Long filenames

[enjay]

Since moving to SharePoint/OneDrive, we're seeing people fall into filename length problems because of the enormous string at the start of a filename when it is in your synced OneDrive. Has anyone tried removing the 260-character limit (https://www.backupery.com/how-to-enable-ntfs-long-paths-in-windows/) and were there any ill effects?

[mavhc]

Apparently Office doesn't like files that are too long in their filename/pathname still

[enjay]

Apparently Office doesn't like files that are too long in their filename/pathname still

 

Thanks. There's very little point making the change, then!

[midweek]

The character limit in Sharepoint is more like 400 but things like spaces get changed to %20 which makes stuff even longer.

[E_G_R2]

Since moving to SharePoint/OneDrive, we're seeing people fall into filename length problems because of the enormous string at the start of a filename when it is in your synced OneDrive. Has anyone tried removing the 260-character limit (https://www.backupery.com/how-to-enable-ntfs-long-paths-in-windows/) and were there any ill effects?

 

Sharepoint/Ondrive isn't keen on deep folder structures either!

 

At my last place people on servers had logical file structures Subjct\Level\Class........ but when migrated would find access to the files at the lower end would be patchy if it went too deep!

 

Had to do a lot of moving of data to a simpler structure.

[enjay]

The character limit in Sharepoint is more like 400 but things like spaces get changed to %20 which makes stuff even longer.

 

We haven't hit the problem in SharePoint (although I'm sure Geography will give it a go!). Our issue is where staff have the OneDrive sync app, which puts the files in "C:\Users\Name\OneDrive - School Name" which for us is a 55-character prefix!

[pete]

^ One thing we did was to change the organisation name on the tenancies to school/trust initials. Our lot aren't precious about what things are called - YMMV.

 

So rather than "C:\users\Bob\OneDrive - Eric's Marvellous School" you'll get C:\Users\Bob\OneDrive - EMS"

 

For the local path to update for some users you'll have to unlink and re-link their OneDrive (or wipe their profile, depending on if it's an assigned or shared computer).

 

This has mitigated (somewhat) our history staff and student's habit of "use the essay question as the document filename".

[enjay]

^ One thing we did was to change the organisation name on the tenancies to school/trust initials. Our lot aren't precious about what things are called - YMMV.

 

So rather than "C:\users\Bob\OneDrive - Eric's Marvellous School" you'll get C:\Users\Bob\OneDrive - EMS"

 

For the local path to update for some users you'll have to unlink and re-link their OneDrive (or wipe their profile, depending on if it's an assigned or shared computer).

 

This has mitigated (somewhat) our history staff and student's habit of "use the essay question as the document filename".

 

Ooh, interesting. I didn't know you could rename the tenancy so easily. So, a bit of inconvenience for lots of people in order to solve a problem for a few, and a potential problem for everyone. Maybe one for the summer break, and then just tell people in September. Of course, this is where we find some people have even longer file names, and pulling the 46 characters back doesn't actually help!

[DavonPotter]

Messy filenames can definitely be a pain. I haven't removed the 260-character limit myself, but I'd be cautious since it involves tweaking system settings.