How to compress documents into a zip folder. How to add files to WinRAR archive (in WinRAR)? Create ZIP or RAR archive

Data compression (lossless) is used. Thus, the size of the archive can be less than the size of all the original data that it contains. Archives can be used for long-term storage of data, combining a large number of files into one, or to reduce the size of data.

Opening the archive is not difficult. supports Zip archives. Therefore, the Zip archive can be opened on any computer with the Windows operating system, even without installing additional programs. To open other types of archives, you need to install a special archiver program. In any case, in order to open the archive, just click on it with the mouse. On the other hand, archiving data is no longer so easy, there may be options. In this article we will tell you how to archive a folder.

How to zip a folder with built-in Windows tools.

You can zip a folder without installing archiver programs. To do this, right-click on the folder and select "Send - Compressed Folder".

This will start the process of archiving the folder. The archiving time depends on the size of the folder.

After the folder has been archived, a ZIP appears next to the folder. This is your archive.

By default, the archive icon looks like a regular folder with a zipper.

This method of archiving a folder is very simple, but it does not provide the user with control over the archiving process. Therefore, if you need to regularly archive folders and files, then it is better to install the archiver program.

How to archive a folder using 7zip archiver.

7zip is the most advanced and popular program. Compared to the equally popular, but paid, WinRAR archiver, the 7zip archiver has only one drawback - the inability to create archives in RAR format. Otherwise, 7zip is in no way inferior.

You can download the 7zip program on the website. After installing the 7zip program, a new menu item will appear in the context menu of folders and files - "7-Zip". Using this item, you can zip a folder or files.

Consider the 7-Zip menu items:

• Add to archive - a window with archiving settings will open. Here you can specify the compression level, as well as other data.
• Compress and send by email - the same as the previous point, but followed by sending by email.
• Add to "filename. 7z" - the folder will be zipped in 7z format using standard settings.
• Compress to "file name.7z" and - the same as the previous item, but with subsequent sending by e-mail.
• Add to "file name.zip" - the folder will be zipped using the default settings.
• Compress to “file name. zip "and send by email - the same as the previous item, but with subsequent sending by email.

In order to get access to all the archiving settings, use the "Add to archive" menu item.

In the "Add to archive" window, you can specify the archive format, compression level, encryption settings, and other settings. To start the archiving process, just click on the "OK" button.

What is file archiving, why is it needed and how to create an archive. The archiving process simplifies data transfer and allows you to store much more information in limited space. Basically, archiving is necessary for long-term storage of information, as well as for transferring large amounts of data over the network in the form of a single file - an archive. It is very common to archive files for sending by mail.

In this case, the speed of working with data is an order of magnitude higher. the entire amount of information is transmitted in one large file, and the preservation of confidentiality can additionally be ensured by passwords on the archives. Archiving is performed in several ways, the most popular of which will be discussed below.

How to archive using programs

Windows archiving

Operating systems of the Windows family allow the user to create ZIP archives from files and folders. To do this, go to the context menu of the object and select the "Send" item there. After that, in the drop-down menu, go to the "Compressed ZIP folder" item.

It is noteworthy that such a name is typical for Windows 8, and in lower versions of the OS, the text may differ slightly. When the archiving is done, the user can choose the name of the resulting file. Such an archive is ideal for transmission over a network, since it opens freely with integrated system tools.

Archiver programs

Because the creation of archives has several functions, a number of archivers have been created. They form archives of their own formats with various compression rates. Among such programs, it is worth highlighting shareware WinRAR, as well as free 7z and Total Commander.

How to zip a folder using WinRAR

Immediately after installing this utility, several new items appear in the context menu of any object, which begin like this: "Add to archive ...". Here you can simply create an archive of RAR, RAR5 and ZIP formats, as well as send one of these archives by e-mail in a few clicks. For the convenience of users, there are also quick options for creating: an archive with a name similar to the object in * .rar format and sending this archive by e-mail.

Download Winrar (http://www.win-rar.ru/download/)

How to zip a file using 7zip

The free 7zip archiver operates similarly to the previous program, only here not several items are created in the context menu, but only one. However, it has its own drop-down menu, where you can create archives in * .7z and * .zip formats, send them immediately by mail, add files to existing archives and perform a number of other actions.

Download 7zip (http://www.7-zip.org/)

How to zip a folder with files using Total Commander

The popular file manager provides even more extensive archiving options. To start the process, you need to run total-commander in the left part, find and select the file or folder that you want to add to the archive and press Alt + F5. After that, a new window will open where the user can set the format from a large number of available ones, as well as select the archiving settings. Among the formats there are both popular (* .rar, * .7z and * .zip) and lesser known * .gz, * .tar and others.

Download total commander (http://www.ghisler.com/amazons3.php)

As you can see, the archiving process using system tools cannot fully reveal all the possibilities of creating an archive. For this, a number of additional programs have been created that allow you to compress data and make archives of different formats.

People often ask me: - "How to send a file by e-mail?" or vice versa, I ask someone to send me this or that file, and the person I ask has no idea how to do it ...
Therefore, I decided to write this guide.
First, let's prepare a file that we will send by mail.
For this, the file can be sent unpacked, i.e. as it is, just attach the file to the letter, as an attachment, or packed into an archive ...
If our file is small, then it can be sent without "Archiving", i.e. without compression...

