Best Practices For Avoiding Special Character Issues With Sharepoint File And Folder Names
What Are Special Characters?
Special characters are non-alphanumeric symbols that can cause issues when used in SharePoint file and folder names. They include characters like asterisks, angle brackets, curly braces, and more. When present in filenames or paths, special characters can prevent files from opening or links from working properly. They can also contribute to data corruption or loss in some cases.
There are a few common ways special characters enter SharePoint systems: they are typed directly via keyboard shortcuts, introduced through copy-paste operations from other sources, pulled from metadata when documents are uploaded, and more. These characters may not cause immediate issues, but they lurk unseen in file names and lie in wait to disrupt access and operations down the road.
Core Issues Caused by Special Characters
When present in file or folder names, special characters inflict all manner of havoc on SharePoint environments. Some of the most common and disruptive issues include:
- Inability to open, edit, save, or share documents stored in libraries
- Broken hyperlinks pointing documents, list items, and other files
- Intermittent or inconsistent access errors when clicking on files
- Risk of data corruption, loss, or deletion when names are parsed
Errors and issues caused by special characters can be difficult to diagnose and remediate. The aforementioned problems may appear suddenly and without warning before impacting multiple users or workflows. What’s worse, the underlying cause is often elusive at first glance.
Best Practices
Eliminating and safeguarding against special character issues requires vigilance, planning, and cooperation across teams. Here are best practices to consider:
- Audit existing SharePoint libraries, folders, and file names for special characters that may cause issues.
- Establish consistent naming conventions excluding special characters for all documents and objects.
- Educate users on allowable names and characters when uploading or creating new files or folders.
- Use manual escape codes to allow necessary special characters thatwill not cause issues.
Special Characters Allowlist
While most special characters pose varying degrees of risk, some may be used safely and will not impact SharePoint. Some allowable special characters include:
- Dashes: –
- Underscores: _
- Parentheses: ( )
- Periods: .
- Alphanumerics: a-z A-Z 0-9
The above characters have been tested extensively and confirmed as safe in document names, folders, URLs, and related SharePoint paths. Users should utilize these in naming conventions to avoid the need for risky special characters while still allowing full functionality.
Remediation Steps
When special character issues are uncovered in existing SharePoint environments, here are key steps to resolve them:
- Identify the problematic characters and usage in names. Check libraries, folders, files, and associated URLs.
- Rename documents, list items, folders, and other objects to eliminate special characters using allowable names.
- Point users or links to renamed content.
- Escape special characters that cannot be eliminated using coded syntax.
Renaming content to align with naming conventions is preferable, but escape codes provide a workaround for high-risk changes. Work carefully when renaming content with hyperlinks or dependencies to avoid new issues.
Summary
By understanding what constitutes special characters, where they originate, and the chaos they inflict on SharePoint systems, organizations can plan carefully and establish governance to avoid them proactively. Always search for hidden special characters, establish allowlists for naming, and educate content editors.
With the right scans, rules, and remediation steps in place, special character issues can be avoided or resolved efficiently should they appear. SharePoint administrators should tackle this threat immediately and directly in order to maximize performance and minimize disruption.
