diff --git a/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py b/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
index 1aa49ad3a31..21c305d6625 100644
--- a/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
+++ b/lib/galaxy/util/__init__.py
@@ -1067,14 +1067,19 @@ def unicodify(value, encoding=DEFAULT_ENCODING, error='replace', strip_null=Fals
     return value
 
 
-def filesystem_safe_string(s, max_len, truncation_chars='..'):
+def filesystem_safe_string(s, max_len, truncation_chars='..', strip_leading_dot=True, invalid_chars=('/',), replacement_char='_'):
     """
-    Strip leading dots, unicode null chars, replace `/` with `_`, truncate at 255 characters.
+    Strip unicode null chars, truncate at 255 characters.
+    Optionally replace additional ``invalid_chars`` with `replacement_char` .
 
-    This is probably only safe on linux / osx.
+    Defaults are probably only safe on linux / osx.
     Needs further escaping if used in shell commands
     """
-    sanitized_string = unicodify(s, strip_null=True).lstrip('.').replace('/', '_')
+    sanitized_string = unicodify(s, strip_null=True)
+    if strip_leading_dot:
+        sanitized_string = sanitized_string.lstrip('.')
+    for invalid_char in invalid_chars:
+        sanitized_string = sanitized_string.replace(invalid_char, replacement_char)
     if len(sanitized_string) > max_len:
         sanitized_string = sanitized_string[:max_len - len(truncation_chars)]
         sanitized_string = f"{sanitized_string}{truncation_chars}"
diff --git a/tools/data_export/export_remote.xml b/tools/data_export/export_remote.xml
index 4542c6f4544..c4db5529b45 100644
--- a/tools/data_export/export_remote.xml
+++ b/tools/data_export/export_remote.xml
@@ -19,7 +19,7 @@ python '$__tool_directory__/export_remote.py'
 #if $export_type.export_type_selector == "datasets_auto":
 #set $fileconfig = json.dumps([{"real_data_path": str(infile), "name": infile.name_and_ext_filesystem_safe} for infile in $infiles])
 #else
-#set $fileconfig = json.dumps([{"real_data_path": str(dataset["infile"]), "name": filesystem_safe_string(str(dataset["name"]), 255)} for dataset in $export_type.datasets])
+#set $fileconfig = json.dumps([{"real_data_path": str(dataset["infile"]), "name": filesystem_safe_string(str(dataset["name"]), 255, invalid_chars=())} for dataset in $export_type.datasets])
 #end if
 $fileconfig
         </configfile>
@@ -28,16 +28,20 @@ $fileconfig
         <conditional name="export_type">
             <param name="export_type_selector" type="select" label="What would you like to export?">
                 <option value="datasets_auto" selected="True">Datasets using their Galaxy name and extension.</option>
+                <option value="collection_auto">Dataset Collections using their name, structure and extension</option>
                 <option value="datasets_named">Datasets using specified name.</option>
                 <!-- Allow more options - e.g. HTML, collections preserving their structure... -->
             </param>
             <when value="datasets_auto">
-                <param name="infiles" type="data" format="txt,binary" multiple="true" label="Choose your datasets"/>
+                <param name="infiles" type="data" format="txt,binary" multiple="true" label="Choose your datasets" help="Datasets must have unique names"/>
+            </when>
+            <when value="collection_auto">
+                <param name="incollection" type="data_collection" format="txt,binary" label="Choose your dataset collection" help="Dataset collection will be exported. Collections will become folders and datasets will be files"/>
             </when>
             <when value="datasets_named">
                 <repeat name="datasets" title="Dataset">
                     <param type="data" name="infile" label="Input dataset" />
-                    <param type="text" name="name" label="Name">
+                    <param type="text" name="name" label="Enter file name" help="To create a file named &quot;f1.txt&quot; in directory named &quot;dir1&quot; enter &quot;dir1/f1.txt&quot;">
                         <!-- 🔥 turn off sanitizer, so unicode strings can be used. Is sanitized in configfile -->
                         <sanitizer sanitize="false"></sanitizer>
                         <validator type="length" min="1" max="255"/>