.pages and .numbers filename extensions cannot be hidden since macOS 15.4

I think I understand what is happening with the issue. When a change is made to a file, it is synchronized to iCloud, and during this process, the file extension is temporarily unmasked (for some reason), then masked again. The same thing happens when you copy or move a file to an iCloud location, and we can see the file extension appearing for a short time, then disappearing. The last step (re-mask the file extension) seems to be omitted in the synchronize process for a file change. Maybe the re-mask is not omitted, but is called too soon and the action does not happen, this is just an idea.

Note that when copying or moving a file to a local folder, we don't see that process with the file extension appearing and disappearing. Just try in both locations, you will see what I mean.

A hidden file extension is a file extended attribute. If a Pages document has previously had its extension hidden via the Get Info panel, (or an AppleScript) then opening and saving the document in Pages should retain its hidden extension status. New Pages documents will show their extensions upon saving.

Luis, for me, it happens only on iCloud locations, and doesn't on local folders.

I also observed .pdf extensions appearing, as Di2721 is mentioning, but I did not really pay attention to them, because they are the exceptions that I turn intentionally the extension visible.

For some time today, I thought that files created by Pages or Numbers and saved without the file extension, would remain like that. It seemed to work first, for several minutes, maybe an hour, but the hidden extension showed up eventually.

However, I have some files that seem to be fixed for good. For those, the file extension has remained hidden after I checked the "Mask extension" from the Get info from the Finder, using my second Mac (MacBook Pro). Note that the trick does not always work for me.

Di2721, another thing I have tried. I removed all of the locally saved data from iCloud and reloaded everything. This did not improve the issue (and took some time to complete).

kvormwald,

Instead of "Get Info" and "Hide Extension", you may try this:

 • click filename once, then a second time, like to rename it (not double-click)

  (only main part will be selected, not the file extension)

 • enter Cmd-C to copy the filename (the part before "." and file extension)

 • enter Cmd-A to select all of the filename (name and extension)

 • enter Cmd-V to paste over the whole filename and extension

• click on an empty space or enter Return

– once used to do it, you can do it pretty fast

This will get rid of the visible file extension, but it will remain as invisible.  No need to open the "Get info" window.  For me, it is quicker that way.

It does work for any file type, like image files (png, jpg, heic, etc), Microsoft documents (excel, word, power point, etc), Safari shortcuts (.webloc), pdf, txt, and more. You may not have noticed, but they all do the same buggy behaviour with their file extension.

Note:

Another way, if you prefer to see the Info window, is to select the file by clicking once on it, then:

 • enter Cmd-I (short cut for get info)

 • click the Hide extension check box

 • enter Cmd-W (short cut to close the get info window)

diogenes wrote:

Since upgrading to 15.4, all new Pages and Numbers files show their filetype (filename extension) .pages/.numbers even though the box in Finder Settings is unchecked. This seems like a bug to me since previously they did not appear if the setting was not checked. I don't use other Apple apps so I don't know if the same is occurring with Keynote files. Text Edit .rtf files behave correctly. When the box is checked the .rtf extension appears; unchecked, they do not.

Not sure why you would hide extension to begin with...

Non-the less —the current stable release of Sequoia including bug fixes, security updates is macOS 15.4.1

I would start there...

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support

Just to add a clarification, there has never been a Finder setting to “hide all extensions”.

There is s checkbox for “Show all extensions”. The negation of “Show All” is not “Hide All”.

When the box is unchecked, it means that the Finder will honor the show or hide setting of each particular file-that’s how you may see some with extension and some without.

Thank you, IAmSkippermark, for doing this work (and for putting up with some of the comments from the community). I am on Sequoia 15.4.1 and Numbers 14.3 and am having the same experience. My Finder displays and Open Recent displays start appending .numbers extension but not for all Numbers files, which makes for a big mess; some files with extensions and some without extensions. It seems to be happening to my most heavily- and recently-used files, but not always:

• I just tested a non-extension file by updating and saving it on my Mac; that did not trigger the addition of the extension in Finder or in Open Recent.
• I opened the same file on my iPad, edited/saved it there, and that did not trigger the addition of the extension on my Mac in Finder or Open Recents either.

Many years and releases of Pages and Numbers ago, the Save panel gave the user the option of showing or hiding the saved file extension. Equally so, it has been many years since these applications have offered that user control during saving. The file extensions are now always shown, and that is controlled by a coding decision within the product development team.

As etresoft has clarified, one can hide (or unhide) the file extensions from a Finder Get Info panel. Not something that I personally subscribe too.

Some users that choose to use sentences to name files will find that the filename is so long, though not necessarily exceeding the 255 character limit, that the extension is simply truncated in any Finder view, even with the list view column modified for width.

VikingOSX:

As I understand your reply, every files saved with Pages and Numbers should show their file extension. This is strange, because it is the other way around here, my file extensions have always remained hidden in the past. Note that it is my preference, so I am happy with that (except for the issue we are having now).

To all, some observations:

• when a file is modified and closed, its file extension may take a few minutes to show again

• when creating a new document with page, removing the ".page" at the end of the filename hides the file extension

• new document created today or recently don't seem to manifest the issue

Yes, this seems to be a known issue in macOS 15.4 where .pages and .numbers filename extensions cannot be hidden in Finder despite the setting. It might be worth reporting this to Apple for further investigation.

Not so for me. I've upgraded to macOS 15.6 and I'm still experiencing the issue as of August 16th.

It only happens to iCloud files, the files in my local Downloads folder are not affected - the file extension remains hidden after a file edit.

I have been using Bruno's work-around suggestion posted August 9th (thanks again Bruno) as it's a much faster way to remove the file extension that re-appears in Finder a day or so after editing a file.

Are you running any third party cleaning or anti virus apps?

does it happen in Safe Mode?

Might run an entrecheck report for us.

Hi there, etrecheck is a free tool to get us past the 20 questions part of diagnosing problems.

https://etrecheck.com/en/index.html

In my case, as one example, in my mac's local documents folder I have several numbers or pages files. When I open the "get info" card for one of these files, it will have "hide extension" box unchecked, so I will check it. Then a short time later, it will default back to being unchecked and then showing the filename extension again. I also have the finder > settings "show all filename extensions" unchecked. I never did any of this before, the files just started showing their filename extension on some of my pages or numbers files for no reason recently, after my update. It doesn't matter how many times I check the box to hide extension, it will soon enough default back to showing the filename extension. I have not tried safe mode yet, but I have rebooted several times.

I confirm that my macOS has a similar behaviour with ".png" files, which are screen captures.  After I do a screen capture, I frequently open it and redefine its borders more accurately.  After it is saved and closed, I noticed that sometimes, the extension ".png" has appeared. Note that most of the time, it remains correctly masked.

I also found that while I view the file's information (with Cmd-i), and I move the file from a local folder to a iCloud folder (like my Desktop), the "Mask extension" check box (in the info window) goes away for 1-2 second, then comes back.  I guess that the Finder plays with that property, and it may interfere with some other activity in the background.  It could even be related to the issue with Numbers and Pages document files.