.pages file extension keeps being added even with Automatic Extension toggled off

AppleITSupport:

In your last response, you mention in the last sentence "I'm glad that this has been fixed". Do you mean that the issue we are all discussing about has been fixed? If so, is there some update coming? Because I am still experiencing the issue as of today. And for me, it is for many more file types than just Pages and Numbers.

Note: my macOS is of version 15.5, Pages and Numbers are both of version 14.4

Like all of you, this issue is annoying for me. I also observed that the file extension also shows on all other computers connected on the same iCloud account.

Before I would debate about if the feature of hiding the file extension has been removed or not, I would first first consider these facts:

· with files that we don't modify, it is still possible any time to mask or unmask the file extension

· with files stored on local folders (not on iCloud folders), even modified files still keep their file extension masked

Suggesting that we did not loose any feature, or this "option" has not been removed.

I have also observed these:

· in my case, Pages, Numbers and Keynote do not force me to save with the file extension visible (I guess this is

something I have set up initially), other users should be able to do the same

· the issue also happens with most file types (ie, .png, .pdf, .docx, .xlsx, .rtf, and more), and not only the

iWork series (.pages, .numbers, .key)

· when moving a file from a local folder to an iCloud folder, the file extension appears temporarily, then disappears;

it is like the synchronization process needs to unmask before doing its job; the same happens when renaming

· after saving a file to a iCloud folder, the file is then synchronized to iCloud, like for moving or renaming, the file

extension appears during that time, but it does not re-mask when done

That let me believe that something may not be happening as it should during the synchronization process, and this is why we have this issue.

My setting in my iCloud is also set to off. I don't write code or really know the first thing about it, but it seems like this has to be something within the latest update that changed it to show up this way.

Read through the threads of this preceding post: .pages and .numbers filename extensions c… - Apple Community

The Finder Settings > Advanced > Show all filename extensions, when not selected, has nothing to do with hiding file extensions.

The Apple product team has designed Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to check if a file extension has been previously suppressed by the Finder Get Info panel, and if so, does not change that extended file attribute when opening and saving that document. New documents, when saved, will always show the file extension as that is how Apple has chosen to code these applications.

There is nothing you can do about this shown file extension when saving new documents other than subsequently using the Finder Get Info panel to deliberately hide the extension.

This is happening with me too with all of the iWork applications: Pages, Numbers, and Keynote. At first, I thought the file would have two extensions on it, such as:

somefile.pages.pages

But, when I open up terminal and do a ls, it shows just .pages on the file and not a duplicate .pages extension. Oddly, when I rename the file in finder to remove the .pages extension, it doesn't seem to affect the filename when I check it in Terminal. If I use the mv command on the terminal to rename the file without .pages, then it does indeed remove the extension and Finder doesn't recognize it as a .pages file. So, I wonder if the name with .pages is being stored in some sort of cache?

It is certainly annoying for me because I have a couple shortcuts that will turn these files into PDFs, but they use the filename they see in Finder (not on the actual filesystem) to create the PDF. So if I have a file called a.pages and in Finder it shows the extension, a.pages, then it becomes a.pages.pdf, which is annoying. I did try clearing the cache in Finder (~/Library/Caches/com.apple.Finder/) but that did not have an impact.

I hope Apple fixes this soon.

Yes, it happened to me too for the last few months. Can't recall the exact date or version number though. But I have confirmed that this has been fixed.

The version I just checked is Sequoia 15.5 with Pages/Numbers 14.3 (7042.0.76).

Two types of verification done:

1) Creating new document, entering some data and save it.

2) Modifying existing document and save it.

The location of the file doesn't matter, be it locally or residing in iCloud Drive.

Unfortunately, whatever files that had been amended/created during those "problematic" period will still have the extension shown regardless of your settings. For these, you have to manually remove the extension one by one.

Clarification

The file extension has always been there since early days. It is just that it is hidden and behave in line with user's expectation. But somehow, for the last few months (can't recall the exact date range or version number range), there were bugs either at the system level or the app level that causes the inconsistent behaviour. During that period, Pages/Numbers app no longer honoured the settings set at the Finder. Personally, I'm glad that this has been fixed, but kind of annoyed that we have to waste time fixing "the mistakes" made by the developers.

I have also experienced this sudden change; however, it has managed to fix itself.

