Are spaces allowed in image names? | Community
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Katie_DenHollan
Level 3
June 23, 2015
Question

Are spaces allowed in image names?

  • June 23, 2015
  • 2 replies
  • 10349 views

I just noticed that all the images for our email template headers were uploaded with spaces in the file name. I thought I had learned that you could not have spaces in the file names in Marketo because it would break the link for the image.

However, I can't find any information on that now. Also, when I send a sample email, the header shows up just fine.

Any help is appreciated!

Thanks!

2 replies

Scott_McKeighe2
Scott_McKeighe2
Level 4
June 23, 2015

While I don't think it's explicitly forbidden, spaces in naming conventions are notoriously unreliable. If I were in your shoes, I would add simple hyphens in place of those spaces ("my-file-name.xxx") so as not to accidentally discover a problem later with a URL being mutated or broken.

All that said, it's also reasonable to stick with, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it."

    Josh_Hill13
    Josh_Hill13
    Level 10
    June 23, 2015

    Totally agree. Never, ever upload a file to marketo (or web) with spaces. Marketo is not reliably putting %20 in the space. Your URL will break and the lead will think you are a bad company.

    Always use dashes in filename before you even upload it.

      Bonnie_Jeffers2
      Bonnie_Jeffers2
      Level 3
      June 28, 2016

      Hi Josh, I totally agree with you and (wrongly) assumed our practitioners would know this about urls in general, but they don't. Do you have a not-so-technical way to explain why it's important to only upload files with hypens/underscores rather than spaces?

      Here is what I tell my users when they can't understand why something is broken and due to spaces in their file names, but I'm wondering if there's a clearer way to say it.

      "The space character is not allowed in URLs. Marketo will create one for you, but HTML cannot parse the space character.  So when someone clicks a link that contains a space, HTML replaces every space with %20.

      So if you are trying to triggering an action based on:

      Clicks Link go.epicor.com/rs/ABC-123/images/My File Has Spaces.pdf

      what you really would want to track is:

      Clicks Link go.epicor.com/rs/ABC-123/images/My%20File%20Has%20Spaces.pdf

      but don't do that either. Best practice is to upload your files with hypens or underscores such as:

      go.epicor.com/rs/ABC-123/images/My-File-Has-Spaces.pdf or go.epicor.com/rs/ABC-123/images/My_File_Has_Spaces.pdf

      Thanks for any thoughts on this.

      Srujan_Vishwana
      Srujan_Vishwana
      Level 4
      June 23, 2015

      The best practice which has worked for me is following this naming convention: My_image_name_abc_xyz

      This will not only avoid the spaces but will also hide the underscore giving it a look of not having space and still there is no link breakage. Hope this helps.

      Cheers,

      Sru

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