How to Show File Extensions in the Files App on iPhone and iPad

If you have iOS 16.0 or later, you can tell Apple's Files app to show file extensions for items in the folder you are looking at. Read on to find out how to do it.

Since iOS 11, Apple's Files app makes it easier to manage files on an iPhone or iPad. It gives you access to the files on your device and in iCloud. It also gives you access to files in OneDrive or Dropbox, which are third-party services that work with the app.

Up until recently, the only problem with the Files app was that it couldn't show file extensions. (For people who don't know what extensions are, they are the last parts of filenames that apps add. When you see something like "document.docx," for example, the.docx extension tells the computer and the user what the file is and how to open it.

All of that changed when iOS 16 came out, though, and Apple quietly added a way to show file extensions in the folder window. The steps below show you how to turn it on.

1. In the Files app, navigate to a folder.
2. On ‌iPhone‌, tap the encircled ellipsis (three dots) button in the top-right corner of the screen. On ‌iPad‌, tap the icon made up of four small squares.
3. Select > View Options at the bottom of the dropdown menu.
4. Choose Show All Extensions.

That's the end of the story. All of the file extensions for the files in the current folder will now be shown. To go back, just deselect the same option in the submenu View Options.