Trying to find the extension file for a piece of software on my computer,when using the software any work i save can only be opened using the software in question.

My question is.......if i find the extension file is it possible to search the net and find an alternative program to open my saved work? (it's a photographic design program and what i would like to do is save my work as a jpeg,put it on cd and have it printed at a photo lab,although i can put it on cd i still need the original program to open the cd)

So.....to recap
A, how do i find the extension file and,
B, if i do will the above method work?

Hope all that makes sense, any help appreciated.

by extension file do you mean the three letter identifier that windows uses to associate programs/files?

If so, goto tools - folder options - view and untick "hide files of known types", then go back and have a look, the .xxx should now have appeared.

you may be able to find something to open it by googling the extension.
Or you might just be able to google the name of the program to find alternatives to open it....

And finally, I presume that you've confirmed that there's no option to change the file type when saving, nor an export or anything like that.

A last resort could be showing your image full screen and doing a print screen of that, paste it into the image program of your choice then.

I'm not sure about your questions deano :? but do you not have the option to 'Export' the image from the program your using?

If you just save a picture in Photoshop for example, it will save it as a PSD file and you can only use Photoshop to view it.

Go to Start menu, click search, and then when the search box comes up type *.jpg to set the search to look for all .jpg files on your computer.

You can use this method to find anything on your computer, for example use *.exe to find executable files on your hard drive.

Originally posted by Rich
Go to Start menu, click search, and then when the search box comes up type *.jpg to set the search to look for all .jpg files on your computer.

You can use this method to find anything on your computer, for example use *.exe to find executable files on your hard drive.

he wanted to know what the extension was, not find all the files with a known extension.

Originally posted by vidster
I'm not sure about your questions deano :? but do you not have the option to 'Export' the image from the program your using?

If you just save a picture in Photoshop for example, it will save it as a PSD file and you can only use Photoshop to view it.
No option to export it,you can save it (in my pictures) but not export it.
It's software from a company who supplies the printing media,so you do what you want using their templates then print it onto the paper supplied.

Gonna have a look at the suggestions and i will report back shortly.

If it seems impossible to do it any other way "Print Screen" may help. Just press the button (left most one of the 3 top right of keyboard (On a PC keyboarc) ) and open up something like Paint and paste it in there. Not the neatest solutions but it works.

Originally posted by Gnome
If it seems impossible to do it any other way "Print Screen" may help. Just press the button (left most one of the 3 top right of keyboard (On a PC keyboarc) ) and open up something like Paint and paste it in there. Not the neatest solutions but it works.
Thought of that,but not sure how good the quality would be.

What extension is it? Might help us work out what we're trying to do.

Try sticking it in Google, *.tla usually brings up some useful info.

Originally posted by Lurch
What extension is it? Might help us work out what we're trying to do.

Try sticking it in Google, *.tla usually brings up some useful info.

are we going around in circles, the first thing he asked was how could he find out the extension.

Originally posted by Cyclone
are we going around in circles, the first thing he asked was how could he find out the extension.

In which case:

a) highlight the file in question, right Click and select properties

or for a more permanent solution

b) Open Windows Explorer (hover the mouse ovr the Start Button, right click select Explore). Go to Tools - Folder Options. On the view tab there is an option that says 'Hide file extensions for known file types'. Uncheck the box. Close and repoen explorer and all the files with have the .*** extension after them.

Hey Presto.

Er, yeah, missed that bit! :blush:

As above, do the Folder Options thing.

Struggling:confused:
It doesn't seem to have an extension file,to be honest i'm confusing myself :( dunno bout you lot .

'extension file' is something you've made up! A file has an extension, we are looking for the extension of the file.

Have you done as above and unchecked the 'hide file extensions for known file types' box? Do other files show up with extensions? Once you have correctly done the above then you should be able o see all files with a .tla (extension of some sort) at the end.

unless you mean executable - as in *.exe?

What is the name of the Photographic Software???

Originally posted by limpetboy
In which case:

a) highlight the file in question, right Click and select properties

or for a more permanent solution

b) Open Windows Explorer (hover the mouse ovr the Start Button, right click select Explore). Go to Tools - Folder Options. On the view tab there is an option that says 'Hide file extensions for known file types'. Uncheck the box. Close and repoen explorer and all the files with have the .*** extension after them.

Hey Presto.

wow, you could have copied b) directly from the first post made in reply.

Originally posted by limpetboy
unless you mean executable - as in *.exe?

Eh???

Originally posted by Cyclone
wow, you could have copied b) directly from the first post made in reply.

I apologise most humbly.

Having re-read the OP again, I don't think it matters anyhow. Sounds like what you want to do is convert the file from whatever type it is to to a jpeg.

