zip files compatible with windows

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imacLizH Author

Level 1

8 points

zip files compatible with windows

window error when using Mac zip file "too many files"

Posted on Dec 17, 2014 4:11 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

John Lockwood

Level 6

13,707 points

Dec 19, 2014 1:48 AM in response to imacLizH

If you select a single text file, then right-click on it and select Compress, I would expect this to produce a ZIP file containing just a single file i.e. the text file.

If however you select a folder then the ZIP file would contain not only the folder, the obvious files in the folder, but may also contain some invisible files like .DS_Store

Ok, the above is what I expected, I have just been testing this and this is actually what happens. A single file e.g. a text file when made in to a ZIP by right-clicking and selecting compress produces a ZIP file which contains the following

thetextfile.txt <--- (the text file)

__MACOSX <--- (an invisible folder)

__MACOSX/._thetextfile.txt (an invisible file in the invisible folder, this is not the text file itself)

So, yes it is more than one file in the ZIP file. By the way, you can 'see' what is in a ZIP file by using Terminal.app and typing the following

zipinfo nameofzip.zip

You can use Terminal.app also to create a 'clean' ZIP file containing just the text file the command looks like this

zip nameofzip.zip thetextfile.txt

Then to check do the zipinfo command again.

There is also a a commercial tool do simplify doing this, funnily enough it specifically mentions the __MACOSX folder etc. See http://gotoes.org/sales/Zip_Mac_Files_For_PC/

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Answer 2

imacLizH Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2014 1:44 PM in response to lllaass

Thanks for replying. I'm compressing a small text file I saved from an excel worksheet to send to a government agency (they archive it as a zip file for their records- they don't deal with MAC computers of course). I have had no problems doing this on a PC (where previously I save the text file as a "text delimited", but now I have an IMAC. (I have to load lots and lots of files to them for my work.) I tried first saving the data as a Windowstext file. Then I "compress it" as a zip file. Thanks so much for looking at this.

When I attempt to upload to government agency I get message:

UPLOADING A GEO_WELL FILE

TOO MANY FILES IN THE ZIP FILE. THERE SHOULD BE ONLY ONE FILE (NAMED GEO_WELL.TXT)

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Answer 3

lllaass

Level 10

210,629 points

Dec 18, 2014 2:02 PM in response to imacLizH

What app are you using to save a Windows text file?

What app are you "zipping" that file with? The Mac's Compress option when you right click on the file?

As a test try compressing the file on the Macand then try uncompressing the file on the Mac to see if it is the same.

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Answer 4

imacLizH Author

Level 1

8 points

Dec 18, 2014 10:17 PM in response to lllaass

I am saving my data set as a windows text file in excel, which gives me many text options. I compress the by right clicking on the text file in FINDER. When I "open" or uncompress the zipped file it looks normal. The government agency tech guy says that MAC compressed files save an additional line or two of stuff, and this causes the problem. But he's not an APPLE type and doesn't know more than that. One can't view the zipped file, right? without un-zipping it?

If this helps at all, the process works on a PC by saving the data on tab delimited text formatted file. Then I compress it into a zip file. And it's fine. But I bought a MAC and want to use it.

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