# Use ":" symbol in filenames **URL:** \ **Category:** Help\ **Created:** [December 28, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911 "2024-12-28T19:09:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aasxd](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aasxd](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/aasxd)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2024, 7:09pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/1 "2024-12-28T19:09:02Z")
### What I’m trying to do Use “:” in my filenames. ### Things I have tried Filename, filename characters, allow special characters in filename… I have search everywhere. I do not know why I cannot put “:” symbol in my computer. I CAN put “:” in my filenames when I use any other application because my filesystem allows it (I am not in Windows). The only app that does not allow me to use “:” is obsidian. Please, do not tell me about the dangers of using “:” like incompatibility with Windows, I know… ---
**Author:** ![anon67005067](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/0ea827/32.png) [@anon67005067](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/anon67005067)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2024, 7:34pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/2 "2024-12-28T19:34:30Z")
Hi! I’ve stumbled upon the same issue back when I first started using Obsidian. There’s simply no other way around it and I — just like you — can’t just use another symbol. Since then, I have replaced those with similar unicodes. These are the ones I use “꞉” “⧸” “＃” I know they aren’t the exact same unicode, meaning they won’t have the same size and/or spacing in some cases, but feel free to try them out. Hope this helps, cheers! ---
**Author:** ![aasxd](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aasxd](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/aasxd)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 1:26am UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/3 "2024-12-29T01:26:13Z")
Thanks for the response. It helps knowing I am not alone… but sadly using those symbols is not useful for me because, as you say, aren’t the same, so when searching “:” the files named with the equivalent symbol don´t appear. I can´t understand why a note-taking app imposes limitations in the file naming that the file-system doesn´t have. At least there should be an option to override this limitation. ---
**Author:** ![WhiteNoise](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/whitenoise/32/11_2.png) [@WhiteNoise](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/WhiteNoise)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/4 "2024-12-29T15:20:29Z")
> [@Support any character in filenames / note title (using encoding, substitution, etc)](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/support-any-character-in-filenames-using-encoding/44984): > > Some characters aren’t supported in file names (e.g. “:”), hence in note titles. The proposal is to support them by using [percent encoding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding). Use case or problem I’d really like to use characters such as “:” in note titles but I can’t. Proposed solution Support any character in file names by using [percent encoding](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Percent-encoding) for commonly unsupported characters (“:”, “/”, "", “?”, “%”…). Platform specific character constraints on filename wouldn’t leak as constraints on note titles It would be transparent… ---
**Author:** ![rigmarole](https://forum.obsidian.md/user_avatar/forum.obsidian.md/rigmarole/32/29973_2.png) [@rigmarole](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/rigmarole)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2024, 4:13pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/5 "2024-12-29T16:13:42Z")
> [@aasxd](#): > > but sadly using those symbols is not useful for me because, as you say, aren’t the same, so when searching “:” the files named with the equivalent symbol don´t appear. This could also be related to ignoring diacritics search, which might solve that particular workaround, if it is implemented: > [@Ignore accents/diacritics in link suggestion, quick switcher, find in file and global search](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/ignore-accents-diacritics-in-link-suggestion-quick-switcher-find-in-file-and-global-search/1655): > > My native language includes diacritics / accents (see [Diacritic - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diacritic)). Would it be possible to make it so that search treats characters with diacritics as if they didn’t have them? For example, the word maximum is written as “máximo”. Sometimes I’m careful and I write correctly. Sometimes in a rush, I might be more careless and write “maximo”. In any case, it would be a reasonable expectation that when I search for either of the terms, both results would appear. This is also common in ot… ---
**Author:** ![aasxd](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/a/5f8ce5/32.png) [@aasxd](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/aasxd)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2024, 1:45pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/6 "2024-12-31T13:45:21Z")
In my case I don´t want to use percent encoding. That is useful if your filesystem doesn´t support the characters or symbols. But, in my case, I can create in my filesystem any file that contains “:” directly or with any other application (like a text editor). So that is why I don´t understand why Obsidian doesn´t have any option to override this. It makes sense to have some restrictive defaults but it doesn´t make any sense not allowing the user to choose to use symbols that its filesystem supports. A setting with a warning could be added but a complete restriction is against the user freedom, in my opinion. ---
**Author:** ![DRRO](https://forum.obsidian.md/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/d/a88e57/32.png) [@DRRO](https://forum.obsidian.md/u/DRRO)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2026, 1:06pm UTC](https://forum.obsidian.md/t/use-symbol-in-filenames/93911/7 "2026-11-11T13:06:54Z")
> [@aasxd](#): > > In my case I don´t want to use percent encoding. Neither do I. Did you find solution/workaround?