How to Unzip files on a Mac with WinZip

— Rated 5 stars by CNET

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 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.

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.

Copyright ©2021 Corel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. WinZip is a Registered Trademark of Corel Corporation

Download WinZip (64-bit Version) —>

Ready to see what a game-changer WinZip is for your workflow? You’ll quickly see how easy it is to manage all your files. Not only will you zip & unzip but you can protect, manage and share your files in only a few clicks of the button. Start saving your time (and space on your PC).

Version:	Languages Supported:
25	English Español Français Italiano Deutsch Nederlands	日本語 Português Čeština 繁體中文 简体中文 Pусский	한국어 Dansk Suomi Norsk Svenska

System Requirements:
Microsoft Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 7

For more information on how to open a zip file you can also visit our partner site www.OpenTheFile.net

Copyright ©2021 Corel Corporation. All Rights Reserved. WinZip is a Registered Trademark of Corel Corporation

How to Zip Files in Mac OS X

Ever wondered how to make a zip file in Mac OS X? We recently demonstrated how to password protect zip archives, but in the comments a reader asked a more simple yet completely valid question: “what about just making a standard zip file?”

Well, making a zip archive on a Mac is easy, and with the compression tools built directly into Mac OS X there is no need to download additional software or add-ons to quickly create zips and compress either a single file, a group of files, or an entire folder. If you’re unfamiliar with creating zips on the Mac, here is exactly how to do it, and quickly.

How to Make a Zip Archive in Mac OS X

You can use this to create zip files of files, folders, or both:

1. Locate the items to zip in the Mac Finder (file system)
2. Right-click on a file, folder, or files you want to zip
3. Select “Compress Items”
4. Find the newly created .zip archive in the same directory

If a single file is being zipped, the zip archive will maintain the standard file name but append the .zip extension.

If more than one file is being zipped, the archive will be named “Archive.zip”, and if multiple archives are created, they will be named successively “Archive 2.zip” and so on.

This works in all versions of Mac OS X, and you can access the compress item option from a right-click with a mouse, control-click with keyboard, or two-finger click on a trackpad from the Mac.

Extracting Zip Archives

Opening zip files is even easier, all you need to do is just double-click on the archive and it will expand automatically with Archive Utility in the same folder the archive is stored in.

For example, if you’re extracting an archive named “ZippedSample.zip” in the

/Downloads/ directory, the resulting extracted folder would be named “ZippedSample” within that same

How to Create a Zip from the Command Line on Mac

Not interested in using the standard Finder and file system approach? Zip archives can also be created from the command line by using the terminal command ‘zip’ with the following syntax:

zip archive.zip file.txt

Another simple way to create an archive from the command line is to use the Terminal’s drag & drop support, type out ‘zip’ as usual but then drop in the file(s) to compress into the Terminal window.

Unzipping from the command line is also very simple, with the easy ‘unzip’ command:

You can specify paths and other details if interested, but if all you’re looking to do is extract a file there isn’t much more to do than the simple unzip command.

While it’s good to know the command line alternatives, most users are best served using the friendlier Mac Finder based approaches, either with zipping from the right-click method described above, or unzipping by just opening the file directly.

How to make and transfer secure (encrypted) ZIP files from Mac to PC

I’m trying to send my tax info securely through email or a web file transfer service like yousendit.com, dropbox.com or google drive, and created an encrypted folder containing the many image files of my business expenses and tax stuff using the command line (using «Terminal» app) as follows:

Note that «zip -er» stands for «zip», «encrypted» and «recursive» which is used to get all the folder contents if zip/encrypting a folder as opposed to a file which is just «zip -e», and that I’ve used «\» to escape unix problem characters. This worked, creating the zip file, and when clicking on it I get a pop up with an «Archive Utility» window: «Please enter password for «.DS_Store». Password: [______] [ Follow

3 Answers 3

The encyrption was still valid, you just saw the file names within the archive.

Sometimes, though I do not know if this is the reason in your case, the hidden files within Mac folders will confuse Windows OS. The fact that it even mentions «.DS Store» suggests that these files are part of the package you made, and my not be compatible with Windows, which does not know what to do with .DS Store folders and other Mac metadata.

As for zip products, you could try the free trial of WinZip, which also supports Mac. The file will be compatible with WinZip on the windows side for sure. (I am not affiliated with WinZip).

Google Drive was able to read the manifest for that encrypted zip file, but the content of the files within the zip file should remain encrypted to Google Drive.

I realize your question was asked quite a while ago, but for the sake of future readers, I wanted to clarify a few things. First, as was pointed out, Google Drive didn’t crack your encrypted Zip file. A little-known aspect of Zip files is that the table of contents of a Zip file is not encrypted. So, anyone can see the files contained in a zip and their unzipped sizes as well as other basic data. That’s probably not an issue since you are protecting the data not the file names.

In your command line example, you use the backslash to escape (disable) the interpretation of special characters. You might find it easier to just double-quote the file names instead, such as:

“My dog’s Christmas photo.jpg”

Also, you can drag-and-drop files from a Finder window into Terminal and the names of the files will be pasted for you. My workflow is to type everything up to and including the double-quote before the command-line and drag-and-drop a file or directory if that’s easier than typing it manually, then type the closing double-quote.

www.makeuseof.com

Follow MUO

How to Easily Share Files Between Mac and Windows

If you use both Windows and macOS, here’s an easy way to transfer files from Mac to Windows and vice versa.

