Knowledge Base

Document information

Document ID:	5253
Subject:	Leading and trailing spaces in files and folder names on Mac and Linux
Creation date:	11/28/18 3:14 PM
Last modified on:	11/28/18 3:14 PM

Leading/Trailing Spaces on Mac and Linux

Naming conventions for files and folders are bit more stricter on Windows than on Mac and Linux/Unix. For example, it is perfectly fine to have empty spaces at the end of a folder name when using a Mac. Windows, on the other hand will trim every space if it appears at the end of a file/folder name.

Consider the following example:
/Users/JohnDoe/SampleFolder /SampleFile.jpg
The folder name SampleFolder  has a trailing space at the end, which could happen if the user mistakenly presses the space bar when creating the folder. This additional, and most likely meaningless, space is retained by Mac and Linux operating systems, but not Windows.

Why Does This Matter

If you're backing up a Mac or Linux computer to a Windows machine, you will run into an error since the file names won't match.

How To Fix

Staring build 980, Syncrify Client can remove these leading/trailing spaces automatically from a Mac/Linux machine. However, this option is NOT enabled by default. Use the following steps to enable it.

• Open Syncrify Client
• Click Options under Tools on the main menu.
• Click Save button without changing anything. This ensures a fresh copy of the config file gets saved to the disk.
• Click Open Data Folder under File menu.
• Locate ClientConfig.xml and open it in any editor
• Locate the link that says:

  <autoFixSpacesInFolderNames>false</autoFixSpacesInFolderNames>

• Change its value from false to true. The line should then read:

  <autoFixSpacesInFolderNames>true</autoFixSpacesInFolderNames>

• Reopen Syncrify Client and run a backup

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