Does the software have the option to save as different formats - open the file, go to File - Save As and somewhere near the bottom of the box will be an option to Save as a different file type (it's a drop down menu). I would think any imaging software worth anything would have an option to Save As a Jpeg.

Originally posted by Lurch
Eh???

Comes after duh!

Originally posted by cgksheff
What is the name of the Photographic Software???

Not sure if it would be allowed to name it on here,it's a companys software (the company makes photoprintables) it's a programme that allows you to use it's templates to create a photographic proof sheet,(much better than the same option in photoshop)

Any way iv'e been in folder options changed the folder options still can't find the extension file,......think i'm being thick :confused:

Just need a program to open saved work(other than the software that created it) think that's what i mean.


Like i said earlier i'm confusing myself now.

it's not an extension file, it's a file extension.

So when you save it for example you call it, myImage, the file that appears on the disk will be myImage.jpg (if it were saving as a jpeg) or myImage.xyz, it's the portion of the . that identifies the file type.

You are using a windows pc right, and not a macintosh?

What kind of company would keep the names of it's software secret, you're just being obtuse now.

Originally posted by Cyclone
it's not an extension file, it's a file extension.

So when you save it for example you call it, myImage, the file that appears on the disk will be myImage.jpg (if it were saving as a jpeg) or myImage.xyz, it's the portion of the . that identifies the file type.

You are using a windows pc right, and not a macintosh?

What kind of company would keep the names of it's software secret, you're just being obtuse now.

I'm not being obtuse,honestly.....was concerned about using a companys software(bearing in mind they created it for use with their consumables) for use with another programme.

The software is spaarks photoprintables 2.

When saved (in my pictures for example) it names the file (example name)" sheffield forum pics" photoprintable 2 file

Right click - properties- type of file= photoprintables2

Yeah i'm using a pc............it's not looking good is it?:(

It is possible that there isn't an extension, in which case we'll never find it.



Originally posted by limpetboy
Comes after duh!

What ???

Originally posted by Lurch
It is possible that there isn't an extension, in which case we'll never find it.





What ???
That's what i'm thinking........is it some kind of protection the company has put on the software,to prevent this sort of thing?

my next question anybody know of any software that i can create photographic proof sheets in?

(not enough control using photoshop contact 11 method)

Having been onto the Spaarks Website (http://www.spaarkphotoprintables.com/en/tpl/home.php?PHPSESSID=475724300e255dfb9db54dc659af093 6), I think I understand a little more.

The software is for arranging a number of images into a composite/contact sheet for printing into an album.
Any individual image file (.jpg or whatever) will be stored quite happily on the PC and this "layout" software just arranges and annotates them.

Any file saved by Spaarks will presumably be a composite of a number of images and could easliy be in a format only readable by Spaarks.


Sooooo. Alternative software?
To be honest, I don't find any limitation with Photoshop. Are you handling large volumes which make it a bit cumbersome?

Sooooo. Alternative software?
To be honest, I don't find any limitation with Photoshop. Are you handling large volumes which make it a bit cumbersome?


We are handling fairly large volumes, 20- 30 pages at a time (digital proof books) and for the size of images we require we can only fit 6 images per a4 sheet,its the control aspect thats the problem,i find you have to seperate landsape and portrait images into seperate files,and unless you rotate every image it prints them all the same way up,ie landscape shots are upright if you see what i mean.

We can use photoshop for proofs but it's alot more work,the spaarks software was ideal,but we print the images on an inkjet printer but have worked out it's probably cheaper to have a4 prints produced photographicly at the photo lab (quantity discount) hence the need to convert the spaarks images,we may persist with the photoshop method,but to be honest it's far from ideal.

Any suggestion greatly recieved :thumbsup:

I have Thumbs Plus for this type of work.

You can buy/try from Cerious Software. (http://www.cerious.com/)

There is a lot of similar stuff out there and should be some freeware around as well.

Cheers for that....some good stuff on there,had a very frustrating evening last night searching for proof sheet templates..........so thanks again.

Originally posted by deano
I'm not being obtuse,honestly.....was concerned about using a companys software(bearing in mind they created it for use with their consumables) for use with another programme.

The software is spaarks photoprintables 2.

When saved (in my pictures for example) it names the file (example name)" sheffield forum pics" photoprintable 2 file

Right click - properties- type of file= photoprintables2

Yeah i'm using a pc............it's not looking good is it?:(

when you are looking at the properties of the file, the information we were after re:the file extension, should appear in the text box directly above where it says "Type of File".
It should have something along the lines of

sheffield forum pics.xxx

where xxx is the interesting bit.

Originally posted by Cyclone
when you are looking at the properties of the file, the information we were after re:the file extension, should appear in the text box directly above where it says "Type of File".
It should have something along the lines of

sheffield forum pics.xxx

where xxx is the interesting bit.
it just says the name of the file,ie exactly as i named it

Eg sheffield forum pics.