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Why can no one upload a file with this file name to SharePoint?

Hello,

A user reported a strange error to IT Support the other day and I would like to discuss how it could happen. Since then the situation has resolved itself but I'm curious :-)

Scenario

We're using a SharePoint 2013 Enterprise server

The user has Contribute access to both the site and the document library

The error only affects one file, or rather this exact file name

The user is able to upload other files to this document library

Problem

Observations

The file (at least as far as we could tell) didn't already exist

It doesn't matter if the user tries to upload using drag and drop or by clicking upload, it will still fail

It doesn't matter who tries to upload the file, it will always fail

If we change the file name to something else, it will upload correctly

It doesn't matter what the file contains (data, text, nothing, empty), if it has this specific name it will fail to upload

This file name was the only one we had issues with

Jamie McAllister

Not all characters or combinations of characters are supported. Character encoding might also be an issue in some cases.

What was the offending filename?

Here's some guidance;

http://www.collabshow.com/2012/06/04/sharepoint-2010-file-name-length-size-and-invalid-character-restrictions-and-recommendations/

Auhn

ASKER

Thanks for the reply. The file name is compliant. I can't enter the file name publicly due to company policy but it was in the format AB12345.xls. The folder contains a series of .xls documents according to orderID to the company's customers.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

Jamie McAllister

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Auhn

ASKER

It sounds like it's plausible. I went back to check the file that couldn't be uploaded and noticed when the problem was resolved that it had an upload date and time before the problem began.

I suspect a couple of users tried to upload the same file to the same location at the same time which caused an error. It's a long shot at best but that's where my mind is at right now.