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Use of "/" and other symbols

Thank you for taking the time to ready my question.

When I create folders they have these types of names and use these types of symbols:

06/08/18_Property Management Company Name_Property Address

So, when I was using DropBox on my iPad I notice that by default it changes the forward slash symbol with a colon. No problem. I'm sure there is a reason for that. However, when I attempt to change the file name to Property Management Company_Property Address_06:08:18 (using the same colon symbol) I get a message saying:

Invalid Folder Name. The following characters are not allowed in folder names: /:?*<>"l

That doesn't make sense because it changes all the / to : in the files in Mobile DropBox but when I attempt to use a : it says that's invalid.

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Accepted answers

sjesser

Thank you so much for your reply.

It appears I have solved the problem. Even though the error message says the forward slash is not an acceptable symbol it works!

Interestingly enought though, the forward slash is replaced with a colon when I few my files on a mobile device such as my phone or iPad. Weird.

...and yes. I am running the most current version of both DropBox and iOS.

All comments

Mark

This is because of the fact Windows does not allow those characters. So, if you added them to a folder (or file) on Dropbox they'd not sync to any Windows device.

See the section here on 'Incompatible Characters' https://www.dropbox.com/help/syncing-uploads/files-not-syncing

sjesser

Actually my desktop is an iMac and the problem I encounter is on an iPad.

Mark

That may be so, but, Dropbox is designed to work across all operating systems, so, even though you (and me actually) are totally within the Mac ecosystem the same rules apply to make everything work.

Logic is that everything needs to 'just happen'. So, they dont want issues if you decided to share one of those folders and the person you shared with was a Windows user - they'd quite possibly not understand and get annoyed at the fact it wouldnt download and sync to their machine.

sjesser

Noted this in your link so now it really doesn't make sense...

"Note that on Mac computers only, Dropbox will sync files that include a forward slash in the file name to dropbox.com. However, these files will sync to dropbox.com with a : (colon) in place of the / (forward slash). Files with forward slashes sync to other Mac computers, but they can't be synced to Windows computers."

sjesser

I get that but then what should I substitute for a / or : symbol because if I use either one I get the error message.

Jane

Hey @sjesser, thanks a lot for posting your editing query on the Forum!

As I was unable to recreate the behavior you’ve described above on my end (namely the forward slash wasn’t renamed to colon when I tried to recreate on an iPad)- though I received the same error message with Invalid Folder Names, could you relay the steps you’re following in your next post here, so as to make sure I get a better understanding of the matter?

Additionally, can you please confirm that you’re running the latest version of the Dropbox application on your iPad (98.2) & you’ve installed all OS updates?

Thanks in advance for your cooperation & I’ll be awaiting your next post here, in order to check it in more depth together!

sjesser

Thank you so much for your reply.

It appears I have solved the problem. Even though the error message says the forward slash is not an acceptable symbol it works!

Interestingly enought though, the forward slash is replaced with a colon when I few my files on a mobile device such as my phone or iPad. Weird.

...and yes. I am running the most current version of both DropBox and iOS.

Jane

Thanks a lot for looping back here on the progress @sjesser, glad to hear that this has now been sorted for you!

Please don’t hesitate to post us again here in case you have further questions or feedback in the future & we’ll make sure to check back with you as closely as possible. Happy Dropboxing & enjoy the rest of your day! 😊