Using WinZip

WinZip is a utility that compresses and decompresses files. This is useful for preparing large files for transport over the Internet, either via FTP or as an attachment to e-mail.

Notice: WinZip is shareware and may be freely distributed for evaluation purposes. If you decide to keep and use the program, you must send payment directly to the shareware author.

Launching and Using WinZip

Warning: Be careful about where you extract files using WinZip. WinZip, by default, extracts to the directory it extracted to last time. When extracting / expanding new files, extract to an empty temporary directory.

Follow these steps to launch and use WinZip:

Step Action
1 Windows 3.1 and 3.11 users - From the PipeLine+ group box in Program Manager, click the WinZip icon to launch application.

Windows 95 users - Click the Start button, next select PipeLine+, and then click WinZip to launch the application.

2 Select a file to be opened or unzipped.
3 Click the Extract button.
4 Choose a location for the extracted files. Click OK.

Tips and Techniques

  • Double clicking on a file in the main WinZip window has the same effect as double clicking in the File Manager or Explorer. First, the file is extracted from the archive. Then, if the file is executable, it is run. Otherwise, the file is opened by the appropriate application (for example, Windows Write for *.WRI files) based on standard Windows associations.
  • The Windows Drag and Drop interface is fully supported. You can drag and drop files from WinZip to other applications. WinZip extracts the files before dropping them on the target application. The target application treats the files as if they had been dropped by the File Manager or Explorer. You can also drop archives on WinZip to open them, or drop files on WinZip to add them to the open archive.

    • Finding Help and Reference Information

    WinZip has Help files included in the program. Choose Help from the menu bar; then select Contents or Search as needed.