XAMI Posted February 7, 2020 Posted February 7, 2020 Google Drive won’t let you work with Zip or RAR files without downloading them first on a PC. This can be very troublesome, especially if you are dealing with multiple compressed files An external app called ZIP Extractor helps you in these situations. Let’s take a closer look at how to open Zip and RAR files in Google Drive. Using ZIP Extractor to Extract Zip Files in Google Drive While Google Drive lets you view the contents of a zipped file that was uploaded, there is no preview option. You also cannot download the individual files within a zipped folder. To deal with the problem, you need to install an application called ZIP Extractor. It’s available both as a GSuite app and a Chrome extension. Before you install the app, you will have to give permission to ZIP Extractor to add itself to Google Drive and accordingly view and manage the files. These are standard security permissions which can be freely given, as this is a trusted GSuite app. It is a clean installation which doesn’t take a lot of time. The permission screen for the GSuite app looks slightly different compared to the Chrome extension. The following screen is for GSuite app. Accessing the Data within Zipped Folders Once the third-party app has been installed on Google Drive, you can easily locate it anytime from “My Drive -> More -> Zip Extractor.” As soon as you reach the ZIP Extractor homescreen, you will see a list of multiple zipped files contained within Google Drive. Find the zipped folder you need access to. Click “Open ZIP from Google Drive.” Select all the files you need to view in Google Drive. They can all be selected together, which is the default option. Click “Extract” to move to the next step. Once the extraction is over, you can view the unzipped files easily. Click ‘View Files” to proceed further. In the next step, you should be able to view all the unzipped data within a folder in Google Drive. These can now be downloaded separately. With ZIP Extractor, you can selectively use a limited number of archived files. This is really helpful if you want to download and transfer the executable of a software without downloading all individual bits. An amazing quality of ZIP Extractor is that it can also extract password-protected zipped folders. The password is only used on your computer to open the ZIP file and is never sent over the network. Summary Zipping a file remains one of the best ways to transfer and retain sensitive data. While Google Drive has worked on numerous features to cover the ways of zip file exploration, third-party apps like Zip Extractor are currently the best solution. Do also take note that extracted files can take up a lot of storage space (the reason why they are compressed in the first place), so you will need to clean and free up space in your Google Drive frequently. Sayak, B. (2020, January 15). How to Open Zip and RAR Files in Google Drive. Retrieved from https://www.maketecheasier.com/open-zip-rar-files-google-drive/
Premium
Recommended Posts