Overview
| Common Cause | Windows limits file paths to 260 characters. This limitation is defined in their documentation here. |
| Box Drive Versions Affected | All |
| Operation Systems Affected | Windows |
How Does The Behavior Present
Any file path that is over 260 characters will fail to open and result in the following error message:
Users may also experience a sudden exit out of Windows File Explorer when attempting to open files with a path greater than 259 characters.
Troubleshooting
The file path includes all folders, sub-folders, and file names. The total number of characters in this file path must be under 260 characters. A character is defined as a letter, space, or '\' that's included in the path.
- Example: "C:\Users\Username\Box\Test\Test.docx" is 36 total characters.
If you or the content owner are not able to rename any of the files or folders to shorten the overall length of the file path, the best option is to move the affected files higher up in the folder structure. Ultimately, shortening the file/folder names will allow you to stay within the Windows character limit and open the files.