Windows 10: Cannot move Documents folder to new location

Short version: I'm getting an error message when I attempt to move my Documents folder to a new location (same volume):The folder can't be moved here...The filename or extension is too long (see attachment).

Longer version: I want to move my Documents, Videos, and Pictures folders so they are subfolders of my recently installed Dropbox folder. I'm using the Properties tab from Windows Explorer to do this. I did the following:

• Created new folders called Documents, Videos, and Pictures within the Dropbox folder
• Navigated within Explorer to users/username, right clicked the folder I wanted to move, chose Properties, and selected Move, then chose the destination (newly created folder in Dropbox folder) and clicked "Apply"
• When I did this with the Videos folder, everything was fine, and the folder (and contents) were moved as expected. When selecting the Videos shortcut in the sidebar, I'm taken to the new folder, as I had hoped.
• When I did this with the Documents folder, I got the error message described above. The message appeared immediately upon clicking "Apply," without the move process actually beginning, so it doesn't feel as if this is a case of the system finding a file with a long name someplace down the folder tree.

Any help in resolving this would be appreciated.

(My apologies for the orientation of the attachment...the rotation flag must not be respected upon upload)

:)

 

Suddenly, Documents folder has moved to Downloads

We appreciate the details you've provided. To address your issue, we suggest that you follow these steps on how to move your Documents Folder Location in Windows 10:

• You need to create a new folder named Documents at the location you want to move your personal Documents folder.
• Press Win + E to open File Explorer, right-click
  Documents, and select Properties.
• Select the Location tab and click the Move button.
• Browse and select the new Documents folder at the location you want to move the folder Documents. Click the
  Select Folder.
  
• Click OK to apply.
• Click Yes to move all the files from the old location to the new location.
• Your personal Documents folder and all of its contents will now be moved to the new location.

Let us know if you need further assistance.

 

Moving the location of one quick access folder also moves another

My documents folder and music folder are somehow messed up. Whenever I move documents for example, the location of the music folder also moves and they both have the same name. Its so frustrating since I have no idea how to fix this.

Here's a screenshot of the quick access folders





So when I move the location of the documents folder, it also moves the music folder to that same location, and both folders are named "Documents".

If I move the music folder, the documents folder also moves to that location, and both folders are renamed to "Music". Its an endless loop I cannot escape

 

I found this in a search http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...175563e?auth=1

 

Thanks for the tip; this could be very helpful. However, one issue is that as far as I can see, the Long Path Fixer program does not IDENTIFY which file(s) have long path names (combination of path and file name). Since this is my document tree, there are thousands of files in hundreds of folders/subfolders, and I can't see any reasonable way to search for files that may be suffering from this issue.

Any thoughts about that?

 

I'm no tech by any means but from the searches I've found is this issue may be caused if you did not install Dropbox thru the Windows Store. Also always be sure to reboot your computer when installing or uninstalling a program so it fully sets into the registry.

 

Odd that installing via the Windows Store would be different than downloading from the Dropbox site. But I'll give this a whirl. Thanks again.

I also found a vbs script that recurses through a file tree and reports out the length of the file spec (path + name). Unfortunately, it doesn't traverse the entire tree I need but terminates with an error. Before exiting the longest file reported had a length of 241. The max seems to be 260, so the script exited before reaching any file that long, alas.

 

I was able to resolve the issue, and for the benefit of others, I will post what I did:

1. Downloaded and ran a script (from Path Length Checker - Home) that was better than the one referenced in the Microsoft thread at http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/w...175563e?auth=1). It didn't terminate with an error and ran virtually instantly.

2. Discovered from step 1 that I had about 30 files whose path lengths was over the (current) 260 character limit.

3. Moved those files out of the Documents folder tree.

4. Voil ! Relocating the Documents folder worked perfectly!

(Note that there is a Windows 10 update in beta that is reputed to repeal the 260 character limit, though apparently one will have to turn the feature on manually).

Thanks, much @letmein! Your tips led me in the right direction to find a solution, something which escaped me when I did a search myself.