The BEST File Manager for Windows
Works with and greatly enhances:
Windows 11, 10
Windows 8, 7, Vista, XP
Servers 2003 and later
Starting at just $50 for home use and $69 for a business license (and a business two-pack for just $99!)
Major new tools, significant upgrades to current components and faster folder listings.
See the V4 preview here.
A May 2017 Microsft security update for Windows 10 conflicted with a major routine in FileBoss resulting in FileBoss not starting on some Windows 10 systems.
Versions V3.101 and later, fix the problem. You can read more about this at the page
Windows Creators Conflict.
Please note that this docmentation applies to FileBoss V4 which will be released in September/October 2021
Apple Mac (iOS) computers and all operating systems derived from Unix allow a number of characters in filenames that the Windows world considers to be illegal (these characters are listed in the table below).
In addition files with these names can be stored on Windows computer systemss, NAS systems and other storage media that can be accessed by both Windows and other computer systems creating a real headache for System Administrators and Windows users who will see strange characters (typically a dot or a question mark) for every character Windows considers illegal.
The following characters are not legal for filenames in Windows:
" * ? \ / < > |
In addition the space and period characters can be at the end of a name on the other systems but not in Windows.
Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 and later. That includes Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 and 10. Both 32- and 64-bit versions of those operating systems are supported.
Most Network Attached Storage devices and other modern storage devices support the extended character set for filenames. If the device supports the names so will FileBoss when running under an appropriate version of Windows (listed above).
Most modern, significant applications can open and save documents that have iOS/nix characters in the filenames (though you won't be able to save to a new file with Mac Characters in the filename nor easily change the current name from within the application.
Microsoft Office, Adobe products and many more will support these names. Older software and some smaller or specialty software may not. If your software can not open a file with due to illegal characters in the filename use FileBoss to fix the filename and then open it.
In the table below the Meta-names can be used in FileBoss to specify the special
characters. For example if you want to search for filenames that contain the Backslash
character you might enter *<\>* as one of the search patterns. Or if you wanted - for some really crazy reason - to end a file name with a few spaces and a question mark while editing a filename inline you might enter:
Romeo_And_Juliet II.III <?>.html
If you simply entered
Romeo_And_Juliet II.III ?.html
an error would be generated because in Windows the plain ? is not allowed in a filename.
Name |
Meta |
Char |
Description (used by Windows for) |
Backslash |
<\> |
\ |
Used by Windows to separate path elements |
Slash |
</> |
/ |
Reserved, can be used in some places as a backslash |
Asterisk |
<*> |
* |
Wild-card to match any string in searches |
Question Mark |
<?> |
? |
Wild-card to match any single character in searches |
L. Chevron |
<<> |
< |
Used internally and by DOS subsystem |
R. Chevron |
<>> |
> |
Used internally and by DOS subsystem |
Dbl. Quote |
<"> |
" |
Used to enclose parameters that contain spaces |
Bar |
<|> |
| |
Used internally and by DOS subsystem |
Trailing period |
<.> |
. |
In Windows, filenames can not end with a period |
Illegal spaces |
<is> |
illegal space |
In Windows, filenames can not begin or end with a space |