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Dimples's avatar
Dimples
Helpful | Level 5
4 years ago
Solved

Couln't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename

Recently all of my computer with Dropbox have started showing a sync error "Couln't download. Remove incompatible characters from the filename. e.g. emojis, /\"<>:|?*"   The problem filename isn'...
desktop
Download
Error Messages
sync
  • Megan's avatar
    Megan
    2 years ago

    Hey Roy2010, no worries let me share Sam's response here as well.

     

    Hi everyone,

     

    Sharing an update on the topic: our team is working on adjusting this, and it's expected to roll out in our next Stable Build (V190).

     

    You can check our releases here, and we'll keep you informed on the progress.

     

    Thanks,

    Sam 

     

    I appreciate your patience on this, thank you!

Jay's avatar
Jay
Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
4 years ago

Hi cathstoneman, do you have an example of a file or folder name that isn't syncing from your Mac to your PC to confirm what characters are being used?

cathstoneman's avatar
cathstoneman
Explorer | Level 4
4 years ago

For example NA22-CBC-005-ES_merged.pdf

  • Jay's avatar
    Jay
    Icon for Dropbox Community Moderator rankDropbox Community Moderator
    4 years ago

    This file should sync normally, could you attach a screenshot showing the error message you're getting specifically?

  • tekfranz's avatar
    tekfranz
    New member | Level 2
    4 years ago
    For what it’s worth OneDrive runs into a similar issue, but offers to automatically rename the files in question. It seems like a utility in DropBox to do this would be simple as I just noted that direct downloads from DropBox.com remove all special symbols.

    Since these symbols are supported on Mac I am going to try A find and replace to rename from there.
  • VFRBoy's avatar
    VFRBoy
    Helpful | Level 6
    2 years ago

    so it's late 2023 and I just had to rename 9 files which have been in our Dropbox for years. Why did this come up today? 

    Anyway, we're moving to OneDrive / SharePoint which is included in out Microsoft subscription, and saving over $1,000/year by ditching Dropbox

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