Converting to Unknown "File" Type

Question

I have a folder of docs that was uploaded to Dropbox in PDF form. I tried to access these PDFs, and It now says that it is an unknown file type. When I expand details, where it says file type (usually .docx, .pdf, .jpeg etc) and it just says "File". I cannot open these documents, I did not do anything that I know of that would change the file type from PDF. It is happening to about half of the PDFs in the folder at random. Thanks!

Rich · Accepted Answer

@frankbrennan wrote:I tried to access these PDFs, and It now says that it is an unknown file type. When I expand details, where it says file type (usually .docx, .pdf, .jpeg etc) and it just says "File".

Do the files still have their .pdf extension at the end of the file's name? If not, your computer won't know how to handle the file. Rename the files and add .pdf to the end of the file name.

Dropbox isn't capable of changing your files like that, so it's likely something else causing it. If you or someone has recently renamed the files and removed the extension, that would cause it.