What Is a File Name Extension in Windows XP?

Viewing videos requires the latest version of Adobe's Flash Player.
Get the latest Flash player.
Showing 1-5

Part of the video series: Microsoft Windows Tutorials

Summary: File name extensions let you know what type of file you are dealing with in Windows, get an operating system tutorial in this free video.

Views: 2,774 | Tags: training, class, keyboard, drive, course, computer, windows, system, intermediate, hard, microsoft, computers, mouse


About the Expert

Ross Safronoff Ross Safronoff started using a two piece VHS camera system, and then progressed to a 8mm camcorder, then Hi-8, followed by a mini-DV, and finally a Digital8. ... read more

Conversations About This Video

  • Comments
    (0 comments)
  • Questions & Answers
    (0 questions) (0 answers)
Be the first to comment on this video.
Have a question about this video topic? Ask our community members and let them share their knowledge with you!
Ask A Question

Video Transcript

What Is a File Name Extension in Windows XP?

Hi! I’m Ross. Thanks for coming to expertvillage.com, let’s begin. File name extensions, I recommend that you show them. What happens if you don’t, it can become very confusing. Right here, you’ll see business budget. It states it’s a text document. Let’s say I want to go ahead and rename this. I’m going to right click, go down to rename, and I want to say doc, which would be typically a Microsoft Word document. It still shows this text icon and still says text document. That’s because…I’m going to right click, and go down to properties. Since this is a text document, I’m going to change. It’s going to show its a real file name, business budget.doc. text. In windows, the characters after the last dot determines its relationship to the program that it uses to run, and hence the icon that shows up with it. This is hidden, and typically used if you do not show extensions. So I would show the extensions. To do that, you simply go up to tools, folder options, view, and you go down to where it says hide extension of known file types. No we do not want to do that, and click OK. Now, the extensions show up. Before, these did not show the .txt, which means it’s a text document using notepad. You can see here this one does show its full name now, business budget. doc. text.

Operating Systems Ads

Community Members who...

  • Favorited this Video
  • Rated This Video

Check out what people are watching now
left_arrow right_arrow