Article ID: 905231 - Last Review: September 22, 2011 - Revision: 8.0

Information about the characters that you cannot use in sites, folders, and files in SharePoint

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INTRODUCTION

This article lists the characters that you cannot use in SharePoint site names, folder names, server names, and file names.

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For information about underscore (_) in server names see the following article on Internet Explorer changes in Security levels.

Issues after you install updates to Internet Explorer or Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325192 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/325192)

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Site names, subsite names, or site group names

You cannot use the following characters anywhere in a site name, in a subsite name, or in a site or Active Directory group name:
- tilde (~)
- number sign (#)
- percent (%)
- ampersand (&)
- asterisk (*)
- braces ({ })
- backslash (\)
- colon (:)
- angle brackets (< >)
- question mark (?)
- slash (/)
- plus sign (+)
- pipe (|)
- quotation mark (")
You cannot start a site name, subsite name, or a site group name with an underscore (_) character or with the period character.
You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a site name, a subsite name, or a site group name.
You cannot use the period character at the end of a site name, a subsite name, or a site group name.

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Folder names

You cannot use the following characters anywhere in a folder name or a server name:
- tilde
- number sign
- percent
- ampersand
- asterisk
- braces
- backslash
- colon
- angle brackets
- question mark
- slash
- pipe
- quotation mark
You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a folder name.
You cannot use the period character at the end of a folder name.
You cannot start a folder name with the period character.

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File names

You cannot use the following characters anywhere in a file name:
- tilde
- number sign
- percent
- ampersand
- asterisk
- braces
- backslash
- colon
- angle brackets
- question mark
- slash
- pipe
- quotation mark
You cannot use the period character consecutively in the middle of a file name.
You cannot use the period character at the end of a file name.
You cannot start a file name with the period character.
In addition, file names and folder names may not end with:
- .files
- _files
- -Dateien
- _fichiers
- _bestanden
- _file
- _archivos
- -filer
- _tiedostot
- _pliki
- _soubory
- _elemei
- _ficheiros
- _arquivos
- _dosyalar
- _datoteke
- _fitxers
- _failid
- _fails
- _bylos
- _fajlovi
- _fitxategiak