How to Delete Projects in Scrivener 3 for Windows

Scrivener 3 for Windows gives writers a powerful workspace for managing long, complex documents — but that same depth can make simple housekeeping tasks less obvious than they should be. Deleting a project is one of those tasks. It feels like it should take two clicks, yet many users find themselves unsure whether they've actually removed the project or just closed it. Here's exactly how it works.

What a Scrivener Project Actually Is

Before deleting anything, it helps to understand what you're dealing with. A Scrivener project isn't a single file in the traditional sense. On Windows, it's a folder with the .scriv extension, containing a structured collection of files — your documents, research, settings, snapshots, and media. That folder is what you need to delete.

When Scrivener "closes" a project, it simply stops displaying it. The folder remains on your drive untouched. This distinction matters, because there is no built-in delete function inside Scrivener itself — deletion happens at the operating system level, in Windows Explorer.

How to Delete a Scrivener 3 Project on Windows

Step 1: Close the Project in Scrivener

If the project is currently open, close it first. Go to File → Close Project. Scrivener will save and shut down that workspace. Attempting to delete an open project folder while it's in use can cause file-locking issues.

Step 2: Locate the Project Folder in Windows Explorer

Open File Explorer and navigate to wherever you saved the project. Common locations include:

• DocumentsScrivener Projects
• A custom folder you designated at project creation
• A synced cloud folder (OneDrive, Dropbox, Google Drive)

The project folder will have a name ending in .scriv — for example, MyNovel.scriv. It appears as a folder icon, not a single document file.

Step 3: Delete the Folder

Select the .scriv folder and delete it using any standard Windows method:

• Press the Delete key to send it to the Recycle Bin
• Right-click and choose Delete
• Press Shift + Delete to permanently remove it without sending it to the Recycle Bin ⚠️

Using the Recycle Bin gives you a recovery window if you change your mind. Shift + Delete bypasses that entirely, so use it only when you're certain.

Step 4: Remove It from Scrivener's Recent Projects List

After deletion, Scrivener may still show the project name in File → Recent Projects. Clicking it will produce an error since the folder no longer exists. To clean this up:

Go to File → Recent Projects → Clear Menu to remove all recent entries, or simply ignore the ghost entry — Scrivener will eventually stop listing it after failed access attempts.

🗂️ What About Backups?

This is where users most often leave data behind without realizing it. Scrivener automatically creates backup copies of your projects on a separate schedule from the project itself. Deleting the main .scriv folder does not delete your backups.

Backups are stored in a separate location, which you can check under: File → Options → Backup → Backup Location

If you want to fully remove all traces of a project, you'll need to navigate to that backup folder and manually delete any backup .zip files associated with that project. These are typically named with the project name plus a timestamp.

Variables That Affect How You Should Approach This

The steps above are consistent across Scrivener 3 for Windows, but your specific situation introduces factors worth considering:

Storage location: Projects saved locally are straightforward to delete. Projects stored in a cloud-synced folder (Dropbox, OneDrive, etc.) may have sync delays or version history that persists after local deletion. Cloud services often maintain their own deleted-file recovery period.

Backup settings: If you've customized your backup path or enabled backups to a cloud service separately, your backup count and location will differ from the defaults. Heavy users who've worked on a project for a long time may have dozens of backup archives to track down.

Project size and complexity: Scrivener projects with large imported media files (PDFs, images, video) can occupy significant disk space. The .scriv folder size isn't always obvious from a glance, so checking folder properties before deletion gives you a clearer picture of what you're reclaiming.

Multiple devices: If you've used the same project across multiple machines — synced via Dropbox or a similar service — copies or cached versions may exist on other devices or in sync service version histories.

The Difference Between Closing, Removing, and Deleting

Understanding where each piece lives makes the difference between a clean removal and thinking you've deleted something that's still quietly occupying space.

When Things Get Complicated

Some users discover that their project folder contains linked files — research documents or media that were linked rather than imported into Scrivener. Deleting the .scriv folder removes Scrivener's references to those files, but the files themselves remain wherever they were originally stored. This is only relevant if those files matter for other purposes.

Others find that their project folder is locked or in use even after closing Scrivener — usually because a cloud sync client is actively processing it. Pausing the sync client briefly before deletion resolves this in most cases.

How straightforward or involved this process turns out to be depends heavily on how your projects are stored, whether backups are centralized or scattered, and whether cloud sync is part of your workflow.