Solved: The conversion of the project failed. The specified path, file name, or both are too long

Question

Hi All,

I’m sharing this in case anybody else has run into this error.

I ran into this error when I tried to do a Convert Project in 7.6:

“The conversion of the project failed. The specified path, file name, or both are too long. The fully qualified file name must be less than 260 characters, and the directory name must be less than 248 characters.”

Paratext Support (thanks Steve White!) suggested I migrate the current project to PT8 and then try Convert Project again. It worked! He also suggested I could skip registering the current project (because I was going to change the short
name immediately after migration) by doing this:

1. In Paratext 8 on Tools > Options, turn off Internet use.

2. Now select the Paratext 7 project to migrate. Ignore the warning about not connecting to the registry, and proceed with the migration.

3. Run the Convert Project tool in Paratext 8 to change the project name.

4. Turn on Internet access in Paratext 8 and register the renamed project from the link in Project Properties and settings.

If that seems too complicated, you can go through the process of migration in the normal way, registering the project under the name you want to change. Then run the project conversion tool to rename the project. Then register the new project
name, and then delete the migrated project under the original name, choosing the option to remove registration.

Praise God it worked! Thank you Paratext Team!

SIL+LSS+PNG

Answer 1

That was very helpful. Thanks. Conversion takes a long time in Paratext 7. I’m wondering how long it took to convert in Paratext 8? It might be worth that extra step if it saves an hour of paratext inaccessibility for me as a supporter.

Blessings Shegnada

Get Outlook for Android

Comments

If the project has many users, notes and an extensive history, conversion also takes a long time in Paratext 8, sometimes several hours, so it is often best to do it overnight.

Answer 2

I have had to do this process several times, in order to be able to change the name, or associate a BT with a project with converted name, etc. The only step that needs done with Internet access turned off is the migration of the project that needs converted (or reassociated). Once that is in Paratext 8 as an unregistered project, internet can be enabled again, and then the conversion can be done with internet enabled, if you are concerned about being offline for a while.
As an addition to this, in order to easily take a BT from Paratext 7 to Paratext 8, when the BT will be associated with a different project, the BT can be changed to a standard project in Paratext 7, Migrated offline, and then changed to a BT project type in Paratext 8, and associated with the correct project. Paratext maintains and migrates the BT file, and maintains the text status boxes thru this change.