Skip to main content
S
serifina7
Participant
December 2, 2019
Question

Packaging files with periods in name, name gets cut off

  • December 2, 2019
  • 1 reply
  • 2360 views

Hi! I would appreciate your help...

 

My office uses a file naming convention that includes multiple numbers with periods between them. This seems to cause InDesign to truncate the name when packaging. I have to enter it manually in the packaging dialogue box in order to get the full name on the packaged folder. Other people in the office do not want to change from periods to hyphens. I'm curious if anyone has other workarounds for the packaging issue, which is a huge annoyance when dealing with large numbers of files.  

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    1 reply

    JonathanArias
    JonathanArias
    Legend
    December 2, 2019

    Period are only meant to go before the file type. Ex: .pdf, .jpg, and so on. Yes, if you use periods in file names you will have issues. That is a horrible system. If they don't want to change their naming system than issues and errors will not change. I am surprise you don't have other issues. 

    B
    Benjamin Richards - RRD
    Participant
    December 6, 2023

    Thanks, Jonathan—this InDesign bug has been bothering me for several years now. I'm not sure if by "horrible system" you're referring to wayward periods in filenames or to InDesign itself, but I frequently work with files that have page dimensions as part of the filename, so a filename with "8.5x11" in it is not uncommon. Still no reason for InDesign to force the user to hand-key the remainder of the filename when packaging.

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    December 6, 2023

    The horrible system is nothing to do with InDesign. Periods are among the few universal "do not use" symbols in file naming. Some platforms and systems will tolerate them, but their function as filename component separators (e.g. 'filename [dot] txt') is basic.

     

    As JA says, I am surprised your company doesn't have all kinds of file management and app incompatibility problems. There is no solution but to stop using periods in filenames, along with most other punctuation. Dashes and underscores are the only truly universal separators tolerated in file names.

      Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
      Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices