Skip the file-extension change warning on Mac

If you just want the "Are you sure you want to change the extension?" box to stop appearing, there is a single setting for it — Finder has no one-time "skip this once" button, so the fix is to switch the warning off entirely. Uncheck one box in Finder Settings, or run one Terminal command, and every future extension change goes through without the dialog.

Skip it for good in Finder Settings

1. Make Finder active (click the desktop), then press Cmd+, for Finder → Settings.
2. Open the Advanced tab.
3. Uncheck Show warning before changing an extension.

The dialog will not appear again on this Mac until you re-tick the box. The setting is per user account and identical on macOS Ventura, Sonoma, and Sequoia.

Is there a one-time bypass?

Not really — and it helps to know why. The extension warning is all-or-nothing: unlike some macOS prompts, it has no "Don't ask again" checkbox inside the dialog itself, and no modifier key that suppresses it for a single rename. Your only lever is the global setting above. That is exactly why turning it off is the right move if the prompt is getting in your way: there is no lighter-touch option to reach for.

The one genuine "bypass" is to rename outside Finder. The warning is a Finder feature, so changing an extension in the Terminal with mv, or from within an app's Save dialog, never triggers it regardless of this setting.

Do it — and check it — from Terminal

# skip the extension-change warning
defaults write com.apple.finder FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning -bool false
killall Finder

# undo: bring the warning back
defaults write com.apple.finder FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning -bool true
killall Finder

To confirm which state you are in, read the value back:

# 0 = warning off, 1 = warning on
defaults read com.apple.finder FXEnableExtensionChangeWarning

If that returns "does not exist," the key has never been set, which means the default — the warning is on. Setting it to false is what makes Finder skip the prompt.

The other warning you can skip

Finder's Advanced tab is not the only place with a nag. If confirmation dialogs bother you generally, the Trash has its own — see turning off the Empty Trash confirmation, which follows the same off-by-default-checkbox pattern.