Zip Some Files
You may hear computer people talk about "zipping" a file. What does that mean? Quite simply it means
putting a file into another file - like zipping it up into a bag. Why would you do that? Why not just send the
file as it is? This is why:
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Normal files are larger than they need to be. Zipping a file will compress it to as small as it can be. This
was much more the case years ago, but still applies today for many files.
You can put many, many files into one zip file. If you had 100 pictures to send to someone, it would be
more efficient and a little faster to put them all in one zip file.
Security. Some email programs won't let you send or receive files in their native formats. But they will
allow the same file if it's in a zip file.
Learning how to zip and unzip files is a very useful thing to know. This How To Guide will teach you how to
create a zip file. It is assumed that you have some basic skills using a computer with Microsoft Windows. It is
also assumed that you have 7-Zip installed. If not, go to the How To Guide labeled Get 7-Zip, then come back
here.
In this example, we're going to zip the sample
pictures that came with Windows 7. Open Windows
Explorer and navigate to the folder where the
pictures are.
I have the details view turned on so we can see the
Size at the right of each file.
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I want to put all 8 pictures in a zip file.
So you have to "select" all 8 files. If you
don't know how to select files, learn it.
It's one of the most useful techniques for
doing many different things in many
different Windows programs. It takes 2
minutes to learn and will increase your
productivity one hundred fold.
For the example... LEFT click on the
first file in the list. Hold the Shift Key
down and LEFT click on the last file in
the list. See how they're all highlighted
in blue? That means they are all
selected.
Now point at any selected file with the
mouse and RIGHT click. A menu will
appear like in the example on the right.
Notice how 7-Zip is in the menu? LEFT
click on 7-Zip.
Another menu has appeared to the
right. Slide the mouse arrow right
to "Add to archive". Be careful
not to let the arrow go up or
down. The menu will change or
disappear if that happens.
This screen should appear. A couple of
things to check here. Beneath Archive: is
a white bar with the zip file name that will
be created. You can change the name if
you want.
There is a drop down menu next to
Archive format: Make sure it is set to zip.
That is the most common type and will be
easiest to understand for the person that
gets the file.
There are other options, but they aren't
used as often (or at all). The password
option can be useful if you want to keep
your archive private. The recipient would
need the password to unzip the file.
The process happens pretty fast, but can be
longer if you have large files. When it's done,
there isn't a screen saying it's done. The 7-Zip
screen simply closes when it's finished.
If you go back to Windows Explorer you can see
the zipped file. On the right, notice the new file
labeled "Sample Pictures.zip". That's our zipped
file. It contains all 8 of the pictures. There
wasn't much compression because today pictures
are already as small as they can be. But the zip
file is now ready for whatever you want to do
with it.