Claudine Valle called to say she received an email with an attachment that wouldn’t open.

Her problem was that the attachment was a document written with Word2010, which appends a .docx file name extension, while Claudine’s computer had an earlier version of Word (which only recognizes .doc extensions). I told Claudine to contact the file's sender and ask that it be saved as a pre-Word2007/2010 document with a traditional .doc extension before sending it to other Word users.

As an alternative, Claudine can download a free program (FileFormatConverters.exe) from Microsoft at www.microsoft.com. After installing it, users of older Word versions will be able open Word 2007/2010 documents by clicking File>Open and choosing "Word 2007 or Word 2010" under "Files of Type."

If all this sounds a little confusing, let me break it down, since it’s an issue I’ve been receiving lots and lots of questions about.

All Files on Windows-based PCs Have Extensions Added to Their Names

These extensions tell us what kinds of files they are. For instance, digital camera photos normally have the extension jpg appended to their file names (such as Image001.jpg). A musical file might be named Stardust.mp3 and a video might be named SummerFun.wmv. Microsoft Word documents have traditionally been identified with a .doc extension.

Well, Word 2007 and Word 2010 documents have a default extension of .docx and can only be opened by those who also have Word 2007 or Word 2010 (or the above-mentioned converter) on their PCs. However, someone creating a document in Word 2007 or Word 2010 can opt to save the file in a “Word 97-2003” format, complete with the older .DOC extension. Such a document can then be opened by anyone using Word 97, 2000, 2002, 2003, and even 2007.

Microsoft's Maddening Hide Extensions Mystery

Having explained all this, however, there still remains a fundamental problem with all versions of Windows that makes much of the above difficult to understand:

Most Windows users do NOT SEE ANY EXTENSIONS to the file names on their computers.

Why? Microsoft has hidden them.

Why? I haven’t a clue.

But here’s how to make them visible:

Double-click any Desktop folder (such as My Documents) to open it. Then click on Tools>Folder Options>View. There you will see a list of options with check boxes. Most of these boxes are best left unchanged — except for one.

The 11th line reads "Hide Extensions for Known File Types" and has its box checked. Well, we do not want these extensions hidden, so click the box to uncheck it and then click OK. Henceforth all file name extensions will be displayed.

Getting back to Claudine’s problem, Microsoft’s inexplicable "Hide Extensions" option made it more difficult to solve than it should have been.

Here’s why: If you’ve ever received a file that came as an email attachment, and that wouldn’t open when you double-clicked it, you likely saw the following error message: "This file does not have a program associated with it for performing this action."

As an example, if someone sends you a PowerPoint file (with a .PPS extension) and you don’t have PowerPoint on your PC, you will get the above message.

Well, if Claudine’s computer had been set to show file name extensions (as explained above) her Word version conflict would have been much easier to spot and resolve.

Questions or comments can be sent to: ComputerTutorTeam@gmail.com

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