Legal filename character inconsistency

[Guest]

Windows will allow the user to create a pathname or folder name using square
brackets [], but Excel does not allow square brackets [] in a path or
filename. Therefore, a user may incorporate square brackets into their
naming conventions for folders, but Excel will not allow you to save files to
any folder that includes square brackets in the path name, even if the
filename is free of such characters. This is most likely due to the Excel
syntax for linking to other files by enclosing the reference to the outside
filename in square brackets. This creates a real problem when a user has
unsuspectingly incorporated square brackets [] into their naming conventions
for their overall Windows folder hierarchy; and there are some very good
reasons for doing so!

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http://www.microsoft.com/office/com...b09d79b&dg=microsoft.public.excel.crashesgpfs

 

[Guest]

This is a serious issue with Internet Explorer.

When clicking a link to open/save an excel document from a webpage, and
choosing the "Open" option, the default behavior of IE is to save the
document to the Temporary Internet Files folder.

The problem is that the file is saved as ****[#].xls. The [#] is usually
[1] but it is the brackets that cause the problem. In my case, attempting to
convert the opened data to a Pivot Table in excel produces an error.

The error is resolved by simply saving the document once, which
automatically converts the [#] to a (#). The parentheses around the number
are acceptable to Excel, the Brackets are not. This needs to be fixed!

 

[Guest]

Thank you for the information, Bryan. This is a new issue that we had not
experienced yet, but your problem obviously has a direct relationship to our
problem. It is most unconscionable when Microsoft fails to follow their own
naming conventions. Inevitably, such a decision leads to major problems and
frustrations for users.

I concur with you full-heartedly that this problem NEEDS TO BE FIXED! The
square brackets have some extremely useful applications as many of us have
found, including Microsoft in the case of Explorer. And Microsoft needs to
correct the problem by bringing Excel into conformity with the convention so
that it does not disrupt other legal implementations by user and developers
alike.

This is a serious issue with Internet Explorer.

When clicking a link to open/save an excel document from a webpage, and
choosing the "Open" option, the default behavior of IE is to save the
document to the Temporary Internet Files folder.

The problem is that the file is saved as ****[#].xls. The [#] is usually
[1] but it is the brackets that cause the problem. In my case, attempting to
convert the opened data to a Pivot Table in excel produces an error.

The error is resolved by simply saving the document once, which
automatically converts the [#] to a (#). The parentheses around the number
are acceptable to Excel, the Brackets are not. This needs to be fixed!

Windows will allow the user to create a pathname or folder name using square
brackets [], but Excel does not allow square brackets [] in a path or
filename. Therefore, a user may incorporate square brackets into their
naming conventions for folders, but Excel will not allow you to save files to
any folder that includes square brackets in the path name, even if the
filename is free of such characters. This is most likely due to the Excel
syntax for linking to other files by enclosing the reference to the outside
filename in square brackets. This creates a real problem when a user has
unsuspectingly incorporated square brackets [] into their naming conventions
for their overall Windows folder hierarchy; and there are some very good
reasons for doing so!