When naming a file you plan to upload to your course Dropbox, Discussions, Course Files or Content area, there are certain characters that should never be used. The presence of just one of these characters in your files name causes errors and unexpected problems in Brightspace!
Fortunately, most Microsoft Windows computers do not even allow filenames containing any of these "illegal characters” (shown below) to be created or saved in the first place:
\ / : * ? " < > | ~ # % & + { } -
However, most Apple/Mac computers ALLOW filenames containing these characters! Brightspace may allow "illegally" named files to be uploaded, but trying to access that file will throw an error. Examples include, but are not limited to:
- Any file whose name contains illegal characters, attached to a Discussion, will produce an error whenever that particular topic/thread is accessed.
- Any file whose name contains illegal characters, uploaded to a Dropbox, will produce an error whenever that file is accessed.
GeorgiaVIEW Instructors should be especially aware that the use of illegal characters in the Course Files or Course Content areas will cause similar errors & problems.
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IMPORTANT: There is a 255 (maximum) character limit for filenames. This total includes the total number of characters in the file's path, plus all the characters in the file's name.*
This limit applies to:
- Dropbox
- Discussions
- Course Files
- Content
*For example: C:\Student's Name\My Documents\filetobesubmitted.docx = 53 characters total