Working with files. How to change file extension

As you know, a user file consists of two parts: name and extension. The name is given by the user and, as a rule, indicates a logical relationship between the name and contents of the file. The extension, however, relates the data to a specific type and determines which program the selected file will open.

From the description, I already gave examples when you want to learn how to change the file extension. On the disk, the extension is displayed in the form of a shortened three-character mnemonic code after the point, for example, .exe or .txt - all these types of file extensions.

How to change the file extension in windows

For this simple action there is a well-known and wiped-up program "My Computer". In the default settings of this file manager, file extensions are hidden. After several simple steps, you can display and then change the file extension.

You may ask: "Why hide file attachments?" The fact is that hiding is a standard mechanism for protecting against accidental or deliberate modification of important data. By default, windows hides system files and root partition data completely and hides extensions for all other file types.

To display all the add-ons, open the "My Computer" desktop folder. You should see the Explorer window, in the menu of which there is the item "Service", the sub-item "directory properties". Click on it once with the mouse.

Then go to the "view" tab. Scrolling through the list of settings, find the option "advanced settings", at the bottom of which there is a sub-heading "hide extensions for registered files". With it you need to remove the checkbox.

Now, if you want to change the add-on, select the file to be edited and right click on it. Then select "rename". Because the extension is already viewable, you can erase it and enter a new one. The same applies to the file name.

How to change the file extension in all folders of the computer

On the "view" tab we find the "directory view" and click "apply for all directories". Now the file additions will be displayed in any opened folder, and not only in the selected folder. How to change the file extension, you already know.

Warnings and Recommendations

By changing the extension of one or more files, you thereby instructed windows to open them with a program that by default worked with this type of file. When, for example, you rename a file with the extension .doc to .bmp, and then try to open it, an error will occur. Since you just assigned this file to start with the default image editor, and the data type to open is formatted text (not graphics), and the graphics editor does not display it correctly.

Therefore, before changing the file extension, make sure your actions are correct. Especially be careful when trying to rename the system file! Random changes in it can lead to the inoperability of the operating system in the future.

File manager 7z - change the extension easily and simply

If you have the 7z archiving tool from Igor Pavlov installed on your system, you can quickly and easily modify the addition to any file. How it's done? I'll write down the points.

• Open the archiver and file manager in one person - the program 7z.
• Its window is divided for convenience into two panels. Each of them displays your current location.
• If you want to change the extension of files in a folder, just click on the file with the right button - "rename". And further all as in the conductor: we erase the old extension - we add a new one.
• Nothing to display is not necessary, all file extensions are already shown on both panels.

System files - briefly

If you encounter a file such as .sys or .dll, then most likely it's the system data. Do not try to change their extensions. These services are designed for the proper operation of windows and by default should not be changed by the user.