How to Unzip files on a Mac with WinZip

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Unzip an email attachment

If you receive a .zip file as an email attachment, simply double-click to open it.

Unzip from the Finder

If you have saved a .zip file in the Finder, double-click it to open. After opening it, you can view some or all of the contents by highlighting the files and pressing Command+Y.

Follow these steps to open zip files on Mac:

  1. Click the Unzip button.
  2. From the drop down menu, choose to unzip your files to this Mac, iCloud Drive, Dropbox or Google Drive.
  3. A "Finder style" window will open. You can browse to the folder where you want the files saved.
  4. Choose to unzip the Entire Zip file or Selected Items. You may also choose to Show unzipped items in the Finder.
  5. Another option is to click the New Folder button. Then type the file name and click Create. And now you know how to unzip files on Mac.
Unzip from the Finder

Unzip from the Context menu

With WinZip for Mac 2.0 or later, you can right-click (or press CTRL and click) your saved Zip files and use the Context Menu to unzip them. Click on Services at the bottom of the Context menu, then choose Unzip, Email as Zip File and Add to Zip.

Creating Zip Files on Mac

  1. Open WinZip.
  2. You will see an empty Untitled.zip file in the WinZip window.
  3. Drag your files into the WinZip window.
  4. Click Add and choose the location of your files form the drop down (from your Mac, iCloud Drive or cloud services).
  5. In the Finder drop down window, choose folders, files or both. If you wish to encrypt, choose encrypt and enter a password.
  6. Click Zip. Add or delete files to your zip if you wish, then Save your zip. You now know how to make a zip file on mac.
  7. Use the Email and Share buttons to distribute your Zip via email, cloud services and social sites.
Open WinZip

Create Zip files from the Context menu

  1. Right-click (or press CTRL and click) the files and folders you want to Zip.
  2. In the Context menu, choose Services, then select choose Email as a Zip file or Add to Zip file.
  3. If you click Add to Zip, a dialog will open, allowing you to choose where your Zip file will be saved, change the file format if desired, encrypt and change the name if you wish. Click Zip to finish.

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Create Zip files from the Context menu

WinZip opens and extracts ZIP Compressed Archive Files—and many more formats

We designed WinZip to open and extract from the widest range of file formats, including all of the following: