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WinZip Power Tips

Get the most out of WinZip®! Here are some simple tips to help make you a powerful and efficient WinZip user.

Use WinZip directly from Windows Explorer or My Computer

The quickest way to use WinZip is the right click (context) menu in Windows Explorer or My Computer window.

  • To quickly and easily compress, encrypt, or zip and e-mail files, simply right click the files in an Explorer window and choose the appropriate option from the WinZip menu.
  • To extract files from an existing Zip file, right click the Zip file in a Windows Explorer window and choose one of the extract options from the WinZip menu.
  • To encrypt the contents of an existing Zip file, right click the Zip file and choose Encrypt from the WinZip menu.
  • To tailor the WinZip context menu to your specific needs and preferences, right click any file and choose "Configure" from the WinZip menu.

Zip files and Advanced Compression

WinZip 12.1 introduces the new extended Zip file (.zipx), the next step in the evolution of the Zip file format. By using the most recent compression methods to create Zip files (.zipx), WinZip 12.1 creates WinZip’s smallest Zip files to date. The new .zipx file type also makes it easier to share highly compressed files with others by making it clear that the file was created using advanced methods and that WinZip 12.1 or another compatible compression utility is required to open the file. Of course users can also still create “Legacy Zip 2.0” compressed files with WinZip 12.1 (resulting in a .zip file extension) by changing the compression method on a case by case basis or by changing the default compression method.

Split large Zip files into smaller pieces

WinZip makes it easy to split Zip files into smaller pieces. There are several reasons why you might want to split Zip files, such as:

  • To overcome e-mail size limits. Some e-mail systems limit the size of attachments; if you want to e-mail a large Zip file that exceeds your limit, you can split it into smaller parts and e-mail them separately.
  • As an alternative to spanned Zip files when you want to make multiple copies of the disk set.
  • As an alternative to spanned Zip files when you want to make the disk contents as a separate step from making the disks themselves.
  • To assist with large downloads. Some users may have difficulty downloading very large Zip files from web sites, FTP sites, etc. You can use the split Zip feature to break large files into smaller pieces that can be downloaded separately.

To split a Zip file, open the Zip file in WinZip. (If WinZip starts in Wizard mode, switch to the Classic interface by clicking the WinZip Classic button.) Then open the Actions menu and choose Split. Specify a filename and the size you want each part to be, then click OK.

E-Mail features in WinZip

WinZip provides comprehensive, easy-to-use support for compressing and e-mailing files and folders:

  • Zip and E-Mail provides "one click" compression and mailing of files and folders from My Computer or Windows Explorer. Just select the files or folders you want to compress and e-mail, then click the menu entry; WinZip compresses the items you selected into a Zip file and attaches the Zip file to a new e-mail message, ready for you to address and send. Note: When sending photos, WinZip prompts you to resize your photos. If high quality photos are not necessary, resizing your photos will reduce your email transmission time.
  • Zip and E-Mail Plus works like Zip and E-Mail but also allows you to specify the name of the Zip file and to add encryption if desired.
  • You can quickly e-mail the currently open archive by choosing "Send To...Mail Recipient" from WinZip's File menu.
  • Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express and Windows Mail users, please be sure to try WinZip E-Mail Companion and enjoy the time-saving e-mail features it has to offer.

Secure your documents with 128- or 256-bit AES encryption

AES encryption gives you a way to protect sensitive documents contained in your archives using the advanced "AES" encryption technique. AES is the Advanced Encryption Standard, which is the result of a three-year competition sponsored by the U.S. Government's National Institute of Standards (NIST). This encryption method, also known as Rijndael, has been adopted by NIST as a Federal Information Processing Standard.

The contents of the files that you want to protect are encrypted by WinZip based on a password that you specify. In order for WinZip to later extract the original contents of the encrypted files, the correct password must again be supplied.

You can encrypt files with WinZip in two ways:

  • Encrypt files while you are adding them: simply check the Encrypt added files check box in the Add dialog. This is the most efficient way to encrypt your files.
  • Encrypt files already in a Zip file: open the Zip file using WinZip and choose Encrypt from the Actions menu; or, right click the Zip file in Windows Explorer and choose Encrypt from the WinZip context menu.

