Originally posted March 21, 2010 by Cindy O'Neal
What do file extensions have to do with your Kindle? A lot! If you can't see the file extensions, you won't know if it is a .mobi, .txt, .prc, or .azw file - all file extensions for files that can be used directly on your Kindle without any conversion. I have no idea why the brains who invented the operating systems for Macs and PCs decided to not show file extensions as the default settings for both systems - like we're to stupid to have that information? I call it the Adult View. It is a great tool to have in your arsenal... knowledge.
You can choose to show or hide file name extensions in Mac OS X (Leopard and Snow Leopard). It is one of the things I really liked about the new Mac. Before they have always made file extensions such a mystery for users. I have always (as a pc user) depended on file name extensions as a tool to help figure out what kind of file I was dealing with.
A file extension consists of a dot (.) followed by several letters that identifies the type of file. The extension may determine which application opens the file. File extensions are usually hidden in Mac OS X, but you can show them.
To show the extension of a single file, select it and choose Show Info from the File menu. Choose Name & Extension from the pop-up menu and uncheck the "Hide extension" checkbox. To show the extension for all files, click the word Finder at the top of your main screen (top left). Click the word Preferences, then click the Advanced tab when the Finder Preferences pane appears. Click in the box to the left of the words Show all filename extensions so there is a check in it. Quit the Finder Preferences pane and you are done.
Now you too, will have the adult view for your files.
