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

I believe this has been fixed. I received a follow-up call this morning from Apple after talking with support a couple times over the past weeks to report and troubleshoot this, and they said others called in as well, and engineering thinks they've fixed it.

When the advisor called, I was actually in the process of downloading version 15.5, but they had me test it while it was still on 15.4.1, and I couldn't get the issue to happen. The advisor said they'd call me back tomorrow to verify everything is still working correctly once my system finishes the update to 15.5.

My update is now done, and the issue looks fixed! I tested multiple times with different programs, and everything works as expected.

This was amazing support by Apple. The advisor told me last week they'd get back to me once they heard more, but I didn't really believe them. I mean, hardly any companies (or people) follow up when they say they will, but they really did. Wow!

I hope it's fixed for everyone else, but if not, I'd give them a call because it seems like they really want to make it right.

I have confirmed via my own experiment:

The extension is re-appearing for files saved to iCloud. For files saved locally, the re-appearance of the file extension is NOT happening.

Proof:

My entire Desktop is saved to iCloud such that I can see all my desktop files from all of my devices. I open a numbers file (no extension displayed) that resides on my Desktop, make a change, and save it back to the Desktop. It saves under the same name (without an extension), and a short while later the extension magically appears. Next, I place numbers file (no extension displayed) and remove it from the desktop and store it locally on the iMac. I open it, make a change, and save it back to the same location it came from on the iMac - the extension never re-appears.

I did some more testing today, and the issue only happened with files saved to iCloud. If the file was in the root iCloud folder or any folder underneath the main folder, the "extension switch" happened, but it didn't happen if the file was saved to a local, non-iCloud folder such as the "Downloads" folder.

I had called Apple support twice before about this - once when it first started happening and then again after I had reinstalled the OS, which the first person told me to do. The second person said they had created a report and elevated it to engineering.

I called today to get an update and give them my update from above, and it turns out is apparently wasn't elevated. The person I spoke to today was very good and said he's going to make sure they come up a with a game plan to get this noticed.

There is no fix for me, and for others that have put comments in this discussion. You won't have the issue with files stored on local folders, only on those folders shared on iCloud storage. It happens with ".numbers" and with ".pages" documents, but also with many other file types. For the time being, we have to wait for a fix from Apple.

FWIW, I cannot reproduce this on 15.4 (I have yet to update to 15.4.1).

I have multiple Pages and Numbers files, some with hidden extension, some without, and they retain their settings according to that I choose in the Info window.

This suggests to me that maybe there is something peculiar to your setup, as is often the case. If it were an outright bug we'd likely all see it happen.

Where are these files being saved? By any chance, are they saved to an online location, or to a drive using a non-mac-native format (like ExFAT or NTFS)?

Does the problem also manifest itself when running in Safe Mode?

isaac_allen wrote:

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.

This setting to hide an extension is saved in metadata, in the extended attributes of the file.

Something is preventing that metadata to be stored with the file.

My guess is some conflict due to an antivirus or "cleaner".

Does the setting stay correctly if you try this in Safe Mode?

Please run Etrecheck and post its report as BDAqua suggested.

macOS 15.5 is a big update. I presume it fixes many bugs. I did the update and tried if the issue is still there. I tried with 6 file types (Numbers, Pages, Excel, ".png", ".pdf" and TextEdit) on 2 locations (Desktop and Documents). So far, with my i9 2020 iMac, the issue seems fixed only with Pages and ".png" image files. Numbers files don't show the issue on Documents locations, but they do sometime on the Desktop (strange). Excel, ".pdf" and TextEdit (".rtf") show the issue, if you leave them some time. With my M2 2023 MacBook Pro, the file extension still show for Excel files, ".pdf" and TextEdit files (".rtf"); the results are the same on both locations, Desktop and Documents. This tends to point that the issue is fixed with Numbers, Pages and ".png" files on my MacBook Pro. But not sure about Numbers files on my i9 iMac.

I guess that it still has to be resolved with the other file types that I have identified, but many others could be involved.

Same issue. Issue started with 15.4 and Numbers 14.4, and it continued with 15.4.1.

When I first save the file, it saves without the extension, but after a minute or two, the extension will suddenly appear. They can be hidden again with CMD-I, but they will reappear, even if no changes are made to the file.

I contacted support, and they weren't able to get it happen on their machine, but we did a screen share, and they saw it happening on both my machines.

