7 ms·

I will never understand why "Show all filename extensions" is unchecked by default in Finder.

by pehtis 5y ago

benhurmarcel 5y ago
Unchecked by default is fine, what bothers me a lot is that it's impossible to display filename extensions on iOS/iPadOS.
Closi 5y ago
It's also unchecked in Windows by default - I suspect that in reality the concept of extensions probably confuses some users, who end up changing the extension and then struggle to work out how to open their saved files. ( I always prefer to see the extensions too though :) )
- symlinkk 5y ago
  This is an outdated mindset. Literally everyone knows the difference between .docx and .jpg in 2021.
  - inb4_cancelled 5y ago
    You're living in a beautiful bubble.
- setr 5y ago
  Windows gives you a big warning when you change the extension, which seems to me both sufficient and better than hiding the extension altogether (which, like URL hiding, is a fairly dangerous and largely unnecessary convenience)
  - judge2020 5y ago
    I've learned to never underestimate users' ability to shoot themselves in the foot. People will click through any popup dialogue which might suggest that their decision to perform an action was wrong.
    - FridayoLeary 5y ago
      because most of them are clearly fearmongering by ms, apple et al, scaring you into staying subscribed to their particular product. If they abuse their own warning systems, why should we respect them?
  - djxfade 5y ago
    It works exactly the same way in macOS Finder as in Windows Explorer. Extensions are hidden by default. You can enable to show extensions (either by individual file, or globally). If a file has it's extension shown, you will get a confirmation prompt warning you of the consequences by changing the file extension.
  - vbezhenar 5y ago
    Users are well-trained to ignore warnings.
  - davemp 5y ago
    Like browsers, file navigation UIs could also just grey out the file extension.
  - dataflow 5y ago
    The warning is a massive inconvenience. It reverts the file name if you cancel, so if you spent any effort on the new name, it will be wasted. Moreover, people often expect to change the file type by changing the name, and they get confused when it doesn't work (or it works for them in some case and they expect it will work here too). Lastly, users often don't read error messages, let alone understand them ("file extension" is hardly an easy concept...), so it's not necessarily helpful to them. Really, the number of cases where you'd need to change a file extension are so small compared to when you don't that I completely understand why they made this choice. It's imperfect, but I don't know of a better solution.
- ziml77 5y ago
  Isn't it also confusing for the average user when they end up with identical looking files? I didn't realize that macOS had per-file extension hiding until I synced some images over from my iPad. I ended up with files that I couldn't tell apart at a glance because they had the same name but were different image file types. I'm now torn if I actually want to force all extensions to show because I think showing applications as "Foo.app" is ugly (I know, it's a stupid reason to dislike the option...)
  - dannyw 5y ago
    Nothing stops you from putting the same label on multiple boxes in real life.
elliekelly 5y ago
Is there any way to turn this off only for applications? Or even just in the applications directory? I find it irrationally annoying that everything in the applications folder shows the ".app" extension.
- floatingatoll 5y ago
  If you use the dashboard app switcher (iirc the F3 or F4 key), it hides .app in that list, it has a search field and I believe it accepts drag-and-drops. That’s not exactly an answer to your question, but there’s a chance it’s an acceptable solution, so duly noted.
  - lostgame 5y ago
    It's F4 on my MacBook Pro 2018 Catalina. :)
boomboomsubban 5y ago
Genuine question, does MacOS actually care about file extensions? I would guess not, though there are probably some compatibility features that will do things if they are there.
- trissylegs 5y ago
  Yes. Take a JPEG with extension. It opens fine. Get a file with .jfif macOS doesn't know what the hell it is. Same file format, weird extension. (For some reason twitter was saving files as .jfif for a while)
- bigbizisverywyz 5y ago
  OSX does care, but classic Mac OS didn't used to. It had a separate resource fork that described what the file was, and after that you could name it anything you liked.
- bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
  I was under the impression that unless a file contains some other metadata (most don't), that the extension is the way the OS chooses which app to use to open it.
  - boomboomsubban 5y ago
    Unix-based has almost always used internal metadata, and the "dot" is just another character. I thought Windows was unique in relying on the suffixes, but Wikipedia suggests MacOS inherited some form from NextSTEP.
    - spijdar 5y ago
      "Unix" OSes in my experience simply don't (universally) have a way to "open this file in the correct application". It's a foreign concept. Files are just sequences of bytes, and file paths are just addresses to those bytes. The file extensions are, then, purely for the sake of the user, as there is no (standard) way to store file metadata. There are specific filesystems with these metadata extensions, but otherwise, you need to resort to commands like file and libmagic for heuristics on determining file-type. Or just use the file suffix, which is AFAIK what all the mainstream Linux desktop environments do, through Freedesktop's MIME implementation. I don't know if it supports using metadata or file magics instead, but a quick glance shows almost every MIME definition uses file globbing. You can check this in the files located at "/usr/share/mime/application" and "/usr/share/mime/packages" on most distros. Most (all?) definitions use a "glob pattern" to match files.
jpeter 5y ago
Same on windows
spurgu 5y ago
Or how to navigate to /Users/<username>. You have to manually add it to the sidebar from Preferences.
- gempir 5y ago
  That part is so perplexing. Apple wants you to use that folder! Multiple useful things are stored in it, but you have to jump through hoops to go do it. It should be added as a favourite by default.

