The specified file or folder name is too long

Symptoms

When trying to access a folder from Sharegate within your local File Explorer , an error is prompted stating:

The specified file or folder name is too long. The URL path for all files and folders must be 260 characters or less (and no more than 128 characters for any single file or folder name in the URL) .

Error code

Details

Sharegate can manage file and folder paths that exceeds 260 characters in length. However, Windows Explorer cannot open a folder which exceeds that length, so it will prompt this error.

Solution

There are some ways to make the Windows Explorer think the path is not too long that can be found by searching the web. Here is one of them:

Use a Symlink

A symlink (or symbolic link) is a basically a shortcut that can be used to shorten paths in order to have less total characters in the file path than the Windows Explorer limit. You can get more information about symlinks here.

If you are using Windows Vista or later, you can create symlinks by opening a Command Prompt with administrative privileges and run the command  mklink /J <link_path> <folder_path> where

• link_path is the path to create the symlink (there must not be any folder with this path, it will create the symlink with the name given)
• folder_path is the path that needs to be shortened (this path must be less than 260 characters in length)