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How can I stop my Mac adding ".pages" to the end of file names?
- Thread starter johneaston
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Stop using Pages?
Seriously.... Whatever program you use is going to add a file extension. Some of the most commonly seen ones are .DOC for Word documents, .JPG for one type of images, .PDF for Portable Document File. etc etc
All the .PAGES means is that it is a file created by the Pages program. You can click a setting somewhere to hide all file extensions, but I think the extensions are added anyway .... they're just "invisible". You can remove the extensions, but sometimes the system then has problems opening the file since it may not know what program to use.
Hope this helps.
Seriously.... Whatever program you use is going to add a file extension. Some of the most commonly seen ones are .DOC for Word documents, .JPG for one type of images, .PDF for Portable Document File. etc etc
All the .PAGES means is that it is a file created by the Pages program. You can click a setting somewhere to hide all file extensions, but I think the extensions are added anyway .... they're just "invisible". You can remove the extensions, but sometimes the system then has problems opening the file since it may not know what program to use.
Hope this helps.
".pages" is a file extension that tells the file system that the file is (probably) an Apple Pages document.
Similarly, Word documents have a ".doc" or ".docx" extension, Excel has ".xls" or ".xlsx", etc. JPEG images are usually ".jpg". Text files are often ".txt".
The file extension serves two key purposes:
- it identifies the most likely type of document so that the OS can open it in an appropriate application
- it helps the user (you!) figure out what kind of file it is.
File extensions are an old concept that harken from the early Unix and DOS days. Mac OS "Classic" didn't need them -- instead it used the concept of "creator codes" embedded in a header attached to the file itself. However, that meant that the files weren't compatible with any other computer system. With the move to OS X came the use of file extensions again.
There is a setting in Finder to hide some file extensions from you so you don't have to see them, but it is inadvisable to actually rename a file so as to remove its extension.
Should've explained further - I've told finder to hide extensions and I've told Pages to not append .pages to files, but in about 50% of cases it still does it. So in a folder of Pages files, around half will have .pages after the name.
I wondered if I was missing something?
If I shouldn't use pages, what should I use?
I wondered if I was missing something?
If I shouldn't use pages, what should I use?
I was being a bit snarky. Your original question was just asking for non-serious answer.
Now that you've explained your situation a bit more... The only thing I can think of is to ask if there are any differences on the types of files that show the extension or not? For instance, are you creating some Pages documents on different system, and then copying them into the folder... or are you opening older documents from a different version of Pages? It's probably going to be something like that. It's unlikely that it is random. Though of course it's always possible. Wish I had more for you.... except, head over to the official Apple support forums. I've always found that there are some extremely knowledgeable people there. Never had a tough question go unanswered. Good Luck.
I am curious why you want to get rid of the extensions in the first place. It's part of the system and is an important part of naming files so the system knows what they are and what programs to use to open them.
I read this but I still wonder why to begin with? Why not just leave them alone and intact?
I read this but I still wonder why to begin with? Why not just leave them alone and intact?
I understand. I don't want to see the extensions either. So I have things set to hide them. I know that they have to be there, but I don't need to see them. It's neater if they're not visible. I think the OP's problem is that he has them set to be invisible, but some of the documents are showing the extensions.
@OP - I just had another thought. Check the names in the Finder, and look really closely. It's possible that you are getting two extensions. So for example, " MyFamilyTree.pages.pages ". The system would hide the trailing extension from view, but would leave the other one since it could be considered part of the name. This would indicate a different problem, though I think it's related to my earlier hypothesis that two different types of Pages files are being mixed. I know I have seen some files of mine do this, but only rarely... and I couldn't begin to remember what was different about them.
Hope this helps.
What does the "show info" show on one of those documents? One or two extensions? If you "show info" on the enclosing folder, what does that say regarding the extensions?