Can LR Web module converting file name hyphens into underscores be disabled

Question

Hi,
I have problems when creating webpages from within LR.
First I develop the RAW files and converts them to jpegs. Under Lightroom 3 I use the following settings under "Export location":
Export to: Specific Folder
Add to This Catalog: ticked
Existing Files: Choose a new name for the exported file
This is thus native Lightroom. For existing files the new filenames are generated with a hyphen follwed by a numeric suffix. as follows: for FileName.jpg this would be FileName-2.jpg, FileName-3.jpg.
Afterwards I use the web module with the TTG Highslide Pro plugin to generate the webpages. For each image on the page there is a link to the original image to download it. It is here where a problem occurs. With the above mentioend naming convention (adding a hypen when files do already exist) there is no problem at all to display the photos nor as a tumbnail, nor in the slideshow.
When trying to download the high resolution image however a problem occurs. The file can't be found. This is due to the hyperlink pointing to filenames like FileName_2.jpg and FileName_3.jpg. As the image itself is having a hyphen followed by a numeric suffix it can't be found when the link is pointing to that file using an underscore instead.
So to me that's a little problem as I am not at the steering wheel at any of the two moments where a naming convention is applied; the automatic filename generation at time of export from Lightroom and the change of the hyphen to the underscore when generating the webpage.
Any Idea how this can be solved? Or having an underscore used by the automatic naming in Lightroom, or using the hyphen (leaving the filename as it is) when generating the webpage with the LR web module.
I posted that question already at the TTG forum and got the following respnse from Matthew: "Lightroom's Web module converts file name hyphens into underscores. It's not something I have any control over at all."
Any help would be appreciated.
Kind regards,
Patrick

Answer 1

I have the same problem in that filenames created with (for instance) photographer-place--year_month_day-filename.cr2 are exported by Lightroom 3.4.1 correctly, without change, into jpg versions, but TTG Highslide Gallery Pro (or, rather, Lightroom) forces a conversion eliminating the dashes and replacing them by underscores. TTG states on its website that this is unavoidable in the Lightroom web module, and recommends entering one's wishes in the "File Handling" tab within Lightroom Preferences.
However, my LR preferences include the standard File Name Generation option "Replace illegal file name characters with: Dashes (-)" so this would indicate that a dash is not regarded by Lightroom as illegal and therefore should be left alone. As is in fact the case on a normal export from a raw cr2 to jpg: no change in Lightroom and therefore no problem. But export via LR via TTG causes an unwanted conversion from dashes to underscores.
While searching the web I came across this old post http://thephotogeek.com/ttg-web-gallery-client-selections-lightroom/
which mentions the question as a LR2 bug.
I then exported a web gallery using LR's standard web template and here too all file names are converted from dashes to underscores, despite what is entered in LR's preferences. So my conclusion is that this remains a LR bug, and no fault of TTG.
I am delighted with TTG and couldn't do without it, but am still stuck with this issue which shouldn't need to be an issue at all, if only LR would leave things alone.