Compress files and folders for easy emailing and storage.
Often we need to email more than one file. Compressing the files, or even a folder and its contents, into a Zip file makes it easier to email them as attachments or to backup or transfer to other media.
In this exercise we will compress some files stored in the Documents folder.
Compress several files.
1. Open the folder containing the files we want to compress. In this case the files are stored in the Documents folder, so we’ll click on the Home folder icon on the Dock an then open the Documents folder by clicking on it. The file we want to compress are marked with a red dot in the image bellow.
Three files to compress inside the Documents folder.
2. In order to select more than one file to compress, hold down the Ctrl key (at the bottom left corner of the keyboard) and while still pressing it click on each of the files. Once the files are highlighted you can release the Crtl key.
Select the files by holding down the Crtl key and clicking on each desired file.
3. Right click on one of the selected files and then click on the Compress option.
Right click on one of the files.
4. Type in a name for the compressed file; then make sure .zip is selected from the File Type drop down; now set the Location drop down to the folder you want to save the compressed file to (in this case the folder will be the Desktop folder); finish by clicking the Create button.
Type a name and make sure zip is selected.
5. Your compressed file is created and placed in the folder you chose.
The compressed file is saved on the location you selected.
Compress a folder.
The folder we want to compress, Semester Work, resides inside the Documents folder.
Semester Work is the folder we want to compress.
The folder Semester Work contains 4 document files.
This is the contents of the Semester Work folder.
1. In order to compress a folder we will need to right click on the folder’s icon and then select Compress.
Right click on the folder’s icon and select Compress…
2. Type in a name for the compressed file; then make sure .zip is selected from the File Type drop down; now set the Location drop down to the folder you want to save the compressed file to (in this case the folder will be the Desktop folder); finish by clicking the Create button.
Name the zip file and select a location for it.
3. The new zip file containing the Semester Work folder and the whole of its contents is saved on the Desktop.
The zip file is saved on the Desktop.