Do you need to transfer files from Mac to Windows? Don’t worry; it’s a straightforward process.

There are a few different approaches you can take. You can easily do a Mac to Windows file transfer using both operating systems’ native tools. Alternatively, there are a few third-party solutions worth checking out.

Below we explain how to transfer files from Mac to Windows, as well as how to transfer files from PC to Mac.

How to Transfer Files From Mac to Windows

The most obvious way to transfer files from Mac to Windows is to use the built-in functions that both operating systems offer.

However, this has one significant drawback. The process will only work if both the Mac and Windows computers are on the same local network. If they aren’t, you can skip ahead to the section on third-party solutions.

Set Up File Sharing on a Mac

To share files between a Mac and PC, there are some settings that you’ll need to tweak. First, you need to allow your Mac to share its files. Follow these steps to do this:

1. Click on the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the screen.
2. Go to System Preferences > Sharing.
3. Mark the checkbox next to File Sharing in the left panel.
4. Click on the Options button and a new window will open.
5. Enable the checkbox next to Share files and folders using SMB.
6. Additionally, tick the box next to Share files and folders using AFP.
7. In the Windows File Sharing section below, mark the checkbox alongside each user whose files you want to share.
8. Enter the users’ passwords.
9. Click on Done.

You’ll now be back on the Sharing window. Next, you need to choose which folders and users you’re going to share with your Windows computer. Press the Plus (+) and Minus (-) buttons below Shared Folders and Shared Users to adjust your preferences.

Finally, you need to make a note of your Mac’s IP address. You will see this below the File Sharing: On message.

Access Mac Files on Windows

Now it’s time to head to your Windows computer. Follow the instructions below to transfer files from Mac to Windows:

1. Open File Explorer.
2. In the address bar at the top of the window, type \\ followed by your Mac’s IP address. It should look something like this: \\192.168.1.68.
3. A new window will pop up asking for a username and password.
4. Enter the credentials exactly as they appear on your Mac.

File Explorer will display any folders and users that you’ve added to the Shared Folders and Shared Users lists on your Mac. You can move, edit, and copy folders like any other Windows folders. Thus, to transfer a file from Mac to Windows, just drag and drop it into one of your local folders.

How to Transfer Files From PC to Mac

That wasn’t too tough, right? Now let’s look at the reverse process: how to transfer files from Windows to Mac.

Set Up File Sharing on Windows

To begin, you need to make sure that Network Discovery is turned on in Windows. Fire up your Windows PC and work through the following steps:

1. Open the Settings app and go to Network & internet.
2. On the left panel, click on Status.
3. Under Change your network settings, select Sharing options.
4. Expand either the Private Network or Public Network menu, depending on your current connection type.
5. Mark the checkbox next to Turn on network discovery.
6. Mark the checkbox next to File and printer sharing.
7. Click on Save changes.

(Note: We don’t recommend enabling network discovery or file sharing on public networks. They are typically far less secure than private networks. Instead, use one of the other options we’ll briefly discuss later.)

To share folders on a case-by-case basis, right-click on the folder’s name and go to Properties > Sharing > Network File and Folder Sharing > Share.

You’ll also need to make a note of your Windows machine’s IP address (Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi > Hardware Properties) or computer name (Settings > System > About).

Access Windows Files on Mac

Once you’re happy with your sharing options, it’s time to transfer your files from PC to Mac. Follow the steps below to do this:

1. Open the Finder app.
2. In the menu bar at the top of the screen, select Go > Connect to Server.
3. Type either smb://[IP address] or smb://[computer name] and press Enter.
4. You will be prompted to enter your Windows username and password.
5. When you’re ready, click on Connect.

Your shared Windows content will be available in the Shared section of Finder. To transfer files from your PC to your Mac, just drag and drop as needed.

Other Ways to Share Files Between Mac and PC

You’re not limited to the above built-in methods; there are other ways to share files from Windows to Mac. These methods will work if your two computers are not on the same network.

1. Use a Cloud Storage Service

Dropbox, Google Drive, and OneDrive all have dedicated apps available for both Windows and macOS. Just install them on the two systems and upload/download the files as needed. If you have spare iCloud storage, you might also consider using that to share files.

2. Use a USB Stick

A simple-but-effective solution for anyone who needs to transfer files from Mac to Windows quickly is to use a USB flash drive. If you don’t own one, we recommend the SanDisk Ultra Flair 128GB model on Amazon.

3. Use Your Own Server

If you’ve already paid for web hosting, you could upload a file using FTP and download it back onto your other machine.

Some of the best web hosting services include WP Engine, InMotion, and Bluehost.

Learn More About Mac to Windows File Transfers

Hopefully, the various methods we’ve discussed will help you to share files between a Mac and a PC with ease. If you also need to do this with your phone, check out the easiest ways to transfer files between computers and mobile devices.

It’s called Drawfest, and it hopes to celebrate the growth of anime-art-related content and bring artists together.

Dan joined MakeUseOf in 2014 and has been Partnerships Director since July 2020. Reach out to him for inquires about sponsored content, affiliate agreements, promotions, and any other forms of partnership. You can also find him roaming the show floor at CES in Las Vegas every year, say hi if you’re going. Prior to his writing career, he was a Financial Consultant.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our newsletter for tech tips, reviews, free ebooks, and exclusive deals!

One More Step…!

Please confirm your email address in the email we just sent you.