File extensions are a convenient way to know what kind of documents you store on your computer. Knowing what a document’s file extension is will help you choose the best program to open it. It’s also important to recognize executable files so you can avoid potential malware. Here is how to show file extensions on Windows 10.
Show File Extensions Windows 10 Guide
It’s a feature you can access from any file explorer window. There are different ways to open file explorer:
- 1Use the file explorer shortcut on your taskbar.
- 2Press the Windows key and E on your keyboard.
- 3Open the start menu and look for the file explorer icon.
Once you have opened a file explorer window, look at the different tabs at the top of the window. Click on view, and look for the file name extensions option. Check the box next to this option.
File Explorer will display file extensions once you check this box. It should save your preferences and show file extensions on Windows 10 the next time you open file explorer.
There are other useful features to explore in the view tab. You can change the layout to see more information about your files.
Your default layout is probably icons. You can select details instead to see a list of your files with information about file types. Seeing file types is very useful if you have documents with extensions that you don’t recognize.
The details view will also display the size of your files and documents, as well as the date of their creation.
Finding More Information About a File
A file extension is useful if you recognize it. You probably know that doc or docs files are Word documents and that the jpg extension indicates that a file is an image.
There are hundreds of different extensions. If you run into one that you don’t recognize, right-click on the file and look for properties at the bottom of the menu that opens.
Click on Property to open a window with more details about the file. This window will show the full name of the file as well as its file type. You should see a description of the file type followed by the extension in parenthesis.
Under the file name, you will find a field labeled opens with. This field indicates the preferred program to open this file type. If you click on change, you can look for a different program and set it as your default program to open this type of file.
There are different tabs at the top of this properties window. Click on the Details tab if you want to find more information about the file. The information depends on the type of file, but you should be able to see who created the file and see recent edits.
Using the file explorer menu is a simple way to show file extensions on Windows 10. We recommend that you enable this option to identify your files and documents.