How to Zip a File with 7Zip

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• published: 06 May 2013
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http://bit.ly/1lcdTDn Download Free for 7Zip File Compressor There are many times when you need to copy and/or compress files either to storage (backup) or to move them to another PC. Often you want to copy files to a USB key (pen drive) or a CD. Archive-- Archiving files is a way to store a file or usually a group of files in one "package" or one file name. All the file attributes are saved, but it is on necessarily compressed. This is a great method of moving a batch of files around from different storage sites and media. Compression-- Files can be compressed or made smaller using several compression formats. 7-zip supports many formats, including zip, z, 001, and 7z. Zip is a very common format for Windows. The 7z format supported by 7-zip actually is more effective in compressing. Word processing files might be compressed as much as 50% or more. Audio visual files such as MP3, jpeg, and gif, however, are already compressed so they don't reduce much after further compression. File Attributes-- Files carry with them properties such as read only, archive, sometimes special security features, etc. Sometimes with you copy files to another media, such as a CD, the file properties are changed. For example on CDs all files become read only, which can be a chore if you want to write some files. You then have to manually change the file properties of each file. Archiving files saves these properties and solves with problem. So rather than copying files directly to a CD for backup, archive them first with a program such as 7-zip. Even if the total size of the files are not change, they will be more usable after the backup. Why use 7-zip when there are many other zip programs commonly used? Because 7-zip is free, no ads, open source, includes compression, not just un-zipping, supports many compression formats including zip, the 7zip format is more efficient then zip, and command-line support is offered so you can write batch files easily. The quickest way to access 7-zip features is to simply select files and right-click them. You will see options to add to archive, extract files here or to another directory, test an archive, and open an archive just to view the file contents. Archiving files - Select the files you want to archive (backup, copy, etc) and right-click them - Select Add to Archive - Name the archive if you don't want the default name. - You can write in the path name to the desired location for the final archive, or just accept the present directory location. - Select the level of compression and file format. If you are using 7-zip on your other PCs, then you can select 7zip. If you want a very common format that others can access, select the zip format for example. - You can add a password if you want to encrypt the files. - Select OK. Uncompressing files - Right-click on the desired archive. - You can select Open if you first want to view what files are stored. - Select Extract files ... or Extract files here if you want the present directory location. Test an Archive for Errors - Right-click on the desired archive. - Select Test to see if the archive is OK, or corrupted. More Help The built-in Help feature offers a description of all the features, and includes help with command-line support too. See http://bit.ly/1lcdTDn for FREE download and more information.