If the file is large, then it is better to pack it in "Archive", thanks to this, the file can become much smaller, which will speed up the transfer at times.
Also, I must say that today, some mail services do not allow sending executable files and many program library files. In the case of Windows, the executable is .EXE - i.e. file-program, and DLL - file-libraries (libraries can be not only dll files, but I will not list all of them)... This approach of the postal services is understandable, this is due to the fact that when transferring such files, the latter can simply turn out to be viruses, trojans and various similar nasty things ... Therefore, mail servers, in order to avoid problems during the transmission of letters, simply cut off attached files they find it suspicious. This also applies to script files and files containing sets of commands, such as. BAT and. CMD ...
Therefore, such files should be packed into an archive, and not just packed, but packed and closed with a password!
And yet, a few words about packing and archiving files ... Image files, such as .JPG, .PNG, are almost not compressed during archiving, they can be packed into an archive only if you want to send a lot of files in a letter, but adding all of them one by one is very "messy" ... Text files, on the contrary, are compressed when packed into an archive very much, it happens that after compression, the archive has about 30% of the original file size. In this case, it is better to pack the files, of course. the size will decrease significantly.
This means that we figured out what to pack files into an archive, i.e. archive, you should:
- If we want to transfer many files, after packing, we will need to add only one file, and not 20 or 30 for example ...
- If we want to transfer text files, because when packing, the size is significantly reduced, and of course, if we have a lot of these files, it is much easier to add one file to the letter ...
- If we want to transfer a program file, etc. - the file (s) need to be archived so that the mail server does not cut them ...
Also, we know that pictures like .JPG, .PNG should be archived only if we want to transfer several files, because these files almost never lose size when packed ...
Now let's talk about everything in order ...
How to zip files:

As an example, I have prepared several text files that have a total size of 3.73 megabytes.
To pack files into an archive, we must have an archiver installed. Today, the most common archiver is WinRar http://www.rarlab.com/) one drawback of this program, it is paid.
And the program 7-zip (the official site of the program: http://www.7-zip.org/) this archiver is free, but less common.
Also, today, almost all operating systems support archive files. ZIP - this means if you send a ZIP archive to a person, then he can simply open it.
Now let's add the files to the archive. To do this, select the required group of files:

We click on them with the second (right) mouse button and select the item "Add to archive" (if you have installed some other archiver, the name of the menu item may differ).

We will open the Add files to archive window:

In which we need to configure some parameters:
1 - Set the file name (for transferring files over the Internet, it is better to set names in Latin letters, so that there are no problems with encodings, etc.)
2 - Select the type of archive (we have already talked about this)
3 - Set the compression level (the stronger the compression, the smaller our archive file will be)
4 - Press the button OK to create an archive.
Here is the dialog of the archiver program 7-zip:

As you can see in the figure, almost everything is the same, well, yes, it's called a little differently, but in principle, it's elementary to figure it out ...
After packing, we have an archive file, which is only 31.6 kilobytes in size, out of the former 3.73 megabytes!

Now, how to set a password for the archive:
WinRar - To create a password-protected archive, in the archive creation window, go to the tab "Additionally" and press the button "Set password".

We will open a dialog for setting a password:

In which both fields should be filled, i.e. password field and password confirmation field and press the button OK.
7-zip- To create a password-protected archive, in the archive creation window, fill in two fields, of course the password and password confirmation:

After that, we carry out all the related settings, as described above.
Well, actually that's all, we figured out the packaging, let's now proceed directly to sending the file by mail ...
Adding a file to a letter.
Now, we need to sort out some things ... In what way do we use mail - through some mail program or through web interface, i.e. going through the browser to the mail server website, enter your data there, etc. (browser is the program with which you browse the Internet)
If you are using Web Interfacethen go to your mail account ...
Compose a new letter. (for example, I will show how this is done on servers google, mail.ru and yandex)
And after you write the text of the letter, if of course you need it, press:

Link "Attach file" - at google

Button "Attach file" - at mail.ru

Button "Attach file" - at yandex

After that, you will see the file selection dialog:

In which you need to: - specify the path to the file, i.e. go to the folder in which you store files for sending, or in which you created the archive. Select the desired file and click on the button Open.
After that, the file will be uploaded to the mail server and added to the letter:

If you need to add any more files, then click again on the button or link "Attach a file", well, in fact, we do everything that was described above ...

Actually that's all, after creating a letter and adding an attached file, click on the send button and send the letter ...
Now let's look at how to do all this through mailers. For example, I will talk about the two most common mail programs, these are The Bat! and Microsoft Outlook.
First about Microsoft Outlook.
As in the case with the Web Interface, we create a new letter, enter the addressee, subject, text of the letter ...

