diff --git a/Code/Mantid/DataHandling/src/SaveCSV.cpp b/Code/Mantid/DataHandling/src/SaveCSV.cpp
index c5f8730802d8ac595fe072418ede1322267e68c3..2aa40b33792d5986d7aac21493e4f9a75c0112c3 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/DataHandling/src/SaveCSV.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/DataHandling/src/SaveCSV.cpp
@@ -67,7 +67,7 @@ void SaveCSV::init()
   declareProperty(
     new WorkspaceProperty<MatrixWorkspace>("InputWorkspace","",Direction::Input),
     "The filename of the output CSV file" );
-  declareProperty(new FileProperty("Filename", "",FileProperty::Save),
+  declareProperty(new FileProperty("Filename", "",FileProperty::Save, ".csv"),
     "The name of the workspace containing the data you want to save to\n"
     "a CSV file" );
   declareProperty("Separator", ",",
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileProperty.h b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileProperty.h
index 8c0474f6a56fcaf14e09462ebb8a7fd2ce42fffd..cb036dd471ee248f370f7079365fae1e82df6614 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileProperty.h
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/inc/MantidKernel/FileProperty.h
@@ -47,6 +47,8 @@ public:
 
   ///Overridden setValue method
   virtual std::string setValue(const std::string & filename);
+  /// Returns the main file extension that's used 
+  std::string getDefaultExt() const {return m_defaultExt;}
 
 private:
   /// Check that a given directory exists
@@ -55,6 +57,8 @@ private:
   std::string convertExtension(const std::string & filepath) const;
   /// The action type of this property, i.e. load/save
   unsigned int m_action;
+  ///The default file extension associated with the type of file this property will handle
+  std::string m_defaultExt;
 };
 
 }
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileProperty.cpp b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileProperty.cpp
index 140a8931c5c405a1a54bb4e99a19c812a9ba84e5..91a0ac1ab637fe45bc7fe73aa0b6423de3aa9fcd 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileProperty.cpp
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/src/FileProperty.cpp
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ using namespace Mantid::Kernel;
  * Constructor
  * @param name          The name of the property
  * @param default_value A default value for the property
- * @param exts          The set of allowed extensions
+ * @param exts          The allowed extensions, the front entry in the vector will be the default extension
  * @param action        An enum indicating whether this should be a load/save property
  * @param direction     An optional direction (default=Input)
  */
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ FileProperty::FileProperty(const std::string & name, const std::string& default_
   : PropertyWithValue<std::string>(name, default_value, new FileValidator(exts, (action == FileProperty::Load) ), direction), 
     m_action(action)
 {
+  m_defaultExt = exts.size() > 0 ? exts.front() : "";
 }
 
 /**
@@ -39,7 +40,7 @@ FileProperty::FileProperty(const std::string & name, const std::string& default_
          const std::string & ext, unsigned int direction)
   : PropertyWithValue<std::string>(name, default_value,
            new FileValidator(std::vector<std::string>(1,ext), (action == FileProperty::Load) ), direction),
-    m_action(action)
+    m_action(action), m_defaultExt(ext)
 {
 }
 
diff --git a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/test/FilePropertyTest.h b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/test/FilePropertyTest.h
index ad0b158a7952a084cb3f1cc9a6d4f528194b3c0b..e97c88f8ff440bd17bfbd8561b2aa3ad29ce9213 100644
--- a/Code/Mantid/Kernel/test/FilePropertyTest.h
+++ b/Code/Mantid/Kernel/test/FilePropertyTest.h
@@ -25,6 +25,7 @@ public:
 
     // Check type
     TS_ASSERT_EQUALS(fp->isLoadProperty(), true)
+    TS_ASSERT_EQUALS(fp->getDefaultExt(), "")
 
     ///Test a GEM file in the test directory
     std::string msg = fp->setValue("GEM38370.raw");
@@ -39,7 +40,8 @@ public:
       new Mantid::Kernel::FileProperty("Filename","", Mantid::Kernel::FileProperty::Load, exts);
     // Check type
     TS_ASSERT_EQUALS(fp->isLoadProperty(), true)
-      
+    TS_ASSERT_EQUALS(fp->getDefaultExt(), "raw")
+
     ///Test a GEM file in the test directory
     std::string msg = fp->setValue("GEM38370.raw");
     TS_ASSERT_EQUALS(msg, "")