Your perceived computing experience or anyone else's has nothing to do with why an apostrophe cannot be used in a filename. It's use is perfectly acceptable practice in all operating systems. To avoid its use simply by saying "It's safe practice" is begging the question. But I see that Sherry has chimed in and stated that she successfully linked a filename with an apostrophe which suggests that the OP was using some other symbol. If the apostrophe works, it might be that the programmers did not take shortcuts after all and apparently they follow Microsoft's recommended practices in the use of reserved characters. It would seem that your own self-defined set of safe practices (aka "for absolute safety") are more restrictive than what the real world allows in that they are smaller/different than Millennia's and others practices.
Granted, your self-defined set of filename characters would work anywhere, anytime. Telling people to use nothing but letters and numbers is perfectly good. It's what I call the dumbing down of computer knowledge. To those that read and accept that limited character set will eventually swear up and down that all other characters don't work at all. And I think that's where we're at now. Using nothing but letters and numbers keeps them feeling safe. But if indeed Legacy is balking at handling filenames with an apostrophe, then it’s a bug pure and simple. What would be interesting now would be to do a torture test of all "weird" characters that are supposedly non-reserved and see what works and what doesn't within Legacy. Brian in CA -----Original Message----- From: Ron Ferguson [mailto:ronfergy....@tiscali.co.uk] Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 9:59 AM To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Apostrophe in Filenames Brian, Many of us who try and answer questions on this list have been involved in computing for many years, and Legacy for at least decade. From experience we are aware of the wide range of competence of those who use Legacy, both with the program and computing in general. As a result we will always play safe when answering a question and err on the safe side rather than give an answer which may, perhaps even when using a different program - even unrelated to genealogy - lead to problems. It is a practice which certainly I will continue to use as a guide. If some users wish to ignore advice because "they know better" then fine, it's up to them. I admit that I do not always do as I suggest, but if it goes pear-shaped I generally know how to get out of the it. Ron Ferguson http://www.fergys.co.uk/ -----Original Message----- From: Brian L. Lightfoot Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 5:03 PM To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Apostrophe in Filenames It's a bug. Microsoft declares only the following characters as reserved characters: \ / : * ? " < > | Note that the apostrophe is NOT a reserved character. Therefore it is a legitimate character in the use of a windows filename. It works perfectly well on servers running a Windows, Linux, Android, and BSD operating systems. The only place in the entire galaxy that it does not work well is within Legacy. For someone to state that its use is not a recommended practice apparently means only within the confines of what the Legacy programmers allowed. With that being said and realizing that the programmers took shortcuts means that you may need to work within their system of practices. Brian in CA -----Original Message----- From: Bobby Johnson [mailto:b...@brmemc.net] Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 8:31 AM To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: RE: [LegacyUG] Apostrophe in Filenames Thanks Ron. I appreciate your view. Here is what I don't like about not using the proper spelling of a name. It requires you to remember to type it one way for this use and another for way for other uses. It begs for mistakes. I hope Legacy sees the need to fix this as well as another problem in this same area. These arrows only work when the picture or document is attached to the individual or an individual's event. If it is attached to a source detail it will not find the person using it. Yet the arrows are available unlike when the picture is not attached. Bobby -----Original Message----- From: Ron Ferguson [mailto:ronfergy....@tiscali.co.uk] Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 11:11 AM To: LegacyUserGroup@LegacyUsers.com Subject: Re: [LegacyUG] Apostrophe in Filenames Bobby, I never said that it was. What I did say was "that for absolute safety ....". One should always take into consideration that programmers may use codes, other than the ones which I quoted, in other ways, but using only the ones which I quoted is safe. "IMO" In My Opinion Ron Ferguson http://www.fergys.co.uk/ Legacy User Group guidelines: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Etiquette.asp Archived messages after Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyusers.com/ Archived messages from old mail server - before Nov. 21 2009: http://www.mail-archive.com/legacyusergroup@legacyfamilytree.com/ Online technical support: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/Help.asp Follow Legacy on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/LegacyFamilyTree) and on our blog (http://news.LegacyFamilyTree.com). To unsubscribe: http://www.LegacyFamilyTree.com/LegacyLists.asp
