Zip files on your Mac

One of the first things I lamented about when I made the switch to OS X was that I couldn’t figure out how to zip files or folders. I had managed to figure out how to unzip files (Stuffit Expander), but couldn’t for the life of me figure out why I couldn’t zip them up.  Turns out that OS X had me covered with a built in Zip utility. Sure, there’s a host of excellent application alternatives out there, most notably Rucksack, but they’re a little bit overkill for most Mac owners.

Whether you’re looking to zip a number of files together, or zip an entire folder you can do it in a couple or mouse clicks, without having to install any third party software.

Zipping Files, and Folders

Step One: Select the Files you want to Zip

Step Two: Right Click one of the Files, and select the Compress option

You should see an option to compress your number of files. In this case I have selected 6 items for compressing, so the menu item says, “Compress 6 Items.” If you’re only zipping one file the menu will say, “Compress FileName,” where FileName is the name of the file you’re zipping.

Joshua is the Content Marketing Manager at BuySellAds. He’s also the founder of Macgasm.net. And since all that doesn’t quite give him enough content to wrangle, he’s also a technology journalist in his spare time, with bylines at PCWorld, Macworld and TechHive.