Hi there, I'm new to this forum so please forgive me if I have missed this info somewhere. I have been trying to read through the past forums, but so far I haven't ran across this information. What program do you all use to zip your files for posting to a download site or for combining a kit to sell on a site such as Etsy? I have read of some that are supposedly free on the internet, but don't know anything about them. Would also love to hear about any good free ones you all may have used. Thanks in advance.
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7 zip will allow you to open just about any zip file format.
If you right click on the selected files you can right click and go to send to compressed zip file within Windows.
Thanks Judy, I have 7 zip installed on my computer to open files, just don't know much about using it to zip and compress files. Does it compress large files, small enough, to download without taking a long time? Thanks for your help, as I said I'm still learning.
I am not sure how much it compresses files, but compression is dependant upon what type of files they are. Some will compress more than others.
To compress with 7 Zip, use the manager. Open to the folder, files that you want to zip. Select the files or folder to zip.
Go to File on the menu. There are a couple of options there to choose from. One is to zip and email, another is to zip and save.
You will have to work with the options to see how they will work for you.
Thanks Judy, are you talking about the free version of 7zip? I'm not sure if there is another version, but that is what I have now. Thanks again for the info on how to zip a file.
Yes I use the free version.
I use TugZip, which is free. Mostly because it has a multiple file extraction option, which makes it easier for me as I tend to download several files before I get around to unzipping and sorting them.
Jamie, I don't think I have ever heard of that one. I'll have to check it out. You can select multiple files in 7zip also. I don't think there is an actual option button for it, you just use your mouse and keyboard commands to work with them.
ExtractNow (free version) works great at zipping & unzipping every single type of zip file I've come across! And I love how it can unzip entire directories so quickly!
Lizanne, that's another new one to me. Thanks for letting me know about it.
I used/use BitZipper. It was/is also good for opening add'l kinds of zip files. That was before I got Windows 7. Now, I almost always compress a file by right-clicking the image/folder, then clicking the 'send to compressed (zipped) file' choice.
If that makes any sense whatsoever.
Judith, I have tried that option on my computer before , but wasn't sure if it was really zipping them small enough to be able to upload to a file sharing site or for people to be able to download them without taking forever. Have you zipped large files, like 12 papers and elements, and does it work for sharing the files online or through emails?
File Compression programs are designed to compress the selected data. The type of program you use may not be well known by those you want to download your files. This is something that needs to be taken into account. WinRAR is known to be one of the highest compression program, but many do not know or understand the compression or have a program that will open it. It is also not free.
The only way you are going to find what works for you is to compress the same group of files with different programs and see which one works best for you.
While most file compression software is able to archive and extract files in ZIP and RAR formats, and also enable users to manage files and protect content through encryption. Some popular file compression utilities include WinZip, WinRAR, 7-Zip, StuffIt, BitZipper and ALZip.
How much the files are compressed is dependant upon what you are compressing.
Mary, I try to keep my files around 20 - 25 MB because they are quicker to download for the user. With larger kits, this means more, yet quicker, downloads. From my experience (which isn't necessarily much), .jpeg & .png files do not compress all that much.
I use dropbox links for sharing zipped papers, elements, quickpages, etc. These links are good to email because you don't need to worry about the size of the file. I noticed yahoo, msn, etc have different limits as to size of attachments - links to your zip files eliminates that.
I don't have any insight into other file sharing sites as to what works and what doesn't. Sorry.
Hopefully, at least some of this makes sense.
For larger file sizes you can email the link to where to download the file, this way you do not have to wait for something to send and it does save time. If you create or already have a skydrive, a great place to upload files to share and it is free.
Thanks for your help Judith. I haven't really done much research on file sharing sites, sometimes things seem a little overwhelming. I'll check into the dropbox site you said you use. Thanks again
Hadn't heard of extract now. Will plan on using soon.
As a consumer, I like UnzipThemAll. It's a bit different interface, but it does .zip and .rar files, multiples in a batch. It saves a lot of time. I recently came across a .7 file, and had to ask the designer about it, but she pointed me to the program to use for it. Maybe that was you, Judy?
I haven't heard of UnzipThemAll. I will have to take a look at it. I USE 7-Zip or Stuffit, both will do batch files, which saves time. While opening the files I do other things.
Thanks for sharing Julie.