Content reviewed and updated 15 September 2026.
A name should help people find the work
A shared naming convention reduces guesswork. Choose a short pattern your team can recognise, such as project, document type and date, then use it consistently.
Do not confuse a team convention with a Microsoft restriction. Lowercase-only names and a blanket ban on spaces are not universal SharePoint requirements.
Characters in the decoded cloud path, including the file name.
Microsoft OneDrive and SharePoint guidanceKeep names and folder paths practical.
Apps and local sync can impose additional limitsUse a pattern people understand.
Example: Project-Report-2026-09-15Limits differ across cloud, sync, operating systems and applications. Check Microsoft’s current documentation before a migration.
What to check
Choose readable names
Use meaningful terms and an agreed date format where useful.
What to check
Avoid making the file name carry every property. Library columns and views can organise information without deep nesting.
Check actual restrictions
Some characters and reserved names are not allowed.
What to check
Use Microsoft’s current list rather than an old blanket list. Support for characters can also depend on the environment and tools involved.
Test the whole workflow
A file that uploads may still encounter an application or local path constraint.
What to check
Test representative long paths with the desktop apps, sync and migration tooling your team actually uses.
Sources & further reading
Microsoft: Restrictions and limitations in OneDrive and SharePoint
Make the next step practical
Talk to ITFR about your business, priorities and the controls that fit.
