File names were always limited to an eight-character file name. With Windows NT 4.0 and Office 97, however, you no longer have to name a file using the "8.3" nomenclature. What that means is that files had to have an eight-character-or-less file name, followed by a dot (.), followed by the extension to identify to the computer what type of file it is. You could not use spaces or capital letters in the file name and, as you all know, it was often difficult to tell what a file contained just by looking at the name. That is changed now if you are using the MS Office 97 products and most of the other programs on SHPL computers. In the Windows 95 handout I passed along, several tips are given for naming files, including which characters still cannot be used. One principle should be reiterated, however. As long as you name the file first (when saving for the first time, or when saving as to save a file under a different name) then the program will put the proper extension at the end for you automatically. In all likelihood, you will never have a problem with a program seeing a document and recognizing it as a file associated with a particular program if this principle is followed. I repeat: name it first and then put the document in a folder. Here are some of the extensions which tell the PC what kind of file it is or with what program the file was created. Only the extension is given, with the assumption that the extension is preceded with a file name and a dot. .doc Document made with MS Word .wpd Document made with Word Perfect .xl, .xls Document made with MS Excel .ppt Document made with MS PowerPoint .mdb Denotes a MS Access database file .exe Denotes an executable file that runs when you start a program on the machine (all programs use at least one of these to start and run the program) There are of course, many different extensions, most of which (thanks to Windows NT 4.0) you will never see. Name your files consistently and descriptively, and you will never have to hunt (for long) for that errant document again. The only time you'll need to use them is if you are searching with Find (files and folders) from the Start button menu.