In WinZip for Windows, how do I zip files?

You have several options for zipping a file in WinZip for Windows, as described below.

Using the WinZip Wizard

Some recent versions of WinZip will start the WinZip Wizard, which will prompt you through several screens to complete your desired task. If you see "Welcome to the WinZip Wizard!" after starting the program, and you would like to use a different method such as those described below, click the WinZip Classic button at the bottom of the Wizard screen.

Adding a file to an archive with the Drag and Drop Interface

1. Open My Computer or Windows Explorer and click a filename.
   
   
2. While holding down the mouse button, drag (move) the file to any of the following:
   
   
   • A WinZip window
     
     
   • The WinZip shortcut on your desktop
     
     
   • A WinZip archive (zip file) listed in My Computer or Windows Explorer
     
     
   • A shortcut to a zip file
   
   
3. Release the mouse button to drop the file.

Note: To add multiple files to an archive using the Drag and Drop Interface, select the desired files in My Computer or Windows Explorer before dragging them to WinZip. You cannot use the Drag and Drop Interface to add files with an extension of .zip, .lzh, .arj, or .arc; use the Add dialog box in WinZip instead (see below).

Other ways to add files to an archive

The Add dialog box

In WinZip, to open the Add dialog box, click the Add button, or, from the Actions menu, select Add.

You can select the files you want to add in several ways:

• Click the desired files in the list near the top of the Add dialog box. You can select multiple files using normal Windows file selection conventions (for example, hold down the Ctrl key while clicking to select multiple files). Then click the Add button.
  
  
• Type the name(s) of the files you want to add in the "File name:" field. If you specify multiple filenames, each filename must be enclosed in double quotes. Then click the Add button.
  
  
• To add files using wildcards (for example, *.doc to add all files with an extension of .doc), type the filename with wildcards in the "File name:" field, and then click the Add with wildcards button. Standard wildcards are accepted.

In Windows Explorer

• To add files to a WinZip archive without leaving Explorer, select one or more files in Explorer. Drag and drop them to a zip file in the active Explorer window, in another Explorer window, or on the desktop.

  Note: You can create WinZip files in Explorer by right-clicking in Explorer and, from the menu that appears, selecting New, then WinZip File.
  

• Another way to add files to a WinZip archive directly from Explorer is to right-click any file (or selected group of files) in Explorer and, from the menu that appears, choose Add To Zip.

Uses for WinZip

When you zip, or compress, files using WinZip, you are creating what's called an archive. Archives are files that contain other files. Typically the files in an archive are compressed. Archives usually have filenames ending with zip, .lzh, .arj, or .arc, depending on how they were created. Archives make it easy to group files, and make it quicker to transport and copy these files. Following are some typical uses for WinZip:

• Two benefits of using archives for electronic file distribution are that only one file transfer operation (download) is required to obtain all related files, and file transfer time is minimized because the files in an archive are compressed.
  
  
• You can send a group of related files to an associate. Rather than distributing individual files, distributing files as an archive makes it easier to take advantage of file grouping and compression.
  
  
• Some files are important but not used often. To save disk space, simply compress these files into an archive. Decompress them only when needed.

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