When people send you files via email it is sometimes difficult to tell which application to run to open the file. In most cases Windows will know how to open the file automatically. To determine the application to use, Windows uses the letters or numbers at the end of a file name after the period. For example, "doc" in a file called "fred.doc".
The following is a guide to some of the file types that you may encounter. It may assist you if you having a problem opening a particular file.
| File name | Opens with |
| doc or docx | Microsoft Word |
| xls or xlsx | Microsoft Excel |
| mdb | Microsoft Access |
| ppt, pptx, pps or ppsx | Microsoft Powerpoint |
| bmp, jpg, jpeg, gif or tif | Microsoft Paint or equivalent graphics package |
| avi, mpg, mov, wmv or mp4 | Media Player or equivalent video package |
| mp3, wav or aac | Media Player or equivalent audio package |
| Adobe Acrobat Reader | |
| zip | Windows Explorer or Power Archiver |