I believe it’s a setting in iCloud Drive: ⇣

Good luck! 👋🏼😉

scottfromlf wrote:

This is not an imaginary issue.

But it is an annoying issue. These kinds of issues come up repeatedly over the years.

Here's how it works:

1. Someone experiences an anomaly. They post a question here in the forums. So far, so good.
2. Someone else looks and can't reproduce the problem.
3. More people pile on. Maybe there is something unusual going on.
4. People look more deeply and discover that there are some complications. The issue can be reproduced, but only in certain, very specific circumstances.
5. We ask for followup regarding these very specific circumstances.
6. OMG! Apple fix this!!!!
7. Please, can you just respond to this one question?
8. I've been an Apple customer for 74 years! I'll never buy again!
9. I get it. I see an issue. Can you just check this one thing?
10. Absolutely not! I've been a loyal customer for 89 years, I will sit here and wait for another 89 years until Apple fixes this bug that is so clearly plaguing almost half a dozen people!
11. OK. Fine.

There is nothing to fix. The current versions of Pages, Numbers, and Keynote automatically save their respective documents with an extension. There is no overriding that issue. That Finder Settings > Advanced panel has nothing to do with removing file extensions from any file. These Apple applications are designed to write extensions on their documents and neither you nor anyone here can change that application design.

The operating system maintains a database of file extensions with the default and preferred applications that can open files with those extensions. Strip the extension from a document and it becomes an orphan that the operating system will not know how to open, and assigns it the black and green Exec Terminal icon. Don't do this.

Stop trying to force Windows Explorer views of extensionless files on macOS Finder or Terminal file names. Use macOS and Apple's applications as they are intended.

The shortcuts that I use to automate the conversion of the first paragraph documents into PDF do not include the original document extension in the naming process. The wrong code in those shortcuts can make you believe the problem lies elsewhere but the author of the shortcut should look closer at their coding practice.

Since Pages v10.2 (macOS Mojave), every Pages document that I have created, updated, or saved has resulted in a displayed extension. This is also true with Pages v14.4 on macOS Sequoia v15.5 too. I see no bug in this behavior. That is how the application is now designed.

The exception to the first paragraph would be when the extension was purposely hidden in an existing document via the Finder's Get Info panel, or via a short script (whether AppleScript, or Swift), then Pages honors the hidden extension when updating and saving the document.

When I wrote AppleScript solutions to batch export from Pages to Word or PDF, those documents would not have a visible extension and in the same script, I would conclude by having Finder to unhide the extension of each exported document. If I do this export manually however, then the extensions remain visible without the need to use the Finder Get Info panel for this purpose.

Some users are misinformed about the Finder Settings > Advanced panel > Show all filename extensions setting believing if it was unchecked, all newly created documents would have their extensions hidden. That is an incorrect assumption as it does nothing when unchecked and reveals extensions on everything when selected.

VikingOSX wrote:

Since Pages v10.2 (macOS Mojave), every Pages document that I have created, updated, or saved has resulted in a displayed extension.

I have some really old Pages documents that won't ever display extensions. These are all from when I was in grad school circa 2011-2013. At 2014, they act normally. These old documents still open in Pages with no problem. They just won't display their extension. But there's definitely something funky with them, the extensions are actually "pages-tef".

The .pages-tef is an orphan document from either older iCloud or MobileMe (I can't remember) and probably can just be renamed at this point to .pages. You might further check its extended attributes…

Earlier in this thread, I took the time to launch several old versions of Pages from v5.6.2 (El Capitan) thru v10.1 (High Sierra). All of those Pages applications offered an accessory check box on the save or export panel to hide extensions. That feature was removed for Pages versions 10.2 from Mojave through current v14.4 on Sequoia v15.5.

After macOS Mojave, the operating system design changed to only show extensions and Apple or third-party applications that use current Apple Frameworks in their design will show extensions on saves or exports. There is no current bug, just people that stubbornly *believe* there should be default hidden extensions or that macOS Finder should behave like MS Windows File Explorer… 🧐

Excluding Pages '09, versions of Pages in El Capitan, Sierra, and High Sierra provided a check box accessory on the Save/Save As/Export panels. If you checked that, the hidden extension setting may be internalized in those documents preventing them from displaying it.

That check box was eliminated in versions of Pages beginning with Mojave and then only newly created documents would show the extension by default. Existing documents with a hidden extension would remain that way after edits and saves.