Help / Samples / Shorten sample paths

Shorten sample paths

Fix samples whose full path is too long for Windows.

Windows cannot open a sample whose full path is longer than 260 characters. Collect All leaves such a sample behind without saying so. The screen “Shorten sample paths across your library” fixes this.

Steps

1. Open “Shorten sample paths” from the Fix tab, under “More ways to fix”.
2. Choose how close to the limit a sample must be. For example, “Broken now”, which means past 260 characters.
3. Press “Shorten these samples”. Nearfield copies them to shorter paths in your User Library.
4. Tick the projects to repair in the list at the top. Then press “Write the repointed copies”. Nearfield writes a [repaired] copy of the Set in each project you ticked.

The last step shows only for “Broken now” or “Within 20 characters of the limit”.

When it worked

The copy goes in the folder NF Shortened in your User Library. Your original packs stay where they were. Your own Sets stay as they are.

More about this

Read the guide Paths that are too long for why this happens.