Chromebooks and Chrome OS have been around for a while. Google and its hardware partners have been working hard over the last several years to address some of these issues, including giving customers the ability to zip and unzip files on Chromebooks.
This feature makes it easier to save all of your stuff in one location in a folder. On a Chromebook, you may unzip files without the need for additional software, unlike on other computers.
Zipping files is useful for transmitting and saving documents, and doing so on a Chromebook is simple. Also, unzipping a file that has already been compressed or that you have received merely requires a few clicks.
In-built ChromeOS functionalities are used in this article to demonstrate how to zip and unzip a file on a Chromebook. We’ll also show you how to use extensions.
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In This Article
What is a zipped file?
A file may include several files or directories using the zip format. As it allows lossless compression and archives the files or directories, it facilitates faster file transfers.
Unzipping Files on a Chromebook
Zipped file extraction is a bit tricky. The archive’s files are manually extracted rather than unzipped. Fortunately, doing it is simple.
To open the archive and see its contents, locate the archive.zip file in the left panel and double-click it.
Select the files you wish to extract by right-clicking on them in the enlarged archive screen. Select Copy.
Go to the place where you wish to extract the files by navigating there. To paste, use the right-click menu option. You may modify the files you copied once they are in this new location.
Although modifications may be made to files in archived folders, they cannot be preserved.
When finished, in the Files app’s left column, click Eject next to the archive.zip folder.
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How to zip a file on Chromebook
The ChromeOS built-in Files app is where files are compressed and uncompressed.
- Click Files in the app launcher.
- You may also use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+M to launch the Files app.
- Find the files you wish to zip using the left sidebar. The circle in front of each file should be checked.
- To choose many linked files: After clicking the first file while holding down the Shift key, click the last file.
- To select certain files but not all: Click on the desired files while holding down Ctrl.
- To choose every file: To pick every file in a place, use Ctrl+A.
Choose Zip selection from the context menu by right-clicking the chosen files. The files are zipped together and stored in a file called Archive.zip.
It may be found alphabetically at the top of the same folder as the files you just compressed. The name of the folder is the same as the folder with the.zip suffix when you zip a folder.
You may change the name of the archive.zip file. Right-click the file and choose Rename.
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How to Zip and Unzip on Chromebook with an extension
Use Chromebook’s Wicked Good Unarchiver Extension
You may unzip a variety of compressed files with the Chromebook-specific The Wicked Good Unarchiver addon. Follow the steps below to unzip your file:
Step 1: Open the Chrome browser on the Chromebook.
Step 2: Use the Chrome browser to search for Wicked Good Unarchiver, then click the first link or just browse the Chrome Web Store.
Step 3: To add this extension, go to the next step and select Add to Chromebook:
Step 4: Next, select Wicked Good Unarchiver from the open menu when right-clicking a Zipped file in any format.
The files from the ZIP folder should be copied, and then pasted into a new folder that has been created.
Using Zip Extractor extension on a Chromebook
On your Chromebook, you may use this free extension to extract and create ZIP files. It also accepts files with password protection:
Step 1: Launch Chrome and enter the Zip extractor into the search bar.
Step 2: To add the ZIP extractor to your Chromebook browser, choose the install option.
Step 3: Select “Open ZIP From Computer” from the menu.
Step 4: Click the Open button after selecting the ZIP file:
Step 5: To extract the files on the Chromebook, click the Extract option.
Step 6: Click See Files to access the newly generated unzip folder, where you may view unzipped files.
Step 7: Google Drive will open the unzipped folder.
What file types is Chrome OS compatible with?
For those who wanted to unzip files on a Chromebook, Chrome OS only supported.zip and.rar files until recently. To support even more file types that you may browse and unzip, Google has upgraded Chrome OS. This is the complete list:
- .zip
- .rar
- .tar.gz (.tgz)
- .tar.bz2
- .tar (.tbz2)
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If necessary, you may download a variety of extensions to let you unzip files on your Chromebook in a variety of file types.
These particular Chrome extensions function the same way they would on any other Chrome-using device. However, they have improved Chromebook and Chrome OS compatibility.
A compact and simple web program called Archive Extractor can extract more than 70 different kinds of compressed data, supports archives with password protection, and can open multi-pack archives (zip.001, rar.part1, z01, etc.)
You can also open ZIP files on your PC and Google Drive with the ZIP Extractor. You may unzip (extract or decompress) files in Google Drive using ZIP Extractor.
A final note on how to Zip and Unzip files on Chromebook
When transferring data, zipping a file allows you to quickly combine all of your data into a single folder.
If you use a Chromebook and receive a zipped file, you may quickly decompress it using the functionality that comes preinstalled on your device. Third-party extensions and programs are an additional option.