Compressed Zip Folder, Msoft Word, characters to avoid?

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When compressing folders containing Word documents, it's crucial to avoid certain characters in folder and file names to ensure compatibility across different operating systems. Recommended characters include alphanumeric characters (A-Z, a-z, 0-9), underscores (_), and dashes (-). Special characters like apostrophes, spaces, and capital letters can lead to issues, particularly in command-line operations and when working with different file systems. Deep nesting of folders can also create problems, especially as the total path length approaches 260 characters, which is a common limit in Windows. While Word files are already compressed, zipping them can still be useful for email attachments, provided the file names adhere to the recommended character restrictions. Users have reported inconsistencies with zipping folders that contain apostrophes, suggesting that using alternative compression software like 7-zip may prevent these issues. For effective file management, it's advisable to simplify folder structures and file names, avoiding long names and deep nesting to prevent potential access issues.
  • #31
Strange. I've been deleting scores of apostrophes from the title of files in folders and now Word is letting me zip files with apostrophes in the title of the files. I zipped one that hadn't been edited by mistake, and was surprised to see that I could. Then I tried another. That worked too. And yet, prior to this I had got a message in a pop saying I couldn't zip a folder because it had apostrophes.
Also, I spent days on one particularly large folder, editing loads of file titles. When I'd finally got it done I went to zip it but kept getting the 'you can't...' pop-up message. I checked and double-checked all the titles and it was all fine. I eventually set up a new folder, moved all the folders and files to that, named it the same, deleted the orginal, and it let me zip it.
I guess Word is a bit like 'The Lord', in that it works in mysterious ways.
 
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  • #32
You keep mentioning that you are zipping files with Word. Word doesn't have a zip function. What exactly are you doing?

BoB
 
  • #33
rbelli1 said:
You keep mentioning that you are zipping files with Word. Word doesn't have a zip function. What exactly are you doing?

BoB
Hi, BoB.
I go into File Explorer, right click on a folder, then click on 'Send to'. The second option on the drop-down menu is, 'Compressed (zipped) folder' which has a zipped folder icon next to it.
Once I click on that the folder is compressed/zipped. Which means I can now send it as an email attachment (rather than have to attach each file in the folder individually).
 
  • #34
I figured out your problem. Windows compression doesn't allow Unicode characters so the apostrophe is ’ instead of ' in your file names.

If you use another (many other? any other?) compression program you won't have this problem. I use 7-zip. There are probably more user friendly ones out there.

BoB
 
  • #35
Thanks.
And sorry if I got your name wrong; I'm now thinking BoB is an abbreviation for something :)
 
  • #36
paulb203 said:
Thanks.
And sorry if I got your name wrong; I'm now thinking BoB is an abbreviation for something :)
Nope. just BoB with two big 'B's. One is just not enough.

BoB
 

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