Section 15. Rename a Folder or Document

15. Rename a Folder or Document

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

13 Create a New Folder

SEE ALSO

16 Make an Alias (Shortcut)

18 Set a Color Label

Renaming a folder or document in Mac OS X is a seemingly simple process that hides some surprising complexity. On the face of it, there's really nothing to it: Select the item, type in the new name , and you're done. However, there are a few hidden complications to watch out for.

One of these complications is that of filename extensions . In Mac OS X, these extensions are usually (but not always) required to define a document's typebut you don't have to see them. Extensions can be turned off on a per-document basis. If you rename the document in the Finder so that the extension is removed, for example by renaming Picture1.jpg to Picture1 , the extension merely becomes a hidden attribute of the document. Similarly, if you add the appropriate extension to a document, it merely becomes "un-hidden." If you add an incorrect extension (such as .txt to a .jpg file), Mac OS X warns you that proceeding can cause the file to become associated with the wrong application or stop working properly, and gives you the option to proceed with the extension change or stick with the old one.

KEY TERM

Extension The often cryptic final few letters in a filename, after the dot. Originally popularized by MS-DOS after the example of Unix, the extension is a simple way to designate a document as being of a certain type; this way, an application could know what kind of file it is just by looking at its name.

TIP

Use the Get Info window to see whether a document has a hidden extension or not; you can also hide a document's extension or show it, using the Hide extension check box.

By hiding documents' extensions, Mac OS X guarantees that the extension will be there if you transfer the file to a Windows machine, where extensions are required for documents to work properly.

15. Rename a Folder or Document

A few common extensions are listed here:

Extension	Kind of Document
.jpg	Picture (Joint Photographic Experts Group )
.gif	Picture (Graphics Interchange Format)
.doc	Microsoft Word document
.rtf	Rich Text Format document
.txt	Plain Text document
.mov	QuickTime movie
.html	Web page (Hypertext Markup Language)
.pdf	Page layout (Portable Document Format)
.dmg	Mountable Disk Image file
.zip	ZIP archive (Windows-style)
.sit	StuffIt archive (Mac-style)
.cwk	AppleWorks document (originally ClarisWorks)
.pages	Pages document
.key	Keynote presentation

1.	Locate the Item to Rename Open a Finder window and navigate to the folder containing the document or folder you want to rename.
2.	Select the Filename For the item you want to rename, click the filename underneath or beside the icon. The item becomes selected (a darkened box appears around it) and the filename turns into an editable text field. Alternatively, click the icon to select it and then press Return to activate the filename as an editable field. TIP In Mac OS X, if you click a text field (such as the name of a file in the Finder) and drag the mouse down, all the text to the right of where you clicked becomes selected. Similarly, if you click and drag up, everything to the left of where you clicked becomes selected.
3.	Type the New Name Type whatever name you like into the name field. Filenames can be any length up to 255 characters . You can use almost any letters, numbers , or symbols in filenames, including characters in Japanese, Russian, and many other languages. However, there are a couple of exceptions to this freedom. Colons (:) are not allowed in filenames because the internal architecture of Mac OS X uses the colon to signify the separation between folders in the path to an item. You similarly can't use a period (.) as the first letter of a filename, because that has special meaning for Mac OS X. Some applications may also prevent you from creating files with a slash ( / ) in the name, or names longer than 31 characters. These are limitations in the applications, though (caused by the merging of Unix and the old Mac OS), not in Mac OS X. TIP If you've accidentally started renaming an item that you don't actually want to rename, simply press Escape ( Esc ) to cancel the operation.
4.	Press Return Press Return to commit the change. Alternatively, click anywhere on the Desktop or the folder window to deselect the item and make the name change stick.