Windows 8 In Depth

Turning On File Extensions

Microsoft figures that, crucial or not, the file extension concept is just too hard for new users to grasp. Therefore, right out of the box, File Explorer doesn’t display file extensions. This may not sound like a big whoop, but not being able to see the extension for each file can be downright confusing. To see why, suppose you have a folder with multiple documents that use the same primary name. This is a not uncommon scenario, but it’s also a fiendish one because it’s often difficult to tell which file is which.

Note

Not being able to recognize a JPEG or a text file isn’t a huge deal in the larger scheme of things, ...