On Windows 10 version 1607 or later (including Windows 11) the Windows API 260 character limit for file paths can be removed. With this the application can accept long paths without any special handling.

While long path is also possible on older Windows versions with specific path pre-fixes (see PICARD-2076), having proper OS support is preferable. E.g. it also allows drag and drop of long paths working normally, this avoiding PICARD-2429.

The support for long paths needs to be explicitly enabled in the Windows registry. Picard's Windows installer could ask the user for enabling this support during the installation process.

See https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/win32/fileio/maximum-file-path-limitation?tabs=cmd#enable-long-paths-in-windows-10-version-1607-and-later for how to enable long path support.