Right on Bob...in the Old Windows layout it was common to never go past 8 characters...then it became 10, then 32...and now a normal window will accept much longer filenames.  It has made us Lazy about naming and we just keep typing till we make it unique and send it.  We need to lead by example for our colleagues and, use 8 or 10 or 16 max(JoeBiosketch is 12 plus ext makes 16), or as short as possible.  One of the best ways to cut the file length is still an old windows trick...use capital letters...Instead of "3.Smith_R01_Stroke_Budget_Just_12_12_2008.pdf" and when using the date always use the yymmdd format and the files will always be in the right order when you view them like this:  "SmithR01StrokeBudJust081212.pdf"  31 characters vs the original 45.

We too tell our people No special characters...err on the side of caution, it will serve you well.

-----Original Message-----
From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@hrinet.org] On Behalf Of Bob Beattie
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2009 11:34 AM
To: xxxxxx@hrinet.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] spaces in PDF file names on SF424. .

At the risk of be one answer too many, I will add that I suggest to people here, "why take a chance on failure."  First use short names, 10 characters is a safe max.  Second, are characters other than letters or numbers needed?
 Once the files are attached, nobody reads their names.  Work with the files with whatever names help you keep track of the material, but then do a final "save as" with a short alpha/numeric" name.  When doing a quick paperclip review
 of attachments, the short names are easy to check, too.  SO use names that describe the topic.  "smithfilethree"  is not a helpful name.
This failed.
"3.Smith_R01_Stroke_Budget_Just_12_12_2008.pdf"

This worked.  All 12 files in the application had to be renamed.
"budgetjust.pdf"

Bob
------------------------------
Robert Beattie
University of Michigan
xxxxxx@umich.edu   (734) 936-1283

On Jan 26, 2009, at 11:33 AM, Burchell valldejuli wrote:

The directions are pretty clear about no special characters but not specific enough to my liking for spaces in the PDF file names uploaded to SF424 applications.

Use meaningful titles for file names.
Only use standard characters in file names: A-z, 0-9, Hyphen (-), Underscore ( _ ).

To this end I tell folks not to have spaces.

Example: Joe_Biosketch or JoeBiosketch
VS.
 Joe Biosketch or Preliminary Studies

Am I being too picky? I've heard that spaces can cause problems.

Please advise

THANKS
~BURCH

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