Blackboard and General File Naming Conventions

NOTE: We have encountered Blackboard problems due to files, items, and folders that have special characters and/or multiple periods in the names. Results of this practice have included lost student assignments, lost course content when copying a course to a new semester, broken links within a course, corrupted folders within a course that were not recoverable, and failed course backups at the end of each semester. This includes any files that are submitted to Blackboard such as Word or PowerPoint files. 

Blackboard File names and non-Blackboard file names should generally follow the same file naming conventions . These are only recommendations and are not required. However, even if you have successfully added files with non-standard names in the past, it’s possible that other people using different browsers, devices, and/or operating systems, won’t be able to access them.

Recommended

• Alphanumeric characters (a-z, 1-0)
• CamelCase or lower case file naming, i.e. Ch11SpeciesInSouthAmerica.pdf
• Dashes (not underscores) and not spaces to separate words, i.e. ch11-reading-assignment.pptx
• The shorter the file name, the better
• For ALL file items, only use one period (.) right before the file extension:

Correct: Ch11AudioLecture.mp4
Incorrect: Ch11AudioLecture.mp4.mp4

Not Recommended:

• Special characters, such as @, #, $, %, ^, &, *, or ? (, ) in general file names
• Special characters in Blackboard-specific files and file names, documents, items, and/or content including:
• Course menu links (left-hand side) Content Items
• Files and Folders
• Assignment and Survey Title
• Names of Links
• Discussion Forums and Threads
• Group Names
• Blackboard Column Labels
• Additionally for Blackboard-specific files, the following characters are also not recommended: spaces, commas, equal signs (if you need a space, use a a dash instead)

Examples: 

Correct: John_Wayne_assignment2.doc OR JohnWayneAssignment2.doc

Incorrect: John Wayne assignment #2.doc 

Correct:   Unit1_Project_10pts OR Unit_1_Project_10pts

Incorrect:  Unit #1 Project (10pts)

Please contact the Support Center if you have any further questions.