Changing the Default File Name

Hi,
Thank you very much for your tips! They are all great. As you already know.
In this tips I am haven some kind of trouble, because althoug I edit the title in the dialog box, when I save as it only uses the 8 first caracters. Let's say I want to save as "AAAAMMDD_XL_LET_", it only uses the "AAAAMMDD". I tried with "" and without and I do not found a way to solve it.
Thank you very much for your help.

José (from Spain)

Word 365 Formula How to extract text from Template File Name (constructed Excel-Formula-Style) ? until Microsoft updates for sake of Unified User Experience
https://bit.ly/3Bv9ppF
As part of Default File Name automation (w/o VBA) for Word 365, I am working around limitation of special characters . PowerPoint do not share this limitation.
Since Microsoft should have Unified User Experience, I expect this limitation to be temporary.
If Word 365 accept special characters, my first paragraph will be "0.Cover 2021 06" which PowerPoint is capable of (using Period Variant U+2024 ONE DOT LEADER ․
"0․Cover 2021 06.pdf¶" which is almost identical to human eye "0.Cover 2021 06.pdf")
Before this happens, my first paragraph will be "0句號Cover 2021 06" to be extracted from Template-File-Name.
When Word accept special characters, all End-User need to do is change Template-File-Name to "tool.Redbook.CoverPage.Text(0.Cover 2021 06).dotx".
This frees End-User from changing formula to get FileSaveAsDialogBox to show "0.Cover 2021 06" when Word improves. He/She only needs to change Template File Name to "tool.Redbook.CoverPage.Text(0.Cover 2021 06).dotx"
How to get "0句號Cover 2021 06" from "tool.Redbook.CoverPage.Text(0句號Cover 2021 06).dotx" which is Template-File-Name ?
Details of Word Default File Name limitations:
Word 365 Default File Name using First paragraph - character - Microsoft Community

Since Microsoft Office should have Unified User Experience, since PowerPoint 365 show "0․Cover 2021 08.pdf¶" in SaveAs DialogBox, IMHO, Word should match PowerPoint?

Period Variant U+2024 ONE DOT LEADER ․
Example of 1st paragraph "0․Cover 2021 08.pdf¶" which is almost identical to human eye "0.Cover 2021 08.pdf"

Leader (typography) - WikipediaLeader (typography) - Wikipedia
But this requires Microsoft involvement which is beyond my control..

my 2cent alternative (least disruption of code pertinent to name-output of FileSaveAs DialogBox) is to use variant of period:
Period Variant U+2024 ONE DOT LEADER ․
Example of 1st paragraph "0․Cover 2021 08.pdf¶" which is almost identical to human eye "0.Cover 2021 08.pdf"
Leader (typography) - WikipediaLeader (typography) - Wikipedia
But this requires Microsoft involvement which is beyond my control....
Is there another way?

While still aiming program-free solution, is there more info why period/comma results in truncated Name ? ;

File-SaveAs-Dialog-Box currently shows "0.docx" when 1st paragraph is "0,Cover 2021 08.pdf¶" ?

Comma is not in list of reserved characters;

Period may be problematic b/c it separate base file name from extension but not in Reserve list

Quote https://bit.ly/3kuVCII of Use of Period and Reserved Characters :

"

Use a period to separate the base file name from the extension in the name of a directory or file.

Use any character in the current code page for a name, including Unicode characters and characters in the extended character set (128–255), except for the following:

The following reserved characters:

< (less than)

> (greater than)

: (colon)

" (double quote)

/ (forward slash)

\ (backslash)

| (vertical bar or pipe)

? (question mark)

* (asterisk)

Integer value zero, sometimes referred to as the ASCII NUL character."

Please correct if wrong, quote " Word picks up the default file name from the first paragraph" means text up to first punctuation mark or Unicode Character....

For those who have to Automate w/o VBA

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/msoffice_word-mso_win10-mso_o365b/word-365-conditional-text-to-depend-on-document/d3c24b59-1718-4245-b0bd-34e909f262aa?messageId=0561fa40-7f7c-4da7-b9fc-15dca0ff5763

Thanks for very useful tip. Is it also possible Word 365 picks up the default file name from the first paragraph which includes:
⒈ period within a line ? Save As dialog box showing words preceding the period.
⒉ field-code-formulas ? Save As dialog box is showing blank NOT formula result
KR!

Haihm, what do you mean by "the name shown inside"? If you are referring to a field code that displays the name of the file, for example in a footer, then you really can't do anything about it directly, since Word will save the PDF file to look like the Word file would look if printed. Here are some work arounds you could try:
1. Edit the PDF file after you create it to change the filename text.
2. Edit the Word file to replace the field with its result (using Ctrl-Shift-F9) and then change the filename text of the result before you create the PDF.
3. Change the name of the Word file by saving it under the new name, update fields, and then save it as a PDF (however, this would still show the Word extension e.g., .docx).

Andy.

Find your file in File Explorer, select it, press F2, & change your pdf file to what you want.

I am trying to save my word as a pdf file, when I save the file for a specfic name like (CAR). Then when I open the saved PDF file, the name shown inside is default to as an example (BUS). Could you please help with that.

thanks a lot,
Haithm

Thank you Phil. That worked just fine. I am new to Word 2016 and thought it could be done as it was in Word 2007. Some things seem to be more difficult with these new "upgrades".

Can't you just go to Windows Explorer, find your file & change it's name?

When I saved the name of a file, I omitted two letters from the name.. How can I amend the File's name to include these letters?

Peter Barry

Dear Allen,

I would like to have a template file name when saving like: “Title – [Title ID] – [Report Title].docs”

If we set the “Title” in the document property, it only shows “Title”. Do you know if there is a way to use special characters and space in Title & set it as default file name when saving, except using macros?

Appreciate your help.

Beset Regards,
Jean

Thanks for this, however it doesn't work. The default name given to the file gets chopped off at the first non-alphanumeric character.

So when I have set the document Title to be:

[DATE]-Incident-Report-[PM-NAME]

in fact when I click 'Save As', I see

[DATE].docx

Does anyone know a way around this? Can the 'Save As' button have a Macro attached to it which will insert a filename into the Save As dialog box?

Thanks for any help.

Stephen

well done - many thanks

Hello

I have another issue : my Word doesn't use the title/first paragraph of my documents as the suggested file name in the Save As dialog box...

By default, my Word (from office 365) suggests me the document number "DocumentXX"

I would like it to use the title of my document by default.

Do you know how I could fix this ? (I use Office 365)

Thank you and happy thanksgiving !
Jeff from France

Take a look at the macro at:
http://word.tips.net/T000964_Changing_the_Default_File_Name.html

Thanks for this tip. Unfortunately, it seems that this only works if the file name have only letters, cutting the file name at the first special character ("_", "-" and others), characters that can really be used in files names!

This can also be done in Windows Explorer (and the template doesn't have to be open). Just right-click on the document, choose Properties, and insert the new default name in the Title field of the Details tab.

I'm new to WordTips and have enjoyed getting in touch with folks who are like-minded (i.e., worker smarter, not harder)!