Illegal characters in file names

[Dennis Fleisher]

In ALL previous versions of Word and Excel for the Mac, the slash character "/" was allowed in file names. And, as an arrogant Mac guy, I always delighted in the fact that DOS and Windows folks were not allowed to use the slash and other special characters in file names. (And, yes, I do know why.)

But, my arrogance may have finally caught up with me. It appears that in Office X, I CANNOT use the slash in file names. And, I have 15 years worth of Word and Excel files (over 38,000 files) in which I've used the slash in dates (e.g., <<2003/12/18_file name >>).

Now, the Mac and all other non-Microsoft apps will still allow me to use the slash. But, does anyone have any clever alternatives for my situation? I could do a global search-and-replace, but it seems to me that it is ONLY Office X that is disallowing the slash in file names.

Thanks for any Mac workarounds.

Dennis

 

[Mickey Stevens]

I think that's related to the bug that prevents you from saving with a name
longer than 31 characters, even though the OS allows longer ones.

You can work around it in the same way. Save the file with a name without
slashes, close it, and then locate it in the Finder. Control-click it,
select "Get Info", and click "Name & Extension". Change the name to
whatever you want, including the slash, and then close the "Get Info"
window. You should then still be able to open and save it with the Office
applications. Just don't use the Save As command.

 

[Dennis Fleisher]

Good idea.

Far less labor-intensive than what I had considered before.

But, again, that means that every Office X document I save from now on will have to be tweaked in the Finder. There are some good utilities for doing that, and maybe that's the best way to go.

Thanks,

Dennis

 

[Tom Stiller]

Good idea.

Far less labor-intensive than what I had considered before.

But, again, that means that every Office X document I save from now on will
have to be tweaked in the Finder. There are some good utilities for doing
that, and maybe that's the best way to go.

You could write an AppleScript which will change the name(s) and attach
it as a "folder action" to a folder designated as the recipient for such
files. That way files moved into or saved into the folder will have
their names changed.

 

[Dennis Fleisher]

Thanks Tom,

A much more elegant solution!

And, this old curmudgeon really has no excuse for not knowing Apple Script.
But . . . I don't.

So, I guess it's time to learn Apple Script. This oughta be fun!

Thanks again, very much.

Dennis

 

[Tom Stiller]

Thanks Tom,

A much more elegant solution!

And, this old curmudgeon really has no excuse for not knowing Apple Script.
But . . . I don't.

So, I guess it's time to learn Apple Script. This oughta be fun!

Thanks again, very much.

Dennis

You might try <http://www.apple.com/applescript/folderactions/> as a
place to start.