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Windows 8 Hide and Unhide File Extensions in Windows 8/8.1

Hide and Unhide File Extensions in Windows 8/8.1

By Achilles Hill | Last Updated

Some people think that it is necessary to show the extensions for various file types (i.e. txt, doc, docx, ppt, exe…). What do you think about this opinion? If you agree to it, do you know how to unhide file extensions in Windows computer? Anyhow, this article will separately illustrate how to hide and unhide file extensions in Windows 8/8.1 computer.

Video guide on how to hide and unhide file extensions in Windows 8:

Method 1: Hide and unhide file extensions in View settings

1. Process to unhide file extensions

To apply this way, you can open Computer with Windows+E hotkeys, choose View in the Menu Bar, click Show/hide in the pop-up Ribbon interface and check the small box before File name extensions to unhide them.

select file name extensions in view

2. Procedure to hide file extensions

Compared with the process above, the only difference in this procedure is to uncheck the box before File name extensions, as shown in the following picture.

unselect file name extensions option in view

Method 2: Hide and unhide file extensions in Folder Options

1. Steps to show file extensions in Folder Options

Step 1: Open Folder Options.

For your information, two ways to open Folder Options are introduced below.

Way 1: Go to Computer, select View, click the lower part of Options item and choose Change folder and search options.

select change folder and search options in computer

Way 2: Use Windows+F hotkeys to open Search bar, select Settings, type file extension in the blank box and choose Show or hide file extensions in the left searching results.

choose Show or Hide extensions by searching

Tips: For other methods to turn on Folder Options, you can refer to How to Get to Folder Options in Windows 8/8.1.

Step 2: Enter View settings.

In the Folder Options window, click View to access its settings.

click view in folder options

Step 3: Change related setting.

In View settings, find Hide extensions for known file types, click the box before the item to deselect it and tap OK.

deselect hide extensions for known file types

2. Steps to hide file extensions in Folder Options

For the previous two steps, they are the same as the above. Thus, only the third step is described below.

Step 3: Hide file extensions in the View settings of Folder Options.

Check the box before Hide extensions for known file types to select it and click OK to confirm the modification.

click hide extensions for known file types


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