Do you have multiple files, that you want to share with your friend? Creating a zip file is going to be the best option for you. Zip is a process to compress your files and make it a single file. It is easy as well as quick to transfer the zipped. If you have used windows then the process on MacBook is slightly different. Thanks to this article, Here’s how to zip a file on a Mac and unzip them.
What is Zip file?
A zip file is a collection of multiple files that have been compressed into a single file. It’s like having a bunch of pens put in a single packet and zipped ao it can be easily stored, transported, and transferred. Along with the ability to easily transfer the file, the zipping can also decrease the file size and make it password protected (if required).
- The use of ZIP files can also allow the user to consolidate and compress multiple files to be able to transfer the file via mail or portable storage drives. This article guides you on how to create a ZIP file on your MacBook. How to Create a ZIP file on Mac. Creating a ZIP file on your MacBook is very simple.
- Use the -s switch on the zip command in terminal. So if your folder was called FolderName. Zip -r -s 64 archive.zip FolderName/. 64 is the size of the split (in this case 64Mb). Use -s to set the split size and create a split archive. The size is given as a number followed optionally by one of k (kB), m (MB), g (GB), or t (TB) (the default is m).
- To use your plug-in, switch to the Finder and select a number of files (Command-click to select non-contiguous files). Then Control-click on one of the selected files, and choose More - Automator.
Macos Zip Multiple Files
If I select all of these folders in the Finder and do 'Compress X Items,' I get one zip file containing all of the folders, whereas what I want is one zip file per folder. I tried creating a workflow with Automator using the 'Create Archive' action, but it behaves the same way: inputting multiple files/folders outputs a single zip file. Open the folder with files or folders you want to zip up Select the items you want to include in the zip file and right-click on any one of the items. Select 'Compress (x) Items' from the pop-up menu. Once again, a progress bar will display.
Steps to Make a Zip File on Mac
Mac computers and laptops have their own built-in compression features. By using this feature you can easily zip files or folders. Here’s how to do it:-
- Create a new folder on your Mac and paste all the files that you want to zip into the folder.
- Skip the above step if you have an existing folder that needs to be zipped.
- Now press the command + tap (click) on the folder or simply right-click on the folder.
- Now click on the Compress (folder name).
- It’s done, you will find a new file compressed file with the same name as your folder but with .zip at the end and zipped folder icon in the same folder.
Steps to Unzip a Zip file on Mac
Un-zipping or opening a Zip file in Mac is as simple as creating a zip file in Mac. Just double-tap on the Zip file to open/unzip it. That can’t be more simple, right!!!.
Have you ever needed to zip a number of files into separate zip archives? Perhaps you’ve got a number of files in one directory, and they need to be e-mailed to a number of different people. If you use OS X’s built-in Compress contextual menu item (or Create Archive in OS X 10.4), the end result will be one archive containing all the files—which is clearly not what you want.
You could compress each file one at a time, of course, but that’s tedious. Instead, put Automator to use with a simple one-command workflow. Open Automator, in Applications, and create a new custom (blank) worfklow. Select the Utilities entry in the left-most column, the drag the Run Shell Script action into the blank work area on the right.
Set the Pass Input pop-up to “as arguments,” and then replace the existing cat code with this text:
That’s it; that’s the entire workflow. (Please note that this workflow will not work if you select a folder; it’s designed to zip files only.)
In a nutshell, the way this works is that it loops through each file that’s passed to it (that’s the first line), creating a variable (f) that holds the currently-active filename. It then runs the Unix zip command, with the -j option, creating a new zip file that’s simply the current filename with “.zip” appended at the end—the original file is not modified, so this script is perfectly safe to use. The -j option tells zip not to store path information in the zip file; if you leave that option out, when you expand the archive, the system will create a folder structure that exactly matches the full path to the original file.
Now that you’ve written your workflow, it’s time to make it easy to use. Select File -> Save As Plug-In. In the dialog that appears, give your workflow a name (Zip Separately), make sure the Plug-in For pop-up is set to Finder, then click Save. To use your plug-in, switch to the Finder and select a number of files (Command-click to select non-contiguous files). Then Control-click on one of the selected files, and choose More -> Automator -> Zip Separately (or whatever you named your workflow) from the pop-up menu.
Zip Multiple Files Mac Terminal
When the workflow finishes running, you’ll find a zipped copy of each file you had selected, located in the same directory as the original file. This simple workflow makes short work of the task of creating separate zip archive from multiple individual files.