They suggested reinstalling 15.4.1, saying "that will likely fix the issue." I knew that was a waste of time, but I did it anyway. The issue still persists. Went a step further and completely formatted my MacBook and then reinstalled the OS with the only software installed being the OS with stock apps, Pages and Numbers. Issue still persists.

They also advised creating a second user account to see if it still happens. It does.

Called support back, and the wanted to see the issue, so we screen shared and went through all the steps I'd gone through with the first advisor...again. Once they saw it, the advisor created an incident report and submitted it to engineering. They said they haven't had any other reports about this, so I would suggest calling them so they can see it's more than just me.

There are other Apple Discussions about it, and I showed them those so they could tell it wasn't just me. Your post (this one here) is new and wasn't available when I called them.

Kind of a lot of work for something I believe is an issue at Apple's end, but sometimes you gotta jump through the hoops.

This happens on both an M-series desktop and M-series MacBook. All software is up to date.

Luis Sequeira1 wrote:

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.

For additional clarification:

• The Finder is a little flaky. You might need to manually relaunch it before it starts working.
• Each file has its own "Hide extension" setting in Finder > Get Info. This setting works along with the setting in Finder > Settings. This value must be "enabled" (set to hidden) in order for Finder > Settings to have any effect. So once an individual file has its extension hidden, then the overall Finder setting can be used to force it to be shown anyway. Kinda confusing, but that's how it works.

I have the same issue on an i9 iMac running Sequoia 15.4.1. I have also noticed that it occurs only on files located on iCloud (not on those in local folders). I have checked my M2 MacBook Pro (also with macOS 15.4.1), and it first showed the .number extension left visible from my i9 iMac on iCloud folder. Then, I checked the "hide extension" box. This fixed the problem on both computers. Now, even if I go and edit the file on my i9 iMac, the extension remains hidden. This a file by file cure for me. In my case, I have also found that some ".png" extension (like screen captures) are also appearing sometimes without any reason, but not always.

So the issue seems to have returned for some previously created Numbers files. I edited one today, and the extension reappeared not long after saving. I created a new document and copied the cells/charts into it, and the extension remained hidden.

I had 2 other previously created files that were doing the same thing, so I moved them to my downloads folder, which isn't in iCloud and waited a couple minutes then copied them back to the iCloud/Numbers folder, and the extension remained hidden.

I just started noticing this and haven't done a lot of testing, but it seems that maybe the "old" files are still affected if they're in iCloud, but once iCloud sees it as a new file, it no longer happens. I'm not really sure yet, but I'll expand my testing to include some other file types and test some other old files.

In regards to Etrecheck application

Part 1 of 2

Download the Application Etrecheck ( External Link ) directly from the Developer.

This is a Diagnostic Tool that makes no changes to the computer.

It makes a coherent and readable inventory of both the Hardware and Software used on the computer 

The application is free or paid for added features. 

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information. 

Post back the Full Report - Share Report >> Copy , then  paste  >>>> using the Additional Text Icon  <<<<

Part 2 of 2

At one time there was an  Etrecheck Application available on the Apple Apps Store.

Due to certain constrains place upon the Developer, by APPLE, the developer chose to remove it from the Store and make is available Directly from them.

This specific application is well known,  on these Forums,  as a Go To for trouble shooting and avoiding all the question / answer and question / answer to finally get the issue pinned down.

It is also known and reported by Reliable Sources that,  sometimes APPLE SUPPORT has invoked using this same Developer Distributed Version of Etrecheck application to trouble shot computer issues 

Luis, even with the ".png" files (screen captures), the extension appears when I edit the image and save it on iCloud folders, and it does not happen when it is stored on a local folder. I have observed that ".jpeg" files also show the same behaviour. I just tried text files saved with TextEdit, and they also have the same issue (extension ".rtf" is un-masked). For me it could be a bug in the Finder, or somewhere in some macOS call (like the call for close file).

Unless someone can attest to this problem occurring with files saved only locally (as opposed to files saved in locations that are synced to iCloud), I remain convinced that the problem is not with Pages or Numbers but with iCloud. There are have been similar reports with other files, like png images, and as far as I can tell always when saved to iCloud. Note: when I say “saved to iCloud”, this is also the case when saving to Documents or to Desktop if “Documents and Desktop in iCloud” is active.