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January 14, 2026
Question

Issue with Chrome Extension replacing blank spaces in file names

  • January 14, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 136 views

I've only had this issue in the last week or so, I have a website that renders pdfs.  and using the chrome adobe extension, pdfs with spaces in the file names now get encoded to %20 and save with underscores when I go to save file.  Was there any update that would explain this, it seems like a bug on adobe's end since this is new

1 reply

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 14, 2026

The %20 is usually from web servers since spaces are not allowed. Underscores are the usual substitute by most programs, although some use hyphens. Best not to use spaces in any file destined for the web.

Examples:

DoNotUseSpaces

Do-Not-Use-Spaces

Do_Not_Use_Spaces

 

David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)
January 14, 2026

That's probably true, yea.   It's strange how it's only this extension on chrome, when I disable the adobe extension the file name shows correctly, and it was working with this extension maybe 2 weeks ago?  Still I might end up just changing to underscores, pretty frustrating though

Dave Creamer of IDEAS
Community Expert
Community Expert
January 14, 2026

It's the server. I renamed one of my files with a space. (This had nothing to do with the extension.)

image.png

Note the space substitute. Google "%20 in file names on web". Lots of explanations. 

AI Overview (reasonably accurate for once...):

The %20 in file names on the web is a form of URL encoding that represents a space character. Web addresses, or Uniform Resource Locators (URLs), cannot contain blank spaces as they are defined as "unsafe characters" in internet standards (RFC 3986). 
David Creamer: Community Expert (ACI and ACE 1995-2023)