The reason for this is that macOS doesn’t really use extensions the same way that Windows does (and we’ll talk about that more in the next section). RELATED: How to Make Windows Show File Extensionsįile extensions do not show up on Macs by default. In the Folder Options window, on the “View” tab, uncheck the “Hide extensions for known file types” box. In any File Explorer window, just head to View > Options > Change folder and search options. If file extensions are not showing for you in Windows, they’re easy enough to turn back on.

Without file extensions showing, it can be hard to tell whether that PDF file you’re looking at (for example) is really a PDF file and not some malicious executable file. We say fortunately because we feel showing file extensions is not only more helpful but more secure. For a while-in Windows 7, 8, and even 10-this was not true, but fortunately, they changed the default settings. RELATED: 50+ File Extensions That Are Potentially Dangerous on Windows What If I Don’t See File Extensions on My Files?īy default, Windows shows file extensions. Play it safe and don’t open files unless they come from a trusted source. Typically, these are executable files that can run certain types of code when you try to open them. It’s also important to be aware that there are file types out there that are inherently risky, and could be dangerous.

EXE: An executable format used for programs you can run.Īnd like we said, this is just a smattering of the file extensions out there.

PDF: The Portable Document Format originated by Adobe, and is used to maintain formatting in distributed documents.

HTM/HTML: The HyperText Markup Language format for creating web pages online.

PNG: Portable Network Graphics, a lossless image file format.

XLS/XLSX: A Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Word documents are now based on the XML format, hence the addition of the “X” at the end of the extension.

DOC was the original extension used for Word documents, but Microsoft changed the format when Word 2007 debuted. There are many different types of file extensions-way too many to list in an article-but here are a few examples of common file extensions you might see floating around on your computer:

Access file extension