Windows 10: Show file extension - how it works

Whether for image files, for Office documents or for applications: For many file types, the extension matters. However, this is not displayed by default in Windows 10. We show you how to display the file extension for all files.

If you want to see the file extensions in Windows 10, you can easily set this.

Office files are a good example of how important the file extension can be, such as Word documents, which can end with .doc or .docx depending on the Office version. In Windows 10, you can also easily display this important detail.

How Windows 10 shows you the file extension

To display the file extensions permanently, you can change the settings of your File Explorer in Windows.

1. Open Windows Explorer.
2. Click on "View" at the top.
3. Select "Options" on the far right, followed by "Folder and Search Options".
4. Open the "View" tab in the new window.
5. Uncheck "Hide extensions for known file types".
6. Close the window by clicking "Apply" at the bottom.
7. Alternatively, activate the "File name extensions" option under "View" in Explorer. You can find this in the "Show/Hide" area.

The new setting will be applied directly, so that all files with file extension behind the file name are displayed to you. So you can see at first glance whether, for example, an Excel file is a file of type .xls or .xlsx.

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