Archive name and parameters dialog: files

Files to add

Names of files and folders to compress. This field is automatically filled by selected file names, but, if necessary, you may edit them manually or press "Append" button to choose more files to add to the list.

It is allowed to enter wildcard masks here. In this case WinRAR will search for files matching a mask in the current folder and all subfolders. If you need to specify several masks, separate them by spaces. If mask contains spaces, enclose it in quotes. For example, you may enter:

*.txt *.doc "set 1.*"

to archive all .txt and .doc files.

Files to exclude

File masks and file names to exclude from the archiving operation. Wildcards are supported both in path and name parts of masks. If you need to specify several masks, separate them by spaces. If mask contains spaces, enclose it in quotes. For example, you may enter:

c:\temp\info.txt *.bak *.tmp *\temp\

to skip c:\temp\info.txt file, all .bak and .tmp files, all temp folders and all files in temp folders. You may enter file names manually or use "Append" button to browse for file to exclude.

Detailed information about exclusion masks syntax is provided in description of switch -x. This switch uses the same format of exclusion masks as "Files to exclude" field.

Files to store without compression

File masks and file names to store without compression. This option may be used to store already compressed files, which helps to increase archiving speed without noticeable loss in the compression ratio. If you need to specify several masks, separate them by spaces. If mask contains spaces, enclose it in quotes. For example, you may enter:

*.rar *.zip *.jpg

to store without compression all RAR and ZIP archives and JPG images.

File paths

Select the method of storing file paths in archive. WinRAR may store paths relative to the current folder (default), full file paths except the drive letter and leading backslash character, store only file names without paths or store full paths including the drive letter.

If you store names without paths, it is possible to create an archive containing several files with the same name, so use "Do not store paths" option with care.

If you store full paths including the drive letter, WinRAR will replace drive separators (colons) by underscore characters. WinRAR is able to change underscores back to colons and create unpacked files in their original folders and disks, if you set "Extract absolute paths" option in "Advanced" part of extraction dialog. You may read more about potential benefits and dangers of "Store full paths including the drive letter" mode in the description of -ep3 switch, which is the command line equivalent of this WinRAR option.

Put each file to separate archive

Put each selected file or folder to separate archive. If you set this option, an entered archive name is treated only as a destination path for new archives (if it is not a folder, its name part is ignored) and archive names are generated basing on file names.

Send archive by email to [<addr>] [and then delete]

This option allows to attach a created archive to email message. You need to have an installed MAPI compliant email program to use this option (most modern email programs support MAPI interface). If you do not enter a destination email address here, it will be asked by your email program. It is possible to specify several addresses separated by commas or semicolons. If you set "and then delete" option, an archive will be deleted after it was successfully attached to an email.

If Send archive by email option is used when creating a multivolume archive, every volume will be attached to a separate email message.