A compressed non-archive file is a file that is created when you use bzip, bzip2, gzip, lzop, or compress to compress a non-archive file. For example, file.txt.gz is created when you use gzip to compress file.txt.

You can use Archive Manager to create, open and extract a compressed non-archive file.

You can start Archive Manager in the following ways:

When you start Archive Manager, the following window is displayed:

Figure 1 Archive Manager Window

The Archive Manager window contains the following elements:

When you right-click in the Archive Manager window, the application displays a popup menu. The popup menu contains the most common contextual archive commands.

Archive Manager enables you to add, extract, or delete several files at once. To apply an action to all files that match a certain pattern, enter the pattern in the text box. The pattern can include standard wildcard symbols such as * to match any string, and ? to match any single symbol. You can enter several patterns separated by semicolons. Archive Manager applies the action to all files that match at least one of the patterns. The examples in the following table show how to use filename patterns to select files.

To open an archive, perform the following steps:

Archive Manager automatically determines the archive type, and displays:

To open another archive, choose Archive ▸ Open again. Archive Manager opens each archive in a new window. To open another archive in the same window, you must first choose Archive ▸ Close to close the current archive, then choose Archive ▸ Open.

If you try to open an archive that was created in a format that Archive Manager does not recognize, the application displays an error message. See Section 1 ― Introduction for a list of supported formats.

To select all files in an archive, choose Edit ▸ Select All.

To deselect all files in an archive, choose Edit ▸ Deselect All.

To extract files from an open archive, perform the following steps:

Archive Manager also provides ways of extracting files from an archive in a file manager window, without opening a Archive Manager window. See Section 8 ― Using the File Manager to Work with an Archive for more information.

The Extract operation extracts a copy of the specified files from the archive. The extracted files have the same permissions and modification date as the original files that were added to the archive.

The Extract operation does not change the contents of the archive. For information on how to delete files from an archive, see Section 5.5 ― To Delete Files From an Archive.

To close the current archive but not the Archive Manager window, choose Archive ▸ Close.

To close the current archive and the current Archive Manager window, choose Archive ▸ Quit.

To create an archive, perform the following steps:

To add files to an archive, perform the following steps:

You cannot add folders to the archive with the Add Files dialog. To add a folder see Section 4.3 ― To Add a Folder to an Archive.

The Add Files dialog provides the Add only if newer option, see Section 9 ― Add Options for more information on this option.

You can also add files to an archive in a file manager window, without opening an Archive Manager window. See Section 8 ― Using the File Manager to Work with an Archive for more information.

The Add operation adds a copy of the specified files or folders to the archive. Archive Manager does not remove the original files, which remain unchanged in the file system. The copies that are added to the archive have the same permissions and modification date as the original files.

To add a folder to an archive, perform the following steps:

The Add a Folder dialog provides several advanced options. See Section 9 ― Add Options for more information.

To convert an archive to another format and save as a new file, perform the following steps:

For security, you might want to encrypt the files that you add to an archive.

If the archive format supports encryption, you can specify a password to encrypt the files that you add to the archive. Currently, only .zip and .arj archives support encryption.

To specify a password for file encryption, perform the following steps:

Archive Manager uses the password to encrypt the files that you add to the current archive, and to decrypt the files that you extract from the current archive. Archive Manager deletes the password when you close the archive.

For information on how to check whether an archive contains encrypted files, see Section 7.3 ― To Display Additional Details.

To rename a file in an archive, perform the following steps:

To copy files in an archive, perform the following steps:

To move files in an archive, perform the following steps:

To delete files from an archive, perform the following steps:

To view the properties of an archive, choose Archive ▸ Properties to display the Properties dialog. The Properties dialog displays the following information about the archive:

Archive Manager displays the archive contents in the main window as a file list with the following columns:

If another program has modified the archive since Archive Manager opened the archive, choose View ▸ Reload to reload the archive contents from disk.

For information on how to customize the way that Archive Manager displays the archive contents, see Section 7 ― Customizing the Archive Display.

For more advanced tasks, use an application installed on your system. For more information, see Section 6.3 ― To View a File in an Archive.

To view a file in an archive, perform the following steps:

Archive Manager uses information from the File Types and Programs section of Advanced Desktop Preferences to automatically determine the appropriate application for the file type, and then launches that application. If Archive Manager cannot determine the appropriate application, Archive Manager displays the Open Files dialog to let you choose an application, as described below.

You can use an application specified by you, rather than the default application, to view a file. To use an external application to open a file, choose Edit ▸ Open Files. Archive Manager displays the Open Files dialog, which lists all of the applications that can open files of the specified type. To select one of the applications, click on the application name and then click Open. Alternatively, enter the application name in the Application text box and then click Open to launch the application of your choice.

If the archive contains folders, you can show the archive contents in either folder view or file view.

7.1.1. Folder View

Archive Manager displays the archive contents in folder view by default. To explicitly select folder view, choose View ▸ View as a Folder.

In folder view, Archive Manager shows folders in the same way as a file manager shows folders. That is, Archive Manager indicates folders in the display area with a folder icon and the folder name. To view the contents of a folder, double-click on the folder name.

The folderbar, which Archive Manager displays only in folder view, contains the components described in the following table.

Component	Description
	Click on this button to navigate backwards in the location history list.
	Click on this button to navigate forwards in the location history list.
	Click on this button to navigate up one level in the folder tree.
	Click on this button to open the top-level folder in the archive.
Location	This field shows the full pathname, within the archive, of the current folder. To change to a different level in the folder tree, type the new location in the Location text box then press Return. Archive Manager displays the contents of the new location.

You can sort the file list by name, size, type, modification date, or location.

To specify a sort order, choose View ▸ Arrange Files and select the required sort order. Alternatively, click on the heading of the corresponding column.

To reverse the sort order, click on the column heading again, or choose View ▸ Arrange Files ▸ Reversed Order.

For example, to sort the file list by modification date, click on the Date modified heading. Archive Manager rearranges the file list to display the files by modification date, starting with the earliest. To display the latest files first, click on the Date modified heading again.

Archive Manager always performs a secondary sort based on the file name. In the above example, Archive Manager sorts by name any files that have the same modification date.

To check whether an archive contains encrypted files, choose Archive ▸ Test Integrity:

To open the Last Output dialog, choose View ▸ Last Output:

You can use the file manager to add files to an archive, in the following ways:

To use the file manager popup menu to add files to an archive, perform the following steps:

You can use the file manager to extract files from an archive, in the following ways:

To use the file manager popup menu to extract files from an archive, perform the following steps:

The following options are available in the Add a Folder dialog and allow to automatically select and add all files that satisfy certain criteria: