In WinZip, how do I unzip files?

You can choose one of three ways to unzip an archive (a compressed file or set of files) in WinZip. The most common way is to use the Extract dialog box. Other ways are to use the Drag and Drop Interface and to unzip files in Explorer. This document explains how to use all three methods.

Note: The following information is taken from the WinZip help files. To access the help files from within WinZip, from the Help menu, select Contents, or press F1.

The Extract dialog box

In WinZip, open the archive. To display the Extract dialog box, click the Extract button on the toolbar, or, from the Actions menu, select Extract. Use the Extract dialog box to extract or unzip files from the open archive to your disk.

WinZip extracts files from the archive to the folder specified in the "Extract to:" field. You can specify this folder in one of four ways from the Extract dialog box:

• Select a folder and drive in the "Folders/drives" area on the right side of the Extract dialog box.
  
  
• Type a folder name in the "Extract to:" field.
  
  
• Click the arrow next to the "Extract to:" field and select a folder from the list of folders you have used previously when extracting files.
  
  
• Click the New Folder... button to create a folder.

The Extract dialog box provides the following options for handling the files you are extracting:

• The Selected files radio button instructs WinZip to extract only files that are selected in the main WinZip window. You can use conventional file selection methods to choose files. This option is disabled if no files are selected.
  
  
• The All files radio button instructs WinZip to extract all files from the archive.
  
  
• The Files radio button and text field allow you to specify which files are extracted using filenames. Standard Windows wildcards are accepted, so you could use *.doc, for example, to extract all files ending in .doc.
  
  
• The Overwrite existing files checkbox determines whether you are prompted before existing files are overwritten with files from the archive.
  
  
• The Skip older files checkbox determines whether WinZip skips (does not extract) existing files when the file in the archive is older than the file on disk.
  
  
• The Use folder names checkbox determines whether WinZip will use any folder names (also known as path names) that are stored in the archive. You will probably want to check this option for most extract operations. If this option is checked, any folder names (and thus any file structure) in the archive will be retained when the files are extracted. If this option is not checked, all files will be extracted to the same folder, regardless of any folder names in the archive.

  For example, suppose the folder to which files are extracted is c:\temp. If the Use folder names option is checked, the file mydir\filename would be extracted to the folder c:\temp\mydir. If the option is not checked, it would be extracted to the folder c:\temp.

• The New Folder... button activates the Create Folder dialog box. You can extract files and create a folder without this dialog box. Simply type the name of the new folder in the "Extract to:" field of the Extract dialog box and click the Extract button.

Note: You can change the default folder to which files are extracted. From the Options menu, select Configuration... and select the Folders tab. Under "Extract folder", type the folder name you prefer into the "Folder:" field and click OK.

The Drag and Drop Interface

You can drag and drop files from WinZip to other applications, My Computer or Windows Explorer, the desktop, printers, and shortcuts. If you drop files onto a folder listed in My Computer or Windows Explorer, the files are extracted to that folder. If you drop files onto the desktop, the files are extracted to the desktop folder. If you drop files onto a printer, the files are printed. If you drop files onto an application or a shortcut, the files are extracted to the temp folder before the files are passed to the application, and are removed when the archive is closed.

Note: Different applications handle dropped files in different ways. For example, when you drop a file onto the WordPad application distributed as part of Windows, it will embed the file as an OLE object, but when you drop a file onto the Notepad application distributed as part of Windows, it will open the file. You may need to experiment with drag and drop to understand how each application reacts to a file dropped on it.

You can also move or copy files from one archive to another by opening multiple copies of WinZip, one for each archive, and dragging files from one to the other.

In Explorer

To extract all files in a WinZip archive without leaving Explorer, use the right mouse button to drag and drop the archive from an Explorer window to any folder, and then choose Extract to from the context menu.

Also see:

• What are compressed or archived files, and how do I open them?
• What is WinZip, and how do I install it?
• In WinZip for Windows, how do I zip files?