SOLIDWORKS PDM Error: “Could not create folder. Cause: The file/key name was invalid.”

This article is part of a series for troubleshooting common, and perhaps not so common, SOLIDWORKS PDM error messages.

SOLIDWORKS PDM ERROR: “Could not create folder. Cause: The file/key name was invalid.”

This reported error can occur when executing a SOLIDWORKS PDM Template. The error is caused when a folder/file name being defined in the SOLIDWORKS PDM Template contains an invalid character. Later versions of SOLIDWORKS PDM will capture the invalid character, and prevent it from being used in the folder/file name

Invalid Character

If the Template was created in an earlier version of SOLIDWORKS PDM, an invalid character may exist in the folder/file name defined in the PDM Template. In this situation, a user will receive the message “Could not create folder. Cause: The file/key name was invalid.”  when executing the PDM Template. Editing the PDM Template and removing the invalid character will resolve this issue.

Invalid characters for folder/file names include:

" (Double quote)
/ \ (Forward / Back slash)
: (Colon)
? (Question mark)
* (Asterisk)
< > (Smaller / Bigger than)
| (Pipe)
and any character created when pressing the CTRL key

This error message can also occur if the folder/file name is empty.