Using WinZip to E-Mail Archives

WinZip® includes three features that make it easy to e-mail compressed files to others via the Internet:

• The Zip and E-Mail feature provides "one click" compression and mailing of files and folders from My Computer or Windows Explorer. It quickly compresses selected files and folders into a temporary Zip file, creates an e-mail message, and attaches the Zip file to the message. You can then address the message, add any desired text, and send the e-mail as you usually would. WinZip automatically deletes the temporary Zip file when it is no longer needed.
• To use the feature, simply select the desired files or folders in My Computer or Windows Explorer, click the right mouse button, and choose Zip and E-Mail filename.zip from the WinZip shortcut menu. The filename shows the name that WinZip will use for the Zip file it creates.
• The Zip and E-Mail Plus feature is similar to Zip and E-Mail but allows you to specify the name of the Zip file and add encryption if desired. To use the feature, simply select the desired files or folders in My Computer or Windows Explorer, click the right mouse button, and choose Zip and E-Mail Plus from the WinZip shortcut menu.
• Note that if you find that you are using either Zip and E-Mail or Zip and E-Mail Plus all the time, you can remove the one you don't use from the context menu using the Explorer Enhancements tab of WinZip's Configuration dialog.
• You can e-mail the currently open archive by choosing Mail Archive from the File menu. WinZip will create a new e-mail message and attach the open archive to it. You can then address the message, add any desired text, and send the e-mail as you usually would.

Like the Windows "Send To Mail Recipient" feature, these WinZip e-mail features use a protocol called Simple MAPI to "talk" to your e-mail program. MAPI, which is provided by your e-mail software and not by Windows itself, allows Windows and application programs to instruct your e-mail program to create new mail messages, add attachments, etc. WinZip's e-mail features require that you have a MAPI-compatible e-mail program installed and correctly configured (just as the Windows Send to Mail Recipient feature does).

Examples of MAPI-compatible e-mail programs are Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, and AOL 7.0 and 8.0.

AOL versions 4.0 - 6.0 do not support Simple MAPI. Therefore, neither Windows' Send To Mail Recipient nor WinZip's e-mail features can be used with these AOL versions.

Compressing attachments from within your e-mail program

There is another technique you can use to compress attachments while composing messages in your e-mail program. This technique does not require that your e-mail program support the MAPI interface that WinZip uses for the above features; it works with most e-mail programs that use the standard Windows "Open File" dialog box to attach files. Here is the technique:

1. In your e-mail program, open the dialog box you normally use to attach files to your e-mail messages.
2. Using the standard Open File dialog box, locate the file or folder you wish to attach.
3. Position the mouse pointer over the file or folder name in the dialog box, then click the right mouse button and choose Add to filename.zip from the shortcut menu (note: the filename shown in the menu entry will be the name of the file you selected). This will create a Zip file called "filename.zip".
4. Still in the Open File dialog box, click once on filename.zip (the zip created in the previous step). This file will normally be at the end of the current directory listing.
5. Click the appropriate button to attach the Zip file (this is typically labeled Open, Attach, or Insert).

Note: this technique has been tested with current versions of the most popular e-mail programs (such as Outlook and Eudora). We can't promise that it will work with all e-mail programs or with future versions of the programs we have tested.

Related topic

Why aren't WinZip's e-mail features working for me?