Compressed Zip Folder, Msoft Word, characters to avoid?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the best practices for naming folders and files, particularly in the context of compressing a folder containing Microsoft Word documents. Participants explore which characters should be avoided in names to ensure compatibility across different operating systems and applications.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory

Main Points Raised

  • One participant mentions that Microsoft advises avoiding apostrophes in folder names, but questions arise about the full list of characters to avoid.
  • Another participant suggests limiting names to alphanumeric characters, underscores, and dashes for compatibility across operating systems.
  • Concerns are raised about the use of spaces and capital letters, with some arguing that while they may be permitted, they can lead to issues in certain contexts.
  • Participants discuss the implications of deep nesting of folders and the potential for exceeding character limits in file paths, particularly in Windows.
  • One participant shares a personal experience with a specific application misinterpreting a directory name due to the presence of a dot, leading to confusion between files and folders.
  • There is mention of various special characters that could cause problems in file and folder names, including "<", ">", "|", and "\".
  • Another participant notes that while NTFS supports long path names, practical limitations exist in accessing them due to application constraints.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the need to avoid certain characters in file and folder names, but there is no consensus on a definitive list. Disagreements exist regarding the necessity of avoiding capital letters and the use of spaces. The discussion about deep nesting and path length limitations remains unresolved, with varying interpretations of what constitutes problematic nesting.

Contextual Notes

Participants highlight limitations related to character length in file paths, with specific reference to Windows' default maximum of 260 characters. There are also mentions of potential issues arising from the use of certain characters in specific applications, which may not be universally applicable.

Who May Find This Useful

This discussion may be useful for users working with file management across different operating systems, particularly those involved in compressing folders or sharing files in a collaborative environment.

  • #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
 
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  • #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
 
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  • #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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