Due to the limited free space on hard drives or portable media, some files and folders you need have to be compressed. This is done to reduce the size of the file on the storage medium. In standard archivers, files can be compressed by 20-95% of their original size. The exact percentage of compression depends on the type of files being compressed.
Necessary
Basic personal computer skills and access to the file to be compressed
Instructions
Step 1
Open the folder that contains the desired file (or folder).
Step 2
Click on the file with the right mouse button. In the list of actions that appears, select the line "Add to archive …". This will bring up the Archive Name and Parameters dialog box.
Step 3
In the window that appears, on the first tab there is a "Browse" button, which is designed to set the directory for the location of the future archive.
Step 4
You can also specify the "Archive name" (if you want to change the name). Next, the type of archive is usually selected - there are two options to choose from (RAR and ZIP).
Step 5
After configuring the required characteristics of the future archive, you can click the "OK" button (at the bottom of the "Archive name and parameters" dialog box). The compression process starts.
Step 6
The process of archiving files and folders is accompanied by the Create Archive dialog box. There are 5 buttons in this window:
- Button "Operation parameters" - allows you to configure the process parameters. "Compression method" - sets the speed and quality of compression (the higher the speed, the less the file is compressed)
- Button "Background mode" - minimizes the archiving window to tray (creates an icon on the taskbar);
- "Pause" button - temporarily pauses the archiving process;
- "Cancel" button - cancels the archiving process;
- Help button - Calls up the Windows Help topic related to the archiving process.
