D2L: File Will Not Upload. “Oops, your file could not be uploaded”

This article describes common reasons why a student might receive the error, “Oops, your file could not be uploaded".

Problem: My student tried to upload a document to a D2L Assignments folder.  A message appears “Oops, your file could not be uploaded”.  What does this mean?

•  The cause of the error is not always apparent.  

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Solutions: The filename, file type, or file size might be to blame.

• D2L is configured to accept or deny file uploads based on the file's characteristics.

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​​​​Reasons why this could be happening:

1. The filename contains special characters. The following characters cannot be used in the names of files that will be uploaded to D2L:

” * / : < > ? \ | –

2. The filename contains too many characters. The limit to characters in file names is 260 characters, but the best practice is to limit filenames to two or three words.
3. The filename does not contain a valid extension.  Valid file extensions include, but are not limited to ".doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx" etc...  Avoid using two consecutive periods ( .. ) in a file name.
4. 1 GB or larger files  
   1. The file may begin to upload but stop at a percentage (e.g. 50% or even 100%) in the assignment.  
   2. The message may eventually display "Oops, your file could not be uploaded".  The file will fail to upload to the screen. 
   3. Files are uploaded in 10MB chunks and times out if a 10MB chunk takes longer than two minutes to upload. 
   4. It may appear that your file is continuing to upload after two minutes, however, it is not. 
   5. If the file upload times out, students may see "Oops, your file could not be uploaded". 
   6. Students can upload large documents to their OneDrive account and submit a link in D2L Assignments.