Archiving files is the process of compressing multiple files or a single file for the purpose of shrinking their size. This can be useful for transferring files or freeing up space on your computer. In this guide, we will show you how to archive a file using the built-in Windows archiving tool.
Firstly, select the files you wish to archive. In this example, we are using three files from the Documents folder. Right-click on the selected files and select “Send to” > “Compressed (zipped) folder”. This will automatically create a new archive and give it the name of the first file you selected.
Next, rename the archive to something more meaningful. In this example, we renamed it to “test archive”. The archive will contain all the files within the initial selection.
To access the files within the archive, double-click on it. This will open the archive and display the files inside. In order to use these files, you will need to extract them. To do this, go to “File” > “Extract All” and select the location where you want the files to be extracted. Click “Extract” and the files will be extracted to the specified location.
When the files are extracted, a new folder will be created. In this example, the folder is also named “test archive” and contains the extracted files. To differentiate between the archive and the extracted folder, change the display to “Large icons”. The archive will have a zipper icon, while the extracted folder will have a regular folder icon.
There are many types of archives, such as .rar, .ace, .7-zip, etc. You can download archiving tools online to create and extract these types of archives. Once you install an application like WinRAR, you can right-click on an object or a folder or a file to extract or compress the file. WinRAR senses if a file is an archive and offers the possibility of extracting or compressing it.
Archiving files can be a useful tool for managing your computer’s storage. With this step-by-step guide, you can easily archive and extract files on your Windows computer. We hope this guide was easy to understand and helpful. Thank you for reading!