Why are some characters in my filenames suddenly being 'converted'?

Rich Rauch 0

Sometime during the past couple weeks, filenames in MS Word are messed up. For years, I've named files in MS Word using commas, plus signs, etc. which, according to MS rules, is not a problem. (Those characters are prohibited in Short filenames but that's another matter.)

For example, "2025-01-12 1979, News,Birthdays,R&RHOF - FB 2502 Hrs1+4.docx" appears as "2025-01-12 1979^J News^JBirthdays^JR^0RHOF - FB 2502 Hrs1^M4.docx" in the MS Word title bar (and--sometimes?--in Windows Explorer as well).

I can only guess it was introduced by some update to Windows or Microsoft 365. Is this a known issue? I didn't find anything relevant in my search.

[Also, how am I supposed to "select up to 5 tags to describe your question" when there are so few tags to select from, e.g. nothing related to file names or Explorer??]

Emi Zhang-MSFT 26,926 Reputation points Microsoft Vendor

2025-01-14T08:44:24.5766667+00:00

Hi,

What are the specific version numbers of Office and Windows that you are using now?

Where are the files stored?

Does this also occur if I create a new file?
Rich Rauch 0 Reputation points

2025-01-14T16:13:03.4433333+00:00

I'm using Microsoft 365 (Word says it's Version 2411) & Windows 11 Pro, Version 10.0.22631.

These files are stored on my SSD & OneDrive.

This occurs when creating new files.
Rich Rauch 0 Reputation points

2025-01-14T16:52:38.3566667+00:00

[see above]
Viorel 118.9K Reputation points

2025-01-15T00:55:28.81+00:00
See also the “Automatic file naming in Microsoft 365 apps” section:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/why-has-my-filename-changed-f14307b4-e9ff-4cd9-be79-9524bb323744

However, it does not include the technical justifications.

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