rename a file

[roy gladdish]

Hi All, when i try to rename a document ie a photo I get the message (if you change a file extension,the file may become unusable) ( which it does) if you proceed to rename you cannot open the document can anybody tell me what i can do
Many Thanks
Roy

[fo3nix]

It's just a standard warning. You're safe to ignore it if you know what you're doing.

If you have a file "my_file.txt", then rename it to "my_file.jpg", you'll have problems because the computer will try to load it as a jpeg picture file, when in fact it's just a text file.

It's just Windows trying to protect the average user.

When renaming, don't change the extension at the end. Instead, just change the main part of the filename.

If you change it by mistake, just change it back to what it was previously. You aren't actually editing the file data itself.

[Buenchico]

If your options are set to display the file extension (e.g. so that an image file is shown as 'dog.jpg', rather than just 'dog'), it's important to ensure that the extension is retained when you rename the file. (e.g. rename it to 'cat.jpg', rather than to just 'cat').

If your options are set to hide the file extension (so that you see just 'dog', rather than 'dog.jpg') and you're getting that warning message, it suggests that there's a registry error. It can probably be corrected by switching on the option to show the file extension, and then switching it off again. With a suitable folder displayed (e.g. 'My Pictures', go to Tools > Folder Options. Click the 'View' tab. Click to remove the tick alongside 'Hide file extensions for known file types'. Click 'Apply'. Click 'OK'. Then go through the procedure again to get back to the situation where file extensions are hidden (but, hopefully, the registry error is corrected).

Chris

PS: Those instructions are for Windows ME. Knowing Microsoft's unerring ability to make simple tasks progressively harder with every new version of Windows, it's probably slightly harder to do the same thing with XP and far more involved with Vista. However the basic method holds true for all versions of Windows. (i.e. enable viewing file extensions and then reverse the procedure).

[rojash]

Amazingly Chris, It's the same in XP and improved in Vista!

In Vista, if the extension is visible and you choose rename, it only selects the part before the extension, you when you type "cat" (or whatever) the .jpg is automatically retained.

As far as I can tell, this is the only improvement that came out of 10 billion development dollars

[roy gladdish]

Thanks Guys
I did what you said and changed to hide the extension and can rename perfectly.
Thanks to all who contributed much appreciated.
Roy