Open a zip file
Unpack a zip somebody has sent you, and make one to send several things at once.
Somebody has emailed you Photos.zip and it will not behave like a folder. That is because it is not one — it is a parcel that happens to look like a folder.
You can peer inside a zip without unpacking it, which is why it looks like an ordinary folder. But things inside are still in the parcel: some programs refuse to edit them, and photographs can behave oddly.
Key points
- Recognize a zip by its folder-with-a-fastener icon
- Unpack one with Extract all, and check the box that opens the result
- Know that looking inside a zip works, but changing things inside it does not
- Pack several files into one, to send them in a single message
What to remember
- The zip stays where it was. Extracting copies things out of it rather than emptying it.
- Peering inside a zip is fine. Working with what is in it means extracting first.
- Zipping never harms the originals. It makes a new file and leaves everything else alone.
Try this
Find any zip file on your own computer, press it twice, and look for the words Extract all along the top. You do not have to press it. Finding where it lives is enough.
Practice: Open a zip file. Your first lesson is free, with no account or card; the rest are part of a Lantern plan. Interactive lessons require JavaScript.