Attach file

(in older versions, this button is in a different place)

In the same way, you can add a few more files if needed ...
Now about "The Bat!"
As in all previous cases, we create a new letter, enter the addressee, subject, text of the letter ...
To add a file, press the button Attach file

Then we will have an attachment file:

In the same way, you can add a few more files if needed ...
That's all, to send a letter, we press the send button ...
Using this guide, you will be able to send files through most Mail Servers using their Web Interface and Most Mail Programs ... almost everywhere, these functions are very similar, almost always, have the same name and are located in the expected places.
P.S.
In many mail programs, at the time of creating a letter, you can add attachments by simply dragging the files with the mouse into the new letter editing window (as from folder to folder).

Probably, many in childhood faced a situation when, collecting us on a camping trip or to a recreation center, parents packed their things so compactly that there was even extra space in the backpack. Going back home, we could not pack even half of our things. The situation is approximately the same with computer data. The 7-Zip software acts as a compactor to compress information and place it into one container. But few people know about Zip. Therefore, the article will analyze popular programs, their capabilities and detailed steps for archiving and unzipping files and folders.

Information about archives and their purpose

File archiving has been practiced for a fairly long period of time. Previously, almost every user of a computer device knew how to zip and unzip a file, because every byte of memory counts. With the growth and improvement of technologies, and with it the speed of the Internet, users are gradually beginning to forget about this program. When downloading or uploading a file to the global network, people are increasingly interested in questions about what is how to archive files?

One of the most popular data compression programs now is the 7-Zip archiver. It is more nimble among its counterparts and is optimized for new versions of operating systems. This program is based on an advanced algorithm using an optimal compression method. Files with the .zip extension do not take up much space and the archiving process is the fastest. Agree, in our age of the Internet, it is easier to transfer data in one file than to attach one document to a message. But how to archive a file or folder if you haven’t come across an archiving program before? To understand this issue, you first need to install the necessary software on your computer.

Program installation

Installing and configuring 7 Zip is not as complicated as it might seem at first glance. Previously, archivers were paid, so users tried to download installation applications from websites that were not checked by antivirus software. Now, to download the program, you just need to go to the official website of the developers of the 7-Zip archiver and get the full package of fun completely free of charge. How do I install the program? You just need to run the downloaded application that is compatible with the type of your operating system, select the path to the folder where it will be installed (by default, the Program Files system folder is selected), and wait until the installer completes copying and unpacking the files. The installation process takes a split second, after which you can move on to the question of how to zip the file in Zip. But it should be remembered that if you do not configure the program correctly, you will not be able to read a single file, so below you need to read brief recommendations on setting parameters.

Easy setup of 7-Zip archiver

The first launch of the program requires little tweaks. To do this, select the "Service" item in the menu. Open "Settings" and in the "System" tab put a check mark next to all available formats. So your program will be able to decrypt literally all known archive formats, be it ISO, RAR or any others.

Step-by-step instructions for creating and adding files to an archive

If you are wondering how to zip a file in Zip, you need to follow this procedure:

So we figured out how to compress. Zipping the folder and files, as you can see, is not too difficult.

data archiver

• LZMA. This algorithm is based on the dictionary compression scheme. It compresses data quite well, thanks to which the 7-Zip program has gained quite high popularity.
• LZMA2 is an advanced compression algorithm. Has some advantages over the previous method.
• PPMd. This algorithm is based on context modeling. It is good for its lossless compression.
• BZip2 is probably the oldest compression algorithm. It is quite efficient, but it can execute only one command at a time: unpack or compress.

We have covered the compression methods, now you can choose the way how to zip the file in Zip.

The ability to set a password for the archive

There is a great opportunity to set a simple or complex password. How to install it in order to thereby protect the archive from intruders who are trying to hijack your data and files on the Internet? After you have clicked on the "Add to archive" button, a window appears with a choice of compression method, future expansion and other parameters for creating an archive. On the right, in the same window, you can see an empty string for the encryption password. It must be entered twice and then saved by pressing the "Ok" button.

So we figured out the main points of that, using the 7zip archiver. The unzipping process is just as simple and convenient even for novice users.

When sending large files by e-mail, you cannot always be sure that they will reach the recipient. This is due to the restrictions on the size of the uploaded and transmitted materials set on such web resources. How to solve this problem? Easy peasy. It is enough to use the archiving function. Not sure how it doesn't work? Want to know how to zip a file? In this case, use the detailed instructions.

Method number 1: Archive the file in zip using Windows

This option of data compression can be used on computers of various versions of Windows, since the function of creating a ZIP folder is included in absolutely all packages of operating systems from Microsoft.

Method number 2: We archive documents in zip format using special programs

If you need to compress voluminous materials to the maximum, it is better to use special archivers, for example, the WinRAR program.

This program is good because in addition to fast and high-quality compression of files in various formats (zip, rar), access to it is absolutely free. For this it is enough on the official website of the developer.

In addition, it is possible to select additional backup options:

• archive in the background;
• turn off the PC after performing the operation;
• wait if another document is being archived;
• exclude individual files from archiving (if a folder with several documents is being archived);
• create a backup;
• select the timing function;
• add a comment to the archive.

To do this, respectively, you need to select the tabs "Advanced", "File", "Time", "Comment" and others. In any case, after making the settings, do not forget to click the "OK" button so that the file compression process still begins:

As you can see, zip archiving is easy enough!