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File name character limit

I’m seeing “file name too long” errors when transferring files to external drives using Finder. I do tend to give my files very long names.


What is a good rule of thumb for the maximin number of characters in a file name?

iPad Pro (5th generation)

Posted on Apr 14, 2023 7:27 AM

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Posted on Apr 14, 2023 7:47 AM

Niel provides a handy reference for this. I note from it that unless your storage device is using a pretty ancient format, that most formats are around the 255 character limit.


I'm old-school about this, and newer systems are more tolerant, but it used to be some characters had special meaning. I tend to avoid using characters like : ? / \ in file names.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Apr 14, 2023 7:47 AM in response to Chronic Town

Niel provides a handy reference for this. I note from it that unless your storage device is using a pretty ancient format, that most formats are around the 255 character limit.


I'm old-school about this, and newer systems are more tolerant, but it used to be some characters had special meaning. I tend to avoid using characters like : ? / \ in file names.

File name character limit

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