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"This is not a valid file name." error message

Anonymous
2018-09-11T19:57:29+00:00

When I am in a Word Document (which I use in my laptop's OneDrive folder system), and try to "Save As", I frequently get the following error message:

This is not a valid file name.

Try one or more of the following:

* Check the path to make sure it was typed correctly.

* Select a file from the list of files and folders.

(See screenshot below.)

I know that it is not an issue with the path because I haven't changed the path. I'm just clicking Save As and saving a new version in the same folder. I'm not adding any unusual characters that aren't allowed. I'm not making the file name any longer (usually just changing a rev number, from 3 to 4, for example). If I exit Word, go to the folder, copy and paste the document, and change the name of the pasted document to whatever my desired file name was, I receive no error message. This is an extremely unwieldy work-around, however. What is happening wit this error message?

Microsoft 365 and Office | OneDrive | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2018-09-11T19:58:40+00:00

    It looks like my screenshot didn't show up correctly in the original message:

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  2. Igor Leyko 107.8K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2018-09-11T22:41:46+00:00

    Hi,

    what a name you are assigning to file? Where you try to save it?

    2 people found this answer helpful.
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  3. Anonymous
    2018-09-12T00:24:05+00:00

    Hi CariBP11,

    The special characters are not accepted by Word when they are in filename and file path. You may check the file path(Right click the file > Properties) and see if one of the following is in the path: > / | \ :

    May I ask what if you save the file in another location? Such as a different folder or different hard drive.

    If you are saving it to an Online location, we suggest you use OneDrive and Office Autosave, refer this: What is AutoSave? And it will save the version history for you and you can always restore the version you like. Restore a previous version of a file in OneDrive.

    Regards,

    Alex

    1 person found this answer helpful.
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  4. Anonymous
    2018-09-14T23:50:47+00:00

    Hi CariBP11,

    Haven't heard from you for a while. Does this issue still persist?  If you still need support, just post back anytime at your convenience.

    Best regards,

    Alex

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  5. Anonymous
    2019-05-22T15:51:38+00:00

    Hi Alex,

    I have this same issue.  There are no illegal characters in the actual file name, but the error message does show the  "%" character.

    I only receive this error when I try to save it to a different folder.  If I save it to the same folder, no error message. Autosave is on. The file path length is also not an issue.

    Regards,

    Joel

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