What I'm wondering is: Is it possible to use GPOs to set up a prohibition on certain characters for saved file names, so that when someone attempts to save a file to a server share, it gives them a dialog box along the lines of "That name uses invalid characters, please call it something else and try again"?
The reason I ask is we've recently started using Office 365, and our server is set up to sync our office shares folder with our SharePoint Online site, so that people can access our documents from outside the office. The problem is, the Office Uploader keeps running into files saved with invalid characters (invalid for SharePoint, anyway - things like pound sign, colon, etc). I know there was a thread about a script that can go through after the fact and truncate file names, but I'm afraid this would confuse our users, and if possible I'd like to deal with the problem preemptively. I'm pretty disappointed in SharePoint right about now.
As it stands right now, if a user saves a file with an invalid character, it won't even warn them. It'll save to the share, but simply fail to upload to the SharePoint site, and when the user goes looking for it online later, they'll be sorely disappointed.
Some more details/background: I'm the sole (volunteer) IT guy at a small nonprofit that serves adults with disabilities, both in and out of the office. We have about 13 computers (mostly laptops) with Win 8.1Enterprise and 28 or so employees. We have a Win 2012 SBS that acts as domain controller and hosts a share that's available to all employees. We have Office 365 E2 for NonProfits, and I've synced a Sharepoint library with our network share using SkyDrive Pro.
We're trying to set up an auxiliary office in the next town over so clients don't have to travel all the way to our part of the county, so it's suddenly a lot more important that we get our documents online and synced up.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd be extremely grateful! Thanks!!