I will never understand why "Show all filename extensions" is unchecked by default in Finder.

by pehtis 5y ago

I will never understand why "Show all filename extensions" is unchecked by default in Finder.

Unchecked by default is fine, what bothers me a lot is that it's impossible to display filename extensions on iOS/iPadOS.

Closi 5y ago

It's also unchecked in Windows by default - I suspect that in reality the concept of extensions probably confuses some users, who end up changing the extension and then struggle to work out how to open their saved files. ( I always prefer to see the extensions too though :) )

symlinkk 5y ago
This is an outdated mindset. Literally everyone knows the difference between .docx and .jpg in 2021.
- inb4_cancelled 5y ago
  You're living in a beautiful bubble.
setr 5y ago
Windows gives you a big warning when you change the extension, which seems to me both sufficient and better than hiding the extension altogether (which, like URL hiding, is a fairly dangerous and largely unnecessary convenience)
- judge2020 5y ago
  I've learned to never underestimate users' ability to shoot themselves in the foot. People will click through any popup dialogue which might suggest that their decision to perform an action was wrong.
  - FridayoLeary 5y ago
    because most of them are clearly fearmongering by ms, apple et al, scaring you into staying subscribed to their particular product. If they abuse their own warning systems, why should we respect them?
- djxfade 5y ago
  It works exactly the same way in macOS Finder as in Windows Explorer. Extensions are hidden by default. You can enable to show extensions (either by individual file, or globally). If a file has it's extension shown, you will get a confirmation prompt warning you of the consequences by changing the file extension.
- vbezhenar 5y ago
  Users are well-trained to ignore warnings.
- davemp 5y ago
  Like browsers, file navigation UIs could also just grey out the file extension.
- dataflow 5y ago
  The warning is a massive inconvenience. It reverts the file name if you cancel, so if you spent any effort on the new name, it will be wasted. Moreover, people often expect to change the file type by changing the name, and they get confused when it doesn't work (or it works for them in some case and they expect it will work here too). Lastly, users often don't read error messages, let alone understand them ("file extension" is hardly an easy concept...), so it's not necessarily helpful to them. Really, the number of cases where you'd need to change a file extension are so small compared to when you don't that I completely understand why they made this choice. It's imperfect, but I don't know of a better solution.
ziml77 5y ago
Isn't it also confusing for the average user when they end up with identical looking files? I didn't realize that macOS had per-file extension hiding until I synced some images over from my iPad. I ended up with files that I couldn't tell apart at a glance because they had the same name but were different image file types. I'm now torn if I actually want to force all extensions to show because I think showing applications as "Foo.app" is ugly (I know, it's a stupid reason to dislike the option...)
- dannyw 5y ago
  Nothing stops you from putting the same label on multiple boxes in real life.

elliekelly 5y ago

Is there any way to turn this off only for applications? Or even just in the applications directory? I find it irrationally annoying that everything in the applications folder shows the ".app" extension.

floatingatoll 5y ago
If you use the dashboard app switcher (iirc the F3 or F4 key), it hides .app in that list, it has a search field and I believe it accepts drag-and-drops. That’s not exactly an answer to your question, but there’s a chance it’s an acceptable solution, so duly noted.
- lostgame 5y ago
  It's F4 on my MacBook Pro 2018 Catalina. :)

boomboomsubban 5y ago

Genuine question, does MacOS actually care about file extensions? I would guess not, though there are probably some compatibility features that will do things if they are there.

trissylegs 5y ago
Yes. Take a JPEG with extension. It opens fine. Get a file with .jfif macOS doesn't know what the hell it is. Same file format, weird extension. (For some reason twitter was saving files as .jfif for a while)
bigbizisverywyz 5y ago
OSX does care, but classic Mac OS didn't used to. It had a separate resource fork that described what the file was, and after that you could name it anything you liked.
bobbylarrybobby 5y ago
I was under the impression that unless a file contains some other metadata (most don't), that the extension is the way the OS chooses which app to use to open it.
- boomboomsubban 5y ago
  Unix-based has almost always used internal metadata, and the "dot" is just another character. I thought Windows was unique in relying on the suffixes, but Wikipedia suggests MacOS inherited some form from NextSTEP.
  - spijdar 5y ago
    "Unix" OSes in my experience simply don't (universally) have a way to "open this file in the correct application". It's a foreign concept. Files are just sequences of bytes, and file paths are just addresses to those bytes. The file extensions are, then, purely for the sake of the user, as there is no (standard) way to store file metadata. There are specific filesystems with these metadata extensions, but otherwise, you need to resort to commands like file and libmagic for heuristics on determining file-type. Or just use the file suffix, which is AFAIK what all the mainstream Linux desktop environments do, through Freedesktop's MIME implementation. I don't know if it supports using metadata or file magics instead, but a quick glance shows almost every MIME definition uses file globbing. You can check this in the files located at "/usr/share/mime/application" and "/usr/share/mime/packages" on most distros. Most (all?) definitions use a "glob pattern" to match files.

jpeter 5y ago

Same on windows

spurgu 5y ago

Or how to navigate to /Users/<username>. You have to manually add it to the sidebar from Preferences.

gempir 5y ago
That part is so perplexing. Apple wants you to use that folder! Multiple useful things are stored in it, but you have to jump through hoops to go do it. It should be added as a favourite by default.