SharePoint Copy Folder action fails when "+" is in folder name

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Posted on by ToddC

I'm working to automate a process of moving a folder (with a nested folder/file structure) from one SharePoint Online site to another. It works fine unless there is a plus sign (+) in the name of the folder being copied. Error is "Failed to verify the existence of source object at..." with the path of the folder where the plus sign has been replaced with a space. This happens even if I manually replace the + character with a %2B in the source variable for the "Folder to Copy" parameter.

Anyone have any thoughts on how to overcome this or do you think it's a bug in the Copy Folder action?

Example of full error message (folder name is "Test + Test"):

{
  "status": 400,
  "message": "Failed to verify the existence of source object at 'https://xxx.sharepoint.com/sites/xxxx/Shared Documents/Test   Test' due to error 'The system cannot find the file specified. (Exception from HRESULT: 0x80070002)'.\r\nclientRequestId: 6cf65687-6fdd-41a0-8b73-b06e12e02322\r\nserviceRequestId: f44e7ca1-e0cd-7000-d45b-07b4d0aeea2e"
}
From the failed run:

Categories:

Building flows

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Nived_Nambiar 18,129 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi @ToddC

I tried to copy a folder to another folder having + in folder name - it worked fine for me

see below

Thanks & Regards,
Nived N
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ToddC 17 on at

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Nived... that's odd. I thought at first it might have had something to do with passing the parameter as a variable instead of hard-coded, but when I tested it as a hard-coded value I still get that error. I wonder what the difference is?

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Nived_Nambiar 18,129 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi,

It is working for me still when i tried simmilar parameters as yours. Do one thing- just delete the copy file action and add it again - see whether that works up ?

Thanks & Regards,
Nived N

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ToddC 17 on at

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So did some more testing and determined what the difference is:

If you use the file picker to select the specific folder with a plus in the file name, it works. If you type it in manually or use a variable to set it, it fails because it replaces the plus with a space.

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Nived_Nambiar 18,129 Super User 2025 Season 2 on at

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Hi,

ok got it, i thought that by hardcoding the path - you have selected the file using file picker option.

Then in that case - i would recommend using file identifier option as dynamic content for source folder option in copy folder action. see below

1. Used get files action to get details of folder to be copied using filter query

2. Next used apply to each loop to loop through the results as shown below

Thanks & Regards,
Nived N

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RedSnow_94 32 on at

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I had a similar issue when retrieving a list of files within a folder. I had used the function "encodeUricomponent" but still got issues. If you use the function twice however, i.e. encodeUricomponent(encodeUricomponent(file path with + in it)) it accounts for this.

Worked in my case at least, not sure if its applicable when copying folders....

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