OneDrive is Microsoft’s consumer cloud storage platform where users can save almost whatever they like. One would suspect its primarily used to save photos and documents. Apparently, saving Word documents to OneDrive can be a problem at times, and well, it’s annoying, to say the least.
Seemingly, when users attempt to save Word documents on OneDrive, they are quickly greeted with an error message that says, “This is not a valid file name“. This only happens when the file is opened from within OneDrive for saving in a different folder. Whenever the file is saved in the same folder, everything works just fine. So, as it stands, then, the issue is only showing its ugly head when attempts are made to save the files in a separate folder.
OneDrive not saving Word documents
Fixing this issue will not take very long to be honest. Just follow the steps correctly, and everything should return to normal in no time. Bear in mind that since you’re using OneDrive, an internet connection is required at all times.
This is not a valid file name
From what we’ve gathered, the reason behind the inability to save documents has much to do with the 259-character limitation when creating and saving files where Office products are concerned.
There’s a workaround for this, and as such, we’re going to discuss that in detail right now.
1] Rename the file to a shorter name
To do this, right-click on the file then select Rename from the menu. After that, simply type in the new name then hit the Enter button on your keyboard to complete the task.
2] Rename folders that contain the files
OK, so the same is required here. Right-click on the folder then seek out Rename and make the necessary changes. Hit the Enter key and move on from there.
3] Move the file to a folder with a shorter path
When it comes down to movie files from within OneDrive, its not the same when compared to doing it locally on a Windows 10 machine. Users will be required to right-click, then select the option that says Move to.
Finally, seek out the folder for accepting the move, select it, then click on the button that says Move to complete the action.
4] Make the changes from within the document
The next option right now is to open the document, then make the name change from there. Finally, hit the File tab, select Save As, and then seek out the right folder before hitting the Enter key.
Further reading: Cannot save files in the OneDrive folder.
