Need to email someone a lot of files? Want to save space on your computer by merging all your old photos? Need to keep your important documents from being snooped on? Creating a ZIP file will help you save space, organize your redundant files, and encrypt sensitive material. Follow this guide to create a ZIP file on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
Step
Method 1 of 4: Windows
Step 1. Create a folder
The quickest way to create a zip file is to put all the files you want to archive into one folder. You can put multiple files and folders into the folder where you will create the ZIP file.
Rename the folder to whatever name you want for the ZIP file
Step 2. Right click on the folder
Hover over the "Send to" option. This will open a new submenu. Select "Compressed (zipped) folder".
You can also select multiple files in your file explorer, right-click on a file, then follow the steps above. The resulting ZIP file will contain all the selected files and will be named after the file you right-clicked
Step 3. Wait for the folder to be created
If you add multiple files to a new ZIP file, it may take a while to create. A progress bar will appear when the file is added. Once the process is complete, the ZIP file will appear in the same location as the original folder.
Method 2 of 4: Mac OS X
Step 1. Create a folder
The quickest way to create a zip file is to put all the files you want to archive into one folder. You can put multiple files and folders into the folder where you will create the ZIP file.
Rename the folder to whatever name you want for the ZIP file
Step 2. Right click on the folder
Click the "Compress" option. The folder will be compressed into a ZIP file. The new ZIP file will be in the same location as the folder you compressed.
You can also select multiple files in your file explorer, right-click on a file, then follow the steps above. The resulting ZIP file will contain all the selected files and will be named "Archive.zip"
Method 3 of 4: Linux
Step 1. Open a terminal
The terminal symbol is a black rectangle with some bright characters inside. On some platforms, the terminal is referred to as Konsole, xTerm, or something like that.
Step 2. Create a directory
You can do this using the mkdir command with the directory name as an argument. For example, if you want to create a "zipArchive" directory, type mkdir zipArchive.
Step 3. Move or copy all the documents you want to put in the ZIP file into the directory
- Documents can be moved with the mv command. After that, the document is no longer in the original file, and goes to the place you specified.
- Documents can be copied with the cp command. After that, a copy of the document will be saved in the place you specified while the same document will remain in its original location. Note that you need to use the cp -r command to copy the directory.
- These two commands put the original position as the first argument, and the place to save a copy or move the document in the second argument. For example, to move a document named "textToArchive.txt" to the "zipArchive" directory, type: mv textToArchive.txt zipArchive
Step 4. Save the directory as a Zip file
You can use the zip -r command to do this. In this command, the name of the zip file is used as the first argument and the name of the file to be archived is used as the second argument. For example, if you want to archive the "zipArchive" directory into a zip file called "zipArchive.zip", type: zip -r zipArchive.zip zipArchive. After that, the names of all the files that are included in the archive will be displayed. So you can check that everything you want to archive is already there.
Method 4 of 4: ZIP File with Password
Step 1. Download a compression program
Newer versions of Windows cannot create password-protected ZIP files without installing additional software. Compression software is available for free and for a fee, although you don't need anything fancy to create a protected ZIP. The most popular programs include:
- 7-Zip
- IZArc
- PeaZip
Step 2. Create a new archive
Use your compression software to create a new ZIP file. Add the files you want to compress. When you create the ZIP file, you will be given the option to enter a password. You will need to use this password to access this ZIP file in the future.
Step 3. Create a password protected ZIP file in OS X
To create a password-protected Zip file in OS X, you can use the Terminal and you don't need to download any other program. First, put all the files you want to compress into one folder, then rename the folder to whatever name you want for the ZIP file.
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Open Terminal. This can be found in the Utilities folder within your Applications folder.
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Navigate to the folder you want to compress.
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Enter the password. You will be asked to enter your password twice to verify. After entering the password, file C.
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zip –er.zip /*
