How to View file extensions in OneDrive

Question

How to View file extensions in OneDrive

Gregory Trace 0

I can not find where I can change settings to see the file extensions of the files listed. It should be easy but this is a Microsoft product.

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3 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

OneDrive on the web does not provide a setting to show or hide file name extensions separately. Files are displayed with their names as stored, and the extension is simply part of the file name itself.

To verify or work with file extensions, use File Explorer on Windows where extensions can be shown or hidden:

Open File Explorer.
In Windows 11: select View > Show > File name extensions.
In Windows 10: under View, in the Show/hide group, select the File name extensions check box.

If the OneDrive folder is synced to the PC, enabling file name extensions in File Explorer will show extensions for those OneDrive files as well.

References:

Answer 2

The AI answer is ~~both incorrect and~~ nonsensical. It says "OneDrive on the web does not provide a setting to show or hide file name extensions separately. Files are displayed with their names as stored, and the extension is simply part of the file name itself." It's ~~incorrect~~ only partially correct, because ~~extensions are NOT shown in the web interface. Not. Never. Nowhere.~~ Although extensions are shown in the main window, they are NOT shown in search results. Look for yourselves. It's nonsensical because if extensions are simply part of the filenames, how is it that they appear in some displays and not in others???? File Explorer has a setting to turn their display on or off? If by some strange chance this is true in some weird sense, and File Explorer has to do some kind of fancy gyrations to suppress their display, you need to explain this to users in a way we can understand, not just feed us a line that contradicts all the understanding we've developed through years of working with MS files.

It's disgraceful that your AI can't even get a sensible answer out of your own help system, which, big as it is, is both much smaller and much more predictable than the whole of the Web which you now think it's suitable to conjure results from. This is why I will not use any of the AI features you're trying to ram down our throats. It's nowhere near ready for prime time, and the fact that you're behaving as if it is shows how much contempt you have for your customers.

Answer 3

SD - IA 180.4K Independent Advisor

Hi Gregory,

User's image

They are shown on OneDrive for web. Are you seeking help for Onedrive File Explorer?

I’m eager to hear back and work together to find a solution.

SBSBOX 25 Reputation points

2026-03-27T20:59:11.4133333+00:00

I am not the OP but when you do a search the file extensions do not show in the web interface, typical MS inconsistant behavior, programs made by programmers who actually don't use the product.
fastauntie-6570 0 Reputation points

2026-10-02T02:21:02.0733333+00:00

Second SBSBOX's comment above. I tend to use File Explorer or the OneDrive desktop app most of the time, and only go to the web interface when I want to search for something because it's so much faster. So most of what I see on the web is the search results, which don't show extensions. I think it's entirely reasonable to expect to see the same information in search results that I do in the main display. As SBSBOX says, it's evidence that MS programmers don't use their products. It certainly doesn't give me the impression that they have much respect for their customers.Rant over. Thanks to you for pointing this out, and now at least I'll know that I can go back to the main window when I need to see the filetype.