How do I hide file extensions?

gobble gobblegobble gobble
Posted:
in macOS edited January 2014
Almost all of my files display the extension. I checked the finder preferences but the "show extension" box is already unchecked. Checking it and then unchecking it makes no difference.



Other than individually hiding the extension for each file by going into the "get info" box, how do I hide these extensions? I tried selecting a group of files and hiding the extension this way but it's not an option.



And why are the extensions displayed in the first place? I thought these sorts of things were normally hidden in OS X?

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 7
    baumanbauman Posts: 1,248member
    Try repairing permissions. Whenever something funny like this pops up, that's the first thing I would do. Hopefully that will allow you to change the setting, and make it stick.
  • Reply 2 of 7
    gobble gobblegobble gobble Posts: 615member
    Well, that didn't work. Any other ideas?
  • Reply 3 of 7
    gardenofearthlydelightsgardenofearthlydelights Posts: 963member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by gobble gobble

    Well, that didn't work. Any other ideas?



    How 'bout Finder > Preferences > turn OFF Always Show File Extensions.
  • Reply 4 of 7
    gobble gobblegobble gobble Posts: 615member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by GardenOfEarthlyDelights

    How 'bout Finder > Preferences > turn OFF Always Show File Extensions.



    You'll see from my first post that I've already tried this - repeatedly. It only works on those files were I have manually toggled off individual file extensions in the Get Info box, but not the other 99.9% of my files.
  • Reply 5 of 7
    socratessocrates Posts: 261member
    Why bother? Hidden file extensions are a bloody nightmare. You end up with files that have multiple extensions, ones that appear to have one name but actually have another, ones that claim to be one file type but have a different extension, etc.



    This seems to be the stupidest idea in the world, and we have windows to thank for it.
  • Reply 6 of 7
    havanashavanas Posts: 99member
    Quote:

    Originally posted by Socrates

    You end up with files that have multiple extensions, ones that appear to have one name but actually have another, ones that claim to be one file type but have a different extension, etc.





    True, I would never hide them.... but I do believe that Os X shows the full name (with extension) when you attempt to rename a file. So you would never end up creating a 'monkey.avi.vbs.mpg' .



    You could however be sent a file named 'racid.sit.zip' through email... when you saved that to disk it would be mislabled.
  • Reply 7 of 7
    jwilljwill Posts: 209member
    Turning "Always show file extensions" off won't turn them all off. You just have to deal with using Get Info and turning them off. I wonder if they'll put that in the next OS release...\



    I prefer to have that option off. I don't like everything with an extension on it. The only problem with this is that some files might have the same name.



    First post, by the way 8)
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