Index: /trunk/ppStats/src/ppStatsSetupFromArgs.c
===================================================================
--- /trunk/ppStats/src/ppStatsSetupFromArgs.c	(revision 15550)
+++ /trunk/ppStats/src/ppStatsSetupFromArgs.c	(revision 15551)
@@ -165,4 +165,17 @@
             goto die;
         }
+
+	// need to handle optional alternate EXTWORD value
+	psMetadata *fileMenu = psMetadataLookupMetadata (NULL, format, "FILE");
+	if (!fileMenu) {
+	    psError (PS_ERR_IO, true, "FILE METADATA missing from camera format\n");
+	    return false;
+	}
+	bool status = false;
+	char *extword = psMetadataLookupStr (&status, fileMenu, "EXTWORD");
+	if (status) {
+	    psFitsSetExtnameWord (data->fits, extword);
+	}
+
         data->fpa = pmFPAConstruct(config->camera);
         if (!data->fpa) {