Create a Compressed Zip Folder in Windows 7
By Dave Taylor
The Question: I’m a graphic designer and often have a dozen or more files that I’m working on for a client. When I need to check in with them, it’s generally a pain because of the file count and they get confused by all the attachments and often don’t unpack everything before calling me to say something’s missing. Is there a smarter way to create a folder with my files on my Windows PC or some other archival approach I could use?
Dave’s Answer:
You’re not alone with your need to share lots of files with clients, actually, and there are a lot of different approaches. If sharing services like DropBox and SkyDrive weren’t such a pain to work with, they could be great solutions, but let’s stick with what’s built in with Windows 7 since that’s what you’re running on your PC.
Well, I’m making an assumption about how complicated things are, I admit, and I know some people will say that a simple tutorial would go a long way to explaining how to use something like Microsoft SkyDrive to share a folder or “virtual drive” with a customer. That’s true, but in this instance, I’m waiting to see how it’s integrated into the new Windows 8 that’s on the way: grafting it into Windows 7 is just awkward, and as a consultant I’m always leery of asking my clients to do things that might require tech support or assistance. Frustration is not an emotion I want to have them associate with my communications. 🙂
Anyway, back to Windows 7. Turns out that the OS handles compressed ZIP folders very elegantly and that’s probably the easiest way to send a bunch of files to someone as a single entity. Oddly, though, considering they’re called “compressed” folders, you actually have to change a preference setting to actually have the contents compressed.
Article Continued Here
This post is excerpted with permission from Dave Taylor.
Sign up for Dave’s emails about free tech support and special offers on books, seminars, workshops and more.
