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raujero's avatar
raujero
New member | Level 2
7 years ago

Removing invalid characters in file names in bulk

Hi I am a windows 10 pro user and can't see many files that my Mac colleagues have placed in dropbox because of illegal characters (for windows). I can't sync them properly with my PC because I keep getting errors about invalid filenames.  Does anyone know of a clean way to change multiple file names or how to remove invalid characters in bulk? I thought of downloading the files to my pc and running a utility but there is 2tb of data and the transfer back and forth would take days if not weeks.  Appreciate any advice.

  • Dropbox itself doesnt have a way of doing this and I cannot think of any way to do it if I'm honest.

    The only thing I can think of is getting the Mac users to rename them, or, see if they can find a renaming script/app online

     

    [This thread is now closed due to inactivity. If you have a similar or new question, you can ask here]
  • Mark's avatar
    Mark
    Icon for Super User II rankSuper User II

    Dropbox itself doesnt have a way of doing this and I cannot think of any way to do it if I'm honest.

    The only thing I can think of is getting the Mac users to rename them, or, see if they can find a renaming script/app online

     

    [This thread is now closed due to inactivity. If you have a similar or new question, you can ask here]
    • Ross_S's avatar
      Ross_S
      Icon for Dropbox Staff rankDropbox Staff
      Yes, there's no way for a Windows user to perform the rename as the files are on everyone else's systems, but not the Windows machine.

      While you could use a script to make the change, I'd go about re-educating staff about this otherwise, it'll be a constant issue.

      Simple internal reminders to not use certain characters in filenames should suffice.

      This isn't a Dropbox specific issue, any time where windows and Macs are working in the same environment this can happen. Windows just can't have certain characters in filenames.

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