Using 7-Zip...a step-by-step picture guide to installing and using the FREE 7-ZIP program top open zipped files

by Bonnie Boots

Because the “zip” format is a popular way to send and receive files, everyone needs a zip/unzip program.7-Zip is a free, open-source, zip/unzip program for Windows users. This tutorial will walk you through installing it and unzipping a file with it.

If you would like to work offline, you can download this complete tutorial in PDF format by clicking this link.

To download the 7 Zip installation file, go to this web page:

http://www.7-zip.org/download.html

 Then follow the pictures below to walk through the installation:

Download the 7zip “exe” file. You will see this download screen open on your monitor.

Save the file 7z465.exe to your desktop as shown below. (You can save downloaded files anywhere you like. I think it’s easier to find them if I save them first to my desktop.)

Your windows download manager will appear to let you know the file has been downloaded. You can now close your internet browser, if you like.

 You can also click the “clear list” at the lower left corner of your download manager to clear that “7z465.exe” file from its memory.

Then click the “x” in the upper right corner to close your download manager.

Now find the file on your desktop: Click on the file icon (as shown below) to open it. The icon looks like a round CD disc.

Clicking on the icon will open a security warning. Ignore the warning and click the button that says, “RUN.”

When you click on “Run,” the SET UP SCREEN will open. This tells you the program will be installed on your main drive, in a program file named “7-Zip.” Click the button that says, “Install.”

When you see the screen below, click the button that says, “Finish.”  You can now drag the downloaded file icon (the one that looks like a round CD, named 7z465) from your desktop into the trash. You won’t need it anymore.

Now, when you go to your programs menu, you will see the folder for 7-Zip has been installed.

To see your program menu In Windows XP, you would go to the “start” menu in the lower left of your monitor. Click on it to open. Now click on “All Programs” to see your program menu.

Seven Zip will be the last program on the menu, because it was the last program installed.  Inside the 7-Zip folder, you will see two files: the file manager and the help file.

When you want to use 7-Zip to unzip a compressed file, locate the file. Here I’m showing a zipped file that I saved to my desktop. That zipped file is named “Gravatar tutorial.”

Hover your cursor over the zipped file and LEFT mouse click once to select that file. The icon of that file will turn a little darker to show it has been selected.

With your cursor over the selected file, RIGHT MOUSE CLICK to open a menu of options. On that menu, find the listing for 7-Zip.

Hover your cursor over the 7-Zip file name and a menu with options will appear. These are all the tasks you can do from within 7-Zip. Because the compressed file I selected is named “Gravatar tutorial” all the options shown in the menu relate to things I can do with the “Gravatar tutorial” file. Right now, I want to unzip a compressed file so I will click on the option “Extract files…"

When I click on “Extract files’ a new menu option titled “Extract” will open. This is where I choose where I will extract the zipped files.

 The “Extract” screen has pre-chosen an option. You see it in the title bar listed as “C:|Documents and Settings\boots,\Desktop\Gravatar tutorial.

 The Extract screen is asking me if I want to save the extracted files to my C drive, in my account named “boots”, on the desktop, in a folder named “Gravatar tutorial.”

If I wanted to save the extracted files to the “Gravatar tutorial” folder, I would just click the “OK” button on the bottom of the Extract screen.

But for demonstration purposes, I am going to choose to save it to a different folder. To do that, I will click on the small white square to the right of the title bar, shown here by a red arrow…

When you click on that small white square, it will open the “Browse For Folder” screen shown below.

In this case, I have already created a folder named “7 Zip Test” on my desktop. I will select “7 Zip Test” from the folder options displayed. When I click on “7-Zip-Test” and then click the “OK” button, 7-Zip will unzip the file and save the now-uncompressed files to that folder.

Look at the picture above and you will see a button in the lower left of the screen that says, “Make new folder.” I could have clicked there are created a new folder on my desktop or anywhere else, and designated that as the folder I wanted the unzipped files saved in.

When I highlight the folder named “7 Zip Test” and click the “OK” button, 7-Zip will take me back to the “Extract” screen. That screen now shows the folder named “7-Zip Test” in the title bar, indicating this is where it will extract the files as soon as I click the “OK” button.

When I click the OK button, the Extract screen will close. On my desktop, you can now see both the zipped file and the folder named 7 Zip Test where the uncompressed files have been saved.

When I click on the 7 Zip Test folder, I see inside it the uncompressed folder for “Gravatar tutorial.”

And when I click on that folder, I see inside it the uncompressed files that are stored inside the folder named “Gravatar tutorial”

Because the unzipped files are now safely stored, I have no further need for the original zip file, so I can drag it to the recycle bin.

I can now store the 7 Zip Test folder anywhere I like.

Here are a few tips about working to unzip compressed files:

 It’s best not to store folders and files on your desktop, because it’s not as stable as being inside the “My documents” folder on your main hard drive. Desktop files may be lost or corrupted if your computer crashes. Furthermore, desktop files are not usually included in backup programs when you backup your files.

When I was first getting started working with zip files, I didn’t know I could discard the zip file after opening it, so I was always careful to store that zip file with the now unzipped files all in one folder. Over a year or two, those un-needed zip files started to take up a lot of space on my hard drive—and for no good reason!

The zip files ALWAYS contain a copy of the compressed folders, even after your have done an “Extract.”

 If I went through this tutorial again and unzipped the "Gravatar tutorial” zip folder another time, it would save a second copy of the folder. It would indicate this by naming it “Gravatar totorial2”. If I did it again, it would name the next copy “Gravatar tutorial3.”

People sometimes think a download or unzip process has failed, and then wonder why they fid folders on their desktop named Folder, Folder 2, Folder 3. It’s because they have clicked the download screen or the extract screen again and again and created new copies of the same file.

7-Zip is an excellent free and open source zip/unzip program. “Open source” means that the code that makes up 7-Zip is openly available for anyone to work on. A community of generous software creators uses this code to constantly improve 7-Zip.

While the program is free for anyone to use, I strongly encourage you to make a donation to the 7-Zip community if you like and use the program. You will find their donation page here:

http://www.7-zip.org/register.html

Note that they have a suggested dollar amount on their donation page, but you are free to make as large or small a donation as you can afford.

 
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