# Very old files on my computer that are mislabeled **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 23, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676 "2023-01-23T19:57:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/1 "2023-01-23T19:57:57Z")
I’ve got some files on my computer that date from the early 90s, probably from my first computer. I seem to have given some of these files a dot in the middle for some reason (“person.al” or “bookpropo.sal”) and my current computer won’t open them up because it doesn’t recognize what a “.al” or “.sal” file is. I’d hoped I could just rename them (old files without a stupid .suffixname seem to open up okay) but “rename” isn’t one of the options when I right-click on the filename. Is there another way to rename a file? ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/2 "2023-01-23T20:52:01Z")
Are you on Windows? If yes, in Explorer right-click on the file and choose “rename”, then you are able to edit the filename. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/3 "2023-01-23T20:59:43Z")
Are the file extensions intact? Person.al.txt or bookpropo.sal.jpg ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/4 "2023-01-23T21:02:08Z")
My first thought would be to just tell Windows to open them in notepad. If you’re lucky, they’ll be text, or mostly text, or at least include enough plain text that you can figure out what they actually are. You don’t even need to change the extension, just right click on it and go to “open with”. ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/5 "2023-01-23T21:08:50Z")
Thanks, all. The option to rename files wasn’t there when I right-clicked before, but this time it was, so I renamed and the files open fine now in Notepad and in Word. I don’t think I was doing anything different this time. (Is it even possible to right-click in different ways? Rightclicking is rightclicking, no?) So it’s all good now. I got to read some letters i sent to friends 30 years ago, and some notes I wrote to my kids when they were small. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 10:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/6 "2023-01-24T10:27:21Z")
One could use a program like Bulk Rename Utility. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/7 "2023-01-24T12:08:14Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I don’t think I was doing anything different this time. (Is it even possible to right-click in different ways? Rightclicking is rightclicking, no?) It’s certainly possible to rightclick in different _contexts_ (e.g. Windows Explorer vs. some other thing that shows you a list of filenames), which would give you different options. Sounds like the problem has been solved, but another option (instead of Renaming the files) would have been to right-click (again, in Windows Explorer) and select “Open With.” ---
**Author:** ![slicedalone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slicedalone/32/12515_2.png) [@slicedalone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slicedalone)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/8 "2023-01-24T14:40:18Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > and select “Open With.” And choose what? Notepad? I wonder what I was thinking (IF I was thinking) when I gave these files those bogus suffixes. It was cool? Other files had “dot randomletters” after the filename? Or did these filenamesdotsuffixes work at some point on some primitive system? ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/9 "2023-01-24T22:20:17Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > I don’t think I was doing anything different this time. (Is it even possible to right-click in different ways? Rightclicking is rightclicking, no?) Right clicking is right clicking, but if you want to change a file name (even right from the icon on the desktop), it’s two single left clicks. Click on it, then click on it again, not a double click. > [@slicedalone](#): > > And choose what? Notepad? Yes. > [@Joey\_P](#): > > My first thought would be to just tell Windows to open them in notepad. If you’re lucky, they’ll be text, or mostly text, or at least include enough plain text that you can figure out what they actually are. > You don’t even need to change the extension, just right click on it and go to “open with”. > [@slicedalone](#): > > Or did these filenamesdotsuffixes work at some point on some primitive system? If you’ve really had those files on your computer since the 90’s (so, either DOS, Win 3.1 or Windows 95/98/ME), the file names probably got corrupted at some point. It’s not uncommon for a file to mysteriously lose it’s extension and end up with something like what you have. _Especially_ if the files ever moved back and forth between a system that only allowed 8 character (plus extension) file names and ones that allowed longer ones. So, if you created a file at work/school on a Windows 95 box and called it "bookproposal.txt, and then stuck the disk in your home computer with Win3.1, it might turn it into bookprop.osa. Here’s how I screwed up an entire directory of files by attempting to manipulate them in DOS without realizing that DOS couldn’t handle the longer file names. To this day, what, 30 years later, when I still get a little twinge of anxiety every time I see a file that ends with ~1. > [@So I managed to rename all of the files in a directory to the same name](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-managed-to-rename-all-of-the-files-in-a-directory-to-the-same-name/693087/11): > > Back when Win95 just showed up and allowed you to give your files longer names AND had some system files with longer names I did something stupid like that. I was doing something DOS based, attempted to do something or other to an entire directory and DOS shortened everything to 8 characters. That is, the first 6 original letters of the file name + ~1. So, for example, WIN95BOOOTFILE.BAT would have turned into WIN95B~1.BAT (or ~2 etc if that created a duplicate). That, was a mess. Luckily, I… ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2023, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/10 "2023-01-24T22:48:08Z")
It’s also possible you deliberately named them that way because you wanted the extra characters. I know I would do that sometimes. You were limited to 8 characters, a dot, and then 3 more characters, and sometimes I thought using the full 11 made more sense than trying to abbreviate. ---
**Author:** ![Projammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/projammer/32/559_2.png) [@Projammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Projammer)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/very-old-files-on-my-computer-that-are-mislabeled/978676/11 "2023-02-02T20:53:56Z")
> [@slicedalone](#): > > Thanks, all. The option to rename files wasn’t there when I right-clicked before, but this time it was, so I renamed and the files open fine now in Notepad and in Word. One of the quirks of Windows Explorer is that you have to click to select the file and then right-click to open the context menu. Sometimes. But if you ever have to rename a bunch of files again I’d recommend Bulk Rename Utility mentioned above.