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

Question

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?

Answer 1

For people with recent issues. Check your version File > Account

If it's 2002 - it seems that a few people online are having this issue and it's prob related to a buggy update.

Kalomika & Atasam - can you check your version?

Answer 2

I have Version 2004 and this problem persists. If I save the file with a shorter file name, it saves with no problem. If I used the file name that I want to use (longer by 30 characters,) then I receive the error mentioned in this thread. However, as observed by others, if I save it in My Documents folder, I can copy it to the OneDrive folder with the long file name. This is very frustrating. 

Yes, it is absolutely tied to a Windows or Office update as this was working fine before.

Answer 3

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?

I have the same issue !  Would like to know when this is planned to be reviewed or scheduled to be fixed ?  If at all.  This also impacts Excel when writing VBA to create, amend or save files.  Everything was fine last year and then suddenly Microsoft update something and everything grinds to a halt... :-(

Answer 4

Hello All,

Your Office might not be working properly with OneDrive.

You may go to OneDrive icon on your taskbar > More > settings > Office > Uncheck 'Use Office 2016 to sync Office files that I open'.

Answer 5

Replying to bump this thread. I'm experiencing a similar issue while editing a word document. Only fix so far is to save it to the desktop, close word, and then resave the file from the desktop to the one on One Drive. 

Has anyone had any luck fixing this?