Support | PeaZip online help, zip unzip tutorial (2024)

Onthe top of the app's window,the tool bar contains filecompression and archiveextractionrelated functions, and "..." Style button (on the right) providingquick UI customization settings.

Please note, onthe right of“Extract” button, an arrow shows a menu with functionsto directly extract all the content of the archive to most commondestinations without further interaction with extraction confirmationinterface

• In the upper area are listed most commonextractionoperations: extract all to, allowing to select output directory (CTrl+Eor F12), extract all here (Ctrl+Alt+E), extract all to desktop(Ctrl+Shift+E), extract all to documents (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+E), extract to1..3° bookmarked paths (if defined), and extract to defaultextraction path (if defined). Only first, second and third bookmarksare shown as quick extraction destination to not clutter the menu, butbookmarks 1..8 are all accessible with keyboard shortcuts Ctrl+1..8.Ctrl+0 extracts to previous path.
  
• In the lower area it is possible to set mostcommonextraction options: extract to new folder, naming policy (only forformats supported through 7z frontend), open output path after the taskcompletes, set default extraction path.

Address barcontains navigation and search controls. It features a bredcrumb (whichshows highlighted in-archive nodes for maximum ease of use), and aquick navigationmenu (arrow button on the left of address bar): a similar menu forquick path's selection is available to set outputpath in extraction and compression interfaces (see below).

On the left, navigation barshows most common filesystem's paths (desktop, documents, downloadsetc) and user defined bookmarks; it canbe switched to a classic directory tree, a list of PeaZip zipper /unzipper functions byname, or hidden (Organize >Navigation bar).

PeaZip context menu

PeaZip's context menu showsarchive management features in the top area: compress, decompress(unzip / unrar...),test, set password...
In “Open with…” area it ispossible to force opening the input file as it is an archive, and toopen selected files and folders (in filesystem as well inside archives)withfavourite programs, scan with antivirus/antimalware etc; customapplicationscan be set in Options > Settings > Open with...
In "File manager" submenu arefeatured mass rename, secure file deletion,copy, move, renameand create newfolder functions; its "File tools" submenu allows to find duplicate files and to calculate checksum or hash ofselected/displayed files.
The application's context menu features other useful functions, likeaddobjects to PeaZip's bookmarks, explore paths with system's filemanager, open command prompt in the current path etc...

Set password

In the status bar, in the bottom area of the application, the padlockicon allows to set password to browse and extractencryptedarchives.

Drag & Drop

PeaZipfree file archiver supports standard Windows drag and drop extraction,and provides oprimized drag and drop extractionthat can drag from applicationto systemwithoutwriting data to system's temp directory: this allows the software tocomplete theoperation even if there is not enough free space in system's unit, itdoubles the speed if data is being dropped to a different disk orpartition, and it is intrinsically more secure as no data is writtenoutside the intended destination.
Drag from app to system canbe used both for extraction form archives and for robust file copy.
PeaZip also accepts drag and drop from systemto application, to addfiles to archive (new or existing) or toadd one or more archives to extraction list.

Preview files withPeaZip

Double clicking on a file in archive open it aspreview; if the file is changed PeaZip will ask to update the archivewith the newer version of the file - if archive extension is knownassupported for this this operation.

PeaZip's file manager can optionally show supported imagethumbnails (JPEG,GIF, PNG, TIFF, BMP), without caching; the option can be set inOrganize(main menu) or changing file browser's style from "..." Style menu inthe tool bar - pre set styles features details, list and large iconmodes.

Filearchiving/ Conversion interface:rightclick on the file list to show context menu to further edit thelist of files and folders to be archived, and other options.
"Output" area allows to select output path, archiving format,compression level, and to span files inmultiple volumes - useful in order to keep output size below amandatory maximum size, i.e. for e-mail attachments.
The padlockicon shows if encryption password isset and allows to set/change/remove it.
In file archiving interface it is featured "Convertexisting archives" option, to extract existing archivesbeforefile compression stage - i.e. to convertRARfiles to 7Z or ZIP format.
This option, used with "Add eachobject to a separate archive" option enabled, performs a massconversion of listed archives to the desired format; otherwise, withthe option disabled, archive conversion is meant to consolidate inputdata in a single archive, improvingdata compression performances becauseitallows recompression of the original data from its uncompressed form.
Advanced formatspecific file compression features are available in "Advanced"tab,"Console" and "Schedule"tab can beused to fine tune the task definition or to save and schedule the taskas a script.

• Full supported (read/write, convert to) archiveformats: 7z,FreeArc'sarc/wrc,sfx (as 7z and arc self extracting archives), bz2, gz, paq/lpaq/zpaq,pea, quad/balz/bcm, rar (if WinRar is installed in the system), split, tar,upx, wim, zip / zipx
  

Read more about how toadd files to a new archive or how to compress eachfile into a separate archive.

Extractioninterface: rightclick onthe file list to show context menu to further edit the list of filesandfolders to be extracted (decompressed), and other options.
Editable extraction list allows to partially extractdata from the archive, extract all, or to extract from multiplearchives at once, even of mixed types - e.g. unrarall RAR archiveswhile unzipping all ZIP archivesin the list in a single pass.
The padlock icon shows if password is set and allows toset/change/remove it.
It is possible to set the policy in case ofconflict with existing files: skip (default), overwrite, renameexisting files, renameextracted files, or to ask interactively (in backend process' console).
Extract then move todestination switch supersedes naming conflict policy, and usesstandard system'sdialogs to interactively ask to users whether to overwrite existingfiles or not.
This type of interactive extraction allows more natural behavior forextractiontasks for the typical workflow of a desktop user, but policy method ispreferable when it is needed to run unatteded extraction tasks (theaction to take in case of existing files is already defined at thebeginning of the task), and when it is needed to export task definition as consolescript.
While performing a partial extraction of content from an archive, it isfeatured a link to switch to full archive extraction, on the top of thelist of objects listed for extraction.
Advanced formatspecific extraction features are available in "Advanced" tab, "Console"and "Schedule"tab can beused to fine tune the task definition or to save and schedule the taskas a script.

PeaZip free zip / unzipapp, on Linux, and BSD systems supporting multiple desktopenvironmentsand widgetsets, is a desktopneutralutility and as long as the needed libraries are installed (GTK2 or Qt,andia32-libs on 64 bit systems) it can be used on KDE, Gnome or other desktop environments.

PeaZipis a fully modular software due to its frontend/backendarchitecture, soany backend binary can be independently replaced with alternativeversions (i.e. 64 bit versions) as long as the same syntax is supported.
This design allows also to easily export tasks defined in the GUI ascommand lines, to be used for future iterations of the same task, orfor learning purpose, or to fine tune the operation beyiond the scopeand limits of the graphical interface.