Unlike Windows and Mac, Chromebooks do not open the zip files frequently, it considers zip file as separate storage and mounts it like an external hard disc. Although the implementation is a bit sketchy, you can quickly fix it. Here’s a step-by-step process of how you can zip & unzip files on the Chromebook.
How to Zip Files on Chromebook
To Zip files, just select the files you need to place in the zip. All you have to do is pressing the ‘Ctrl’ key on your keyboard and click on the file to select. You can even choose similarly multiple files.
Afterward, right-click/two-finger tap on your trackpad select the option “Zip Selection” in the pop-up menu.
It’ll create a Zip File in the same file location at the bottom. It will not wholly move the files into the zip; they’ll just get copied to the zip file.
And by default, the name of the file will be set to “Archive.zip.” But you can double-click on the file and select the option “Rename” to rename the zip name. That is how you can create zip files on your Chromebook; you can send it to anyone online.
How to Unzip Files on Chromebook
To Unzip the file, double-tap on the zip file to open it as separate mounted storage. Chrome OS shows mounted devices in a left sidebar.
Not only showing it as separate storage, but even the entire process of extracting is also similar to how we deal with a hard disc. To obtain the files, select the files you want to extract if you’re going to extract all the files, press Ctrl + A to select every file.
Now right-click/two-finger tap & select the option “Copy” in the pop-up menu.
After that, navigate to the destination where you want the files to extract and right-click/ two-finger tap & select the option “Paste” in the pop-up menu to paste the data.
You can now unmount the zip file by tapping on the unmount icon beside the zip file.
Better Use a Third-Party App
By default, Chrome OS can merely open zip files in .zip & .rar formats. To unzip any other zip file format, you are required to install this chrome extension. The top part about this extension is that it merges with the native files app on chrome OS as it’s specially made for the Chromebooks.
To install, open chrome & open Chrome web store. Now search for Wicked Good Unarchiver then add it to Chrome. Alternatively, you can open this link to get to the extension page directly.
When done, that’s it. Your files app can also open 7z, ar, CAB, CPIO, deb, iso, jar, lha, rpm, pax, tar, and warc files.
Alternatively
By using the extension, you can merely open, but cannot create files. Instead of using some 3rd party app, create the zip file in. zip format in the Files app & use the Online Converter Free website to convert it into any file format.
To do that, open the website, choose the file you need to convert, and select the file type you want to convert then hit convert. Online converter Free will automatically convert the data, and you can download it.
Wrapping up
There are even many 3rd party apps such as Zip exactor, Archive Extractor, Zip Share, which are web apps, or you can also use Android apps like File manager Plus. But upon usage, using Wicked Good Unarchiver felt better due to its complete integration into the Chrome OS files app.