Error message when you open a Office file that has a long folder name

Symptoms

When you open specific files in Microsoft Office Excel 2007, you receive the following error message if the files are in folders that have long names: ‘.’ could not be found. Check the spelling of the file name, and verify that the file location is correct. If you are trying to open the file from your list of most recently used files on the File menu, make sure that the file has not been renamed, moved, or deleted. When you open specific files that are in folders that have long folder names in Microsoft Word 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft Access 2002, Microsoft Excel 2002, and Microsoft Outlook 2002, you receive one of the following error messages: Filename is not valid. The file could not be accessed. The path you entered, , is too long. Enter a shorter path. File Name could not be found. Check the spelling of the filename, and verify that the file location is correct.

Cause

This behavior occurs because the 2007 Office suites, Microsoft Office 2003, and Microsoft Office XP have a character limitation of 256 characters for folder names.

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