Restrictions and Limitations with regards to Sharepoint-Teams with regards to File-Folder Names

Restrictions and Limitations with regards to Sharepoint-Teams with regards to File-Folder Names

Restrictions 

Here are some restrictions with regards to Sharepoint/Teams/OneDrive 

Invalid Characters 

Certain characters have special meanings when used in file names in OneDrive, SharePoint, Windows and macOS, such as "*" for wildcards, and "\" in file name paths. If a file or folder you’re trying to upload to OneDrive contains any of the characters listed below, it may prevent files and folders from syncing. Rename the file or folder to remove these characters before you upload it. 

Characters that aren't allowed in file and folder names in OneDrive for home, OneDrive for work or school and SharePoint in Microsoft 365 

 

" * : < > ? / \ | 

(Leading and trailing spaces in file or folder names also aren't allowed.) 

 

Notes: 

  • To rename a file or folder in Windows, select it and press F2. To rename a file or folder on a Mac, select it and press the 'return' key.  

  • Some organizations don't yet support # and % in names. If you're a global admin or SharePoint admin in Microsoft 365, see Enabling # and % Support on the SharePoint blog to learn how to allow these characters. 

  • For Office desktop win32 apps: If you're saving an Office file via the Backstage view to a OneDrive or SharePoint folder, you won't be able to save the file if the folder name contains ; (semicolon). 

  • If you're using Office 2010, you can't use "&" in file and folder names. 

Invalid file or folder names 

These names aren't allowed for files or folders: .lock, CON, PRN, AUX, NUL, COM0 - COM9, LPT0 - LPT9, _vti_, desktop.ini, any filename starting with ~$. 

Notes: 

  • "_vti_" cannot appear anywhere in a file name 

  • "formsisn't supported when the folder is at the root level for a library. 

  • You can’t create a folder name in SharePoint that begins with a tilde (~). 

Limitations 

Here are some of the limitations that need to be observed: 

File name and path lengths 

Different apps and Office versions have different limits, and the combination of limitations may be unique to your setup. 

The entire decoded file path, including the file name, can't contain more than 400 characters for OneDrive, OneDrive for work or school and SharePoint in Microsoft 365. The limit applies to the combination of the folder path and file name after decoding.  

In addition to the above, if files are synced to a PC or Mac, the following limitations apply: 

  • Each segment of the path (a segment is a file name or folder name like “Promotion” or “Some File.xlsx” in the examples above) can't be more than 255 characters due to operating system limitations. 

  • The length of the OneDrive root folder (e.g. C:\users\meganb\OneDrive - Contoso) + the relative path of the file (up to 400 chars) cannot be more than 520 characters. 

SharePoint Server versions only support up to 260 characters for file and path lengths, Microsoft Excel and older Office version have a lower limit, see KB 326039 for details. 

If you exceed any limits, you'll receive an error message. 

Number of items that can be synced or copied 

Although SharePoint can store 30 million documents per library, for optimum performance we recommend syncing no more than 300,000 files across all document libraries. Performance issues can occur if you have 300,000 items or more across all libraries that you are syncing, even if you are not syncing all items within those libraries. 

Notes: 

  • If you are uploading, downloading, or moving a large number of files at once, you may need to wait an extended period of time before the sync process can complete. The desktop app showing “syncing” icon or displaying "processing changes" during this period is not necessarily an indication of a problem. You can always click the OneDrive taskbar icon to see the status of content that is in the process of syncing. To help reduce sync times, we recommend reviewing and possibly modifying your bandwidth settings before starting your upload or download. You can also read how to Choose which OneDrive folders to sync to your computer. 

  • There are other SharePoint limits on viewing a document library using the web that may affect how you structure your files in OneDrive. 

File Sizes 

Each file you upload can be up to 15GB in size.  Those numbers are not uncommon when dealing with large architectural drawings, geospatial mappings, or creative files. 

Number of Files/Folders in a Folder/Directory 

Today, the limits in SharePoint Online are quite high, allowing you to store up to 30 million files and folders in a library.  In many cases, this limit will suffice for storing the files.  However, as the number of documents grows so does the time it will take to render a document library view that displays them.  Therefore, you should carefully plan out how you will view these files online.  In cases, where you expect to have over several hundred files in a single view, you should consider adopting some techniques for managing large libraries. 

When you’re migrating your files, try to break down the process into smaller batches that will be quicker to migrate and verify within a given time. 

References