browser with a Markua plain text editor" writing mode.

4. After the process completes, on the Writing Mode page, switch back to the Dropbox writing mode. This process will create a new shared folder for your book. You should receive an invitation to join the new shared folder within minutes.

Please note that the new folder may automatically be given a folder name with a (1) at the end.

5. Delete the contents of the manuscript folder you will see in the new shared book folder.

6. Copy the contents of the manuscript from the old book folder, into the manuscript folder in the new book folder.

7. Check to see if your Markdown dialect has changed here:

leanpub.com/YOUR_BOOK/markdown_dialect

 If your Markdown dialect changed from Leanpub-Flavored Markdown to Markua as a result of this process, on this page, please change your Markdown dialect back to Leanpub-Flavored Markdown.

8. After giving the folder some time to sync completely, create a new preview of your book. The contents of the preview should match the contents of your new book folder.

OK, that's it!


If you have any feedback or questions about this article, please email the Leanpub team about it at hello@leanpub.com!

If you have any questions or thoughts on writing and self-publishing with Leanpub, please join our global community of authors in our Authors Forum here!

Are you interested in self-publishing, and creating your first Leanpub book? Here are some quick tutorials for our most popular writing modes: http://help.leanpub.com/en/articles/3088382-quick-walkthroughs-for-getting-started-on-a-leanpub-book

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