You receive a "The folder you entered does not appear to be valid" error message when you try to create a Network Place shortcut to SharePoint Portal Server 2003 or to Windows SharePoint Services (888039)

SYMPTOMS

You use Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning (WebDAV) to try to create a Network Place shortcut to a Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site or to a Microsoft Windows SharePoint Services Web site. To do this, you start the Add Network Place Wizard. When you type or paste the URL of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 location or of the Windows SharePoint Services location in the Internet or network address box of the Add Network Place Wizard, and then click Next, you receive the following error message:

The folder you entered does not appear to be valid. Please choose another.

CAUSE

This behavior occurs if the following conditions are true:

The URL of the SharePoint Portal Server 2003 portal site or of the Windows SharePoint Services Web site contains one or more spaces that are represented by "%20" (without the quotation marks).
You use the URL that contains the "%20" characters to create the Network Place shortcut.

The Network Place shortcut cannot determine whether the % characters in the URL represent a space or are part of the folder name.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, use a space character to represent a space when you create a Network Place shortcut. For example, if the URL to the server is the following:

http://ServerName/Shared%20Documents

Change the URL in the Internet or network address box of the Add Network Place Wizard so that the URL reads as follows:

http://ServerName/ Shared Documents

MORE INFORMATION

Network Places are also known sometimes as Web folders. For more information about Network Places, see the "About My Network Places and Web folders" topic in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 Help. Or, see Windows Help.