Where are My File Extensions?
I
recently upgraded to Windows 8. Why do files no longer include letters after a
period at the end of their names? I used to see file names that ended with .doc
and .xls, and even longer names like .docx and .xlsx. What does this
information mean, and do I need to do about this? And why do I no longer see
this part of the file name?
Back in the “old days”, operating
systems used a three-letter file extension (like .doc or .xls) to indicate to
the operating system an association between the file and the application that
you needed to run in order to work with the data file. Every different
application that handled data files needed to specify its own distinct
three-letter file name extension. For example, Microsoft Word files had a .doc
extension, and Excel files had a .xls extension. If two applications attempted
to share the same file extension for their data files, confusion was destined
to occur. (You can find a possibly too-complete list of standard file extension
associations at this site: http://whatis.techtarget.com/file-extension-list).
Operating systems for both PCs and Macs shared this functionality.
As time went on, modern operating
systems relied less and less on the file extensions, and the number of letters
allowed in the file extensions grew, and it became possible to include more
than one period in file names. (For example, a file name like
MyDataFile.this.is.my.special.data.docx is perfectly legal in current versions
of Windows.)
Although Windows and OS X handle
file extensions slightly differently, one fact is certain: In a graphical
environment, as in any modern operating system, seeing the file extension is
far less important than it once was, because both Windows Explorer and Finder
display an icon indicating the file type next to the file. In each case, you
see an icon corresponding to the default application associated with the data
file. In both Windows and OS X, you can change the default association, so that
clicking on a file with a particular file extension runs a specific program,
which might be different than the default association. (For example, you could
convince Windows to run Wordpad, rather than Microsoft Word, when you click a
.doc file.)
Most importantly, you can show or
hide file extensions on both PCs and Macs. The steps differ, based on the
particular version of the operating system. Search the web for “show file
extensions” followed by your operating system (Windows 7, or OS X 10.8, for
example), and you’ll find the instructions you need.
Finally, you asked why this changed
when you installed Windows 8? In your previous operating system had been set to
display file extensions, and by default, Windows 8 does not. You can, of
course, display them by following the online instructions (both of us are
accustomed to seeing file extensions, so always display them in every operating
system).
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