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File compression / Zip error: Couldn’t communicate with a helper application

I have successfully used the Compress function on a number of files recently, but have encountered a problem doing it with two large ones. (One of these is a folder containing several files.) The process starts and seems to go smoothly for a some hours, but then failed with this Zip error message: "Couldn’t communicate with a helper application."

Help! Any suggestions on how to address this problem? The file is a little under 90GB in size.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 8, 2020 2:50 PM

Top-ranking reply

Captain Moderate Author

Level 1

26 points

Posted on Sep 9, 2020 12:22 PM

Thank you for this. No problems with permissions.

I made a fourth attempt at the compress, without changing anything, and it just worked. So this problem is mysteriously solved.

Previously I had tried restarting the computer, with no effect.

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File compression / Zip error: Couldn’t communicate with a helper application

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