Please read about encryption in WinZip help.

WinZip can do more than just Zip files: other archive support

Although Zip is the dominant archive type on the Internet, there are many other archive and compressed file formats. WinZip supports many of these formats, including RAR, BZ2, TAR, gzip, CAB, UUencode, XXencode, BinHex, MIME, LHA, LZH, and others. Whatever the format of a file you've download from the Internet is, chances are good that WinZip will be able to help you work with it. Click here for more information on these other formats.

Easily zip and encrypt e-mail attachments with WinZip E-Mail Companion

WinZip E-Mail Companion is an easy-to-use, time saving tool that reduces the size of outgoing e-mail attachments and provides password-based AES encryption to protect confidential information contained in those attachments.

WinZip E-Mail Companion works seamlessly within Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express or Windows Mail for Vista and is the perfect solution for reducing the complexity and time that it takes to send and receive large attachments via e-mail. Simply write your e-mail, attach your files, click Send and let WinZip E-Mail Companion do the rest. WinZip E-Mail Companion's file compression will ensure that your attachment is as small as possible and allow you to encrypt attachments that contain confidential information.

WinZip E-Mail Companion reduces e-mail transmission time for both sender and recipient, and if you have ever had an e-mail returned as undeliverable because the attachment was too large, you will know the value of smaller e-mail attachments. It also reduces the amount of disk space required to store those e-mail messages.

When sending confidential information as e-mail attachments, be sure to use WinZip E-Mail Companion's password-based AES encryption to ensure that only people that have your chosen password can view the information inside your attachments.

Automate repetitive tasks with the WinZip Command Line Support Add-On

The WinZip Command Line Support Add-On (free for registered users of WinZip) gives you the power of WinZip without the WinZip graphical user interface. This add-on is ideal for quick zipping and unzipping from the command line and for automating repetitive tasks using batch (.BAT) files or scripts. An extensive set of command line options gives you pinpoint control over WinZip's actions. And, in automated environments, end-users don't need to know how to use WinZip. Please see the Add-On product page for more information.

Easily transfer, compress, manage, and share JPEG photos from your digital camera

The Zip from camera feature in WinZip Pro Edition will transfer and compress JPEG photos from supported digital cameras in one easy step.  If your camera supports orientation tags, WinZip will even automatically rotate your pictures to the correct orientation.

  • Plug your camera into your Windows PC and select “Zip from camera using WinZip” from the AutoPlay Device Option.  The WinZip Camera Wizard will now walk you through the remaining steps.
  • When compressing photos to store on your PC or other media, be sure to use the “Best” compression method to compress your JPEG photos by 20% to 25% with no loss of photo quality or data integrity.
  • With WinZip Standard, you can view thumbnails of each picture in a Zip file and easily browse or delete photos.  Using the New Folder feature, you can even organize your photos into folders within the Zip file with a simple drag-and-drop.
  • With WinZip Pro, the built in image viewer lets you view your photos as a slide show, rotate, resize, or delete pictures.
  • Use the Send Selected feature to select photos (or other files) to share and attach them to an e-mail as a new Zip file.  For faster sharing, you can even resize the selected photos while leaving the original photos unchanged.
  • To open Zip files compressed with Jpeg compression, your recipients will need WinZip 12 or later or another Zip utility compatible with Jpeg compression to extract the files.

Use Jpeg compression to shrink the disk space used by your entire JPEG photo collection

Digital photos are becoming larger in file size as cameras increase in their mega-pixel capacity.  As you collect more photos, the amount of disk space used and the amount of time required to back up your photo library increases.  The Jpeg compression in WinZip can easily reduce the disk space required for your JPEG photos by 20% to 25%.

  • Decide how you want to organize your photo collection into Zip file.  You can do it by year, by year and month or any other way that you prefer.
  • Create new Zip files that match your organization scheme and then as you add your JPEG photo files to each Zip, be sure to select the “Best” compression method to automatically use Jpeg compression any time a JPEG file is added to a Zip file.
  • To open Zip files compressed with Jpeg compression, your recipients will need WinZip 12 or later or another Zip utility compatible with Jpeg compression to extract the files.

Go to the WinZip Product Information page, or return to the WinZip home page.