How to Create a Zip File in Windows 7

A zip, a.k.a compressed file occupies less space and can be transferred quickly from one computer to another compared to an unzipped file. A good example of a zip file is the firmware or image file  etc. that you download from the Internet. In order to use it, you will have to extract its contents. You may want to create a zip file in your Windows 7 computer. Check the steps given and create a zip file quickly: (See Also Windows 7 support here)

Step 1

First look for the file or folder, which you want to create as a zip one. Afterwards, right click on the file> select Send To> Compressed (Zipped) Folder. You will now see a new zip folder in the same location where your original file is located. You can unzip this file whenever the need arises.

Step 2

If at any time you want to add more files to your zip folder, you can do it in two ways. The first way is to open the zip folder and copy and paste the files from other locations or folders into it. Or else, you can drag and drop files into your zipped file. The second way is to drag and drop the files right over the zipped folder that you previously created. Windows 7 will add all these files automatically to your zipped file or folder.

Step 3

Since you have created a zip file now, you will also extract its contents in the later course or whenever needed. Thus, you should know how to extract a zip file’s contents to view or change them as desired. If there is only one zip file that you want to extract, double click on it to open the original file. Thereafter, drag and drop this file to some other location. Or else, you can simply copy and paste this file to some other location.

Step 4

If the zipped file or folder contains several files, folders etc., you can unzip them all with this simple method. Right click the zip folder> select Extract All. In the Extraction Wizard window, click Next. Check the location where all the contents of the zipped folder will be extracted. You can also change the location by clicking Browse. When done, click Next. Hit Next again and then the Finish button to close the window and show the extracted files.

Step 5

Here is a word of caution for you for encrypted files. If you added encrypted files to your zip folder, they will be decrypted when unzipped. So, if you want to keep their privacy intact and undisclosed, do not zip them. (See Also how to snap documents in Windows 7)

Step 6

Another thing that must be remembered while zipping the contents is that try not to zip the JPEG images. It is because JPEG images are already zipped and thus need no further zipping. If you zip them, they will occupy about the same space as the original ones. Thus zipping would be of no use in that case. You can also use a tool like WinZip or WinRAR etc. to zip and unzip files, folders etc.