How to Zip and Unzip Files on Chromebook.
Unlike Windows and Mac, Chromebook does not open zip files normally, it treats the zip file as a separate storage and mounts it like an external hard drive. Although the implementation is a bit sketchy, you can easily fix it. Here’s a step-by-step process for archiving and unpacking files on a Chromebook.
How to compress files on a Chromebook
To archive files, select the files you want to archive. You can do this by pressing the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard and clicking on the file you want to select. You can even select multiple files in this way.
Now right-click / tap with two fingers on the trackpad and choose the “Zip Selection” option from the pop-up menu.
It will create a Zip file in the same location at the bottom. It will not completely move the files to the zip archive, they will just be copied to the zip file.
By default, the file name will be “Archive.zip”. However, you can double click on the file and select the Rename option to rename the ZIP file. This is how you can create zip files on your Chromebook and send them to anyone on the Internet.
How to decompress files on Chromebook
To unzip a file, double-click it to open it as a separate mounted storage. Chrome OS shows connected devices in the left sidebar.
It is not just displayed as a separate storage, even the entire extraction process is similar to how we work with a hard drive. To extract files, select the files you want to extract. If you want to extract all files, press ctrl + A to select each file.
Now right-click / tap with two fingers and select the “Copy” option from the pop-up menu.
Now navigate to the destination where you want to extract the files, right click / tap with two fingers and select the “Paste” option from the pop-up menu to paste the files there.
You can now unmount the zip file by clicking on the unmount icon next to the zip file.
Better to use a third party application
By default, Chrome OS can only open zip files in .zip and .rar formats. To unzip any other zip file format, you need to install this extension for Chrome. The best part about this extension, unlike other extensions, is that it integrates with the native files app in Chrome OS, as it’s built specifically for Chromebooks.
To install, open Chrome and open the Chrome Web Store. Now search for Wicked Good Unarchiver and add it to Chrome. Alternatively, you can open this link to go directly to the extension page.
When everything is ready, that’s all. Now your file application can even open 7z, ar, CAB, CPIO, deb, iso, jar, lha, pax, rpm, tar, warc files.
Instead of that
Using the extension, you can only open, but you cannot create files. Instead of using a third-party application, simply create a .zip file in the Files application and use the Online Converter Free website to convert it to any file format.
To do this, simply open the website, select the file you want to convert, select the type of file you want to convert to and click “Convert”. Free Online Converter will automatically convert the file and you can download it.
Packaging
There are even many third party apps like Zip exactor, Archive Extractor, Zip Share, which are web apps, or you can even use Android apps like File Manager Plus. But after using Wicked Good Unarchiver felt better due to its full integration into the Chrome OS files app.