Emerson College — Information Technology

File and Folder Naming Best Practices for Bin (bin.emerson.edu)

Bin is being migrated from our NetApp storage system to a new TrueNAS platform. Certain file and folder names that technically work today can cause files to fail to copy, become invisible, or lose their permissions during this migration and during normal day-to-day use. Following the guidelines below will help ensure your files transfer smoothly and remain accessible without any interruption.

Please share this guidance with your department, course, or team as applicable.

Quick Reference: Do's and Don'ts

1. Characters That Are Never Allowed

The following characters cannot appear anywhere in a file or folder name on Bin, whether you are on Windows or Mac:

\  /  :  *  ?  "  <  >  |

• Windows and the SMB file-sharing protocol that Bin uses reserve these characters for system use.
• Attempting to create or rename a file with one of these characters will fail immediately on Windows, but files created on a Mac or via other tools can sometimes bypass this check — and then fail later when copied.

2. Reserved Names (Never Use as a Full File or Folder Name)

Windows reserves certain names for system devices, regardless of file extension. These names cannot be used as a folder name or as the base name of a file (e.g., AUX.docx is still invalid):

CON   PRN   AUX   NUL   COM1–COM9   LPT1–LPT9

• These cannot be created through normal Windows tools at all, but can arrive via Mac clients, scripts, or migrated data from other systems.
• If you find a folder or file with one of these names, rename it before it needs to be copied or migrated.

3. Trailing Spaces and Periods

Never end a file or folder name with a space or a period — for example, "Meeting Notes " or "Final Draft.". Windows Explorer automatically strips these when you save, but files created through other tools, scripts, or older Mac/Unix-based software can retain them. When that happens, the name stored on disk doesn't match what any Windows tool expects, and copy or verification tools may report the file as missing or fail to transfer it.

4. Case-Sensitive-Looking Duplicate Names

Windows and Bin's SMB shares treat names as case-insensitive, meaning "Report.docx" and "report.docx" are considered the same file. If two items with names differing only by capitalization end up in the same folder (this can happen via Mac or Linux clients, which are case-sensitive), one of them will silently overwrite the other or fail to copy — with no clear warning.

• Use a consistent, deliberate capitalization convention within a folder.
• Never rely on capitalization alone to distinguish two files or folders.

5. Path Length

Try to keep the full path — the drive, every folder in the chain, and the file name together — under 260 characters. Deeply nested folder structures with long, descriptive names at every level are the most common cause of this problem.

• Example of a risky structure: \\bin.emerson.edu\Departments\Marketing and Communications\2025-2026 Academic Year\Fall Semester Campaign Materials\Final Approved Versions\Social Media Assets\...
• Prefer shorter, clearer folder names and flatter structures where practical.
• If you encounter a "path too long" or similar error, shorten a folder name higher up in the chain rather than the file itself.

6. Special Guidance for Mac Users

Additional Mac-specific recommendations:

• Avoid saving files with Mac-only resource fork data (common with older legacy file formats) into Bin where possible — these can fail to copy cleanly to non-Apple storage systems.
• Avoid colons ( : ) in names as well, for the same underlying reason described above.
• Don't rely on the Finder's automatic handling of special characters — if a name looks unusual or uses an uncommon symbol, rename it to something simpler before saving to Bin.

7. Recommended Naming Convention

To stay safely within all of the above rules, we recommend the following simple convention:

• Use only letters, numbers, spaces, hyphens ( - ), and underscores ( _ ).
• Start and end every name with a letter or number — never a space, period, or symbol.
• Keep individual file and folder names under about 50 characters where practical.
• Use a consistent date format if dates are included, e.g., 2026-08-27 rather than 8/27/26.
• Avoid creating folder structures more than 6–8 levels deep.
• Tip: if you want a specific file or folder to always sort to the top of a listing (e.g., a "read me first" file or your most active project folder), prefix the name with an underscore, such as _Start Here or _Active Projects. This is safe under all the rules above and makes important items easy to find.

8. Examples

9. If You Run Into a Problem

If a file or folder fails to copy, appears to disappear, or shows a permissions error on Bin, it is very often related to one of the naming issues above. Please:

• Check the name against the guidance in this document and rename if needed.
• If the file appears to have vanished entirely (not just renamed), do not try to recreate it manually — contact the IT Help Desk so it can be investigated and restored correctly.
• Include the full file path and a screenshot of any error message when you contact support — this speeds up diagnosis significantly.

Questions about this guidance can be directed to Emerson College IT.