Working with the Explorer Context Menu

You can initiate most common operations on archives from My Computer or Windows Explorer context menus. In many cases, you won't even need to display or use the main WinZip® window.

Unzipping files from My Computer or Windows Explorer

• Right click a Zip file in a Windows Explorer window, then choose WinZip from the context menu and pick the appropriate Extract choice from the WinZip submenu. You can extract to the current folder ("here"), a recently used folder, a new subfolder created by WinZip, or any folder of your choice.
• Or, use the right mouse button to drag and drop a Zip file from a Windows Explorer window to any folder, then choose Extract to from the context menu. Be sure to use the right mouse button while dragging.
• You can extract from multiple Zip files in one operation, too: just select the Zip files in Explorer, right click any of the selected files, choose WinZip from the context menu, and pick the appropriate Extract choice from the WinZip submenu.

Zipping files from My Computer or Windows Explorer

• Select one or more files in a Windows Explorer window, then right click any of the selected files, choose WinZip from the context menu, and pick the appropriate Add choice from the WinZip submenu. You can create a new Zip file or you can add the files to any existing Zip file.
• Alternatively, select one or more files, then drag and drop them on an existing Zip file in the same Explorer window, in another Explorer window, or on the desktop. Note that you can create a new, empty Zip file in Explorer by right clicking and then choosing WinZip File from the New submenu.

Compressing and e-mailing files and folders from My Computer or Windows Explorer

• Select one or more files or folders in a Windows Explorer window, then right click any of the selected items, click WinZip from the context menu, and choose one of the Zip and E-Mail entries from the WinZip submenu. Zip and E-Mail filename.zip quickly compresses the selected items, creates a temporary Zip file with the specified name, and attaches it to a new e-mail message. Zip and E-Mail Plus performs the same basic operation but allows you to apply encryption and to specify the name of the temporary Zip file to be created.

For a complete list of the actions available from the context menu, see the Explorer context menu enhancements.

See also

Using the Start Menu and Desktop

Using Drag and Drop

WinZip Quick Pick taskbar tray icon

Explorer context menu enhancements

Explorer Enhancements (Configuration)