Outgoing File Naming Rules

Outgoing file name formats can be created using variables and text but all file names should follow a "safe" rule list.

Once files are uploaded to DocBoss, the media where these are stored have limitations to the allowed naming of files. There are two storage options (disk drive and S3 storage) and we use an intersection of both to be able to work with files without errors when files are submitted.

Safe characters:

Alphanumeric characters:

  • 0-9
  • a-z
  • A-Z

Special characters:

  • Exlamation point ( ! )
  • Hyphen ( - )
  • Underscore ( _ )
  • Period ( . )
  • Open parenthesis ( ( )
  • Close parenthesis ( ) )
  • Unicode characters whose UTF-8 encoding is at most 1,024 bytes long

Allowed, but not recommended:

  • Ampersand ( & )
  • Dollar ( $ )
  • 'At' symbol ( @ )
  • Equals ( = )
  • Semicolon ( ; )
  • Plus ( + )
  • Space – Significant sequences of spaces might be lost in some uses (especially multiple spaces)
  • Comma ( , )
  • Tilde ( ~ )

These characters will be supported in outgoing file names starting December 2023, though they are not recommended.

Replaced with underscore ( _ ):

The following characters are replaced with an underscore ( _ ) in outgoing file names:

Restricted on windows

  • Less Than' symbol ( < )
  • Greater Than' symbol ( > )
  • Colon ( : )
  • Quotation marks ( " )
  • Forward slash ( / )
  • Backslash ( \ )
  • Vertical bar / pipe ( | )
  • Question mark ( ? )
  • Asterisk ( * )
  • ASCII character ranges 00–1F hex (0–31 decimal) and 7F (127 decimal)

To avoid as a general rule

  • Left curly brace ( { )
  • Non-printable ASCII characters (128–255 decimal characters)
  • Caret ( ^ )
  • Right curly brace ( } )
  • Percent character ( % )
  • Grave accent / back tick ( ` )
  • Right square bracket ( ] )
  • Quotation marks ( " )
  • Left square bracket ( [ )
  • Tilde ( ~ )
  • 'Pound' character ( # )
  • Vertical bar / pipe ( | )

The tilde character ( ~ ) will be supported in outgoing file names starting December 2023, though it is not recommended.

The following articles include more details about the rules followed when creating file names and problematic characters: