The file extensions of our Pages documents keep reappearing. It occurs very soon after opening the document. I keep checking the "hide file extension" box in Finder for each document, but it doesn't stick. This is a minor issue that does not affect productivity. Still, it is very irritating and I don't know how to resolve.
MacBook Air, macOS 15.6
If you were on Microsoft Windows, you would expect the file extensions to be hidden by the operating system. However on macOS, file extensions help the operating system determine the default opening application, and others that are compatible in opening the document.
When I deliberately hide the Pages document extension in the Finder Get Info panel, and then open that document with Pages v14.4, the file extension remains hidden during changes to the document, saving, and closing the document. This is the tested case on macOS Sequoia, and again on macOS Tahoe 26.0. Pages simply honors the existing extension visibility status as it is an extended attribute.
Many versions of Pages ago, one had an option on the Save/Save As panel in Pages to override the extension visibility status during a document save. That has long since been removed. There are no adjustments in the Finder Settings to force a default hidden document extension, though you have found the sole capability in the Get Info panel that operates on a per-file basis.
Thank you for the reply. It just seems odd that there is an option to hide the file extension, but selecting that option does not endure. If the extension will not remain hidden, why hide it at all? If I understand your analysis correctly and Pages is honoring the existing extension visibility status of a file, then something else must be affecting things. With some files I have selected the "hide extension" box several times, only to have the extension reappear.
As a rule, I do not make an effort to hide document extensions whether Pages or otherwise. Just another layer of avoidable administration and productivity expense. There is something else going on when deliberately hidden extensions change to visible without your action.
File extensions keep reappearing
