I recently had to figure out how to unzip a .zip or .rar file on my Chromebook. The good thing is that it is not as hard as doing other stuff. For example, turning on Night Mode or disabling animations.
How To Unzip Files On Chromebook
There are two ways to unzip files. Firstly, you can use the Files app. And, secondly, there is Zip Extractor, an online tool.
How To Extract Zip Files With Files App
When you double-click on a zipped file, it pops up in the left sidebar of the Files app. Chrome OS treats ZIP files like external storage. Hence, it mounts the Zip file like it would a USB.
To unzip the file, simply copy the contents of the zip file and paste them in your desired location. For example, the downloads folder.
Once complete, ‘eject’ the ZIP file by pressing the arrow button on the right side of the file in the sidebar. This method works with zip files you download. It does not work for zip files on Google Drive (you must download them).
How To Compress/Zip Files With Files App
Sometimes, you need to add documents to a zip file. Unfortunately, at the moment, Chromebooks do not compress the files. Hence, the zipped folder is the same size of the all the original contents together.
Moreover, all the files must be in the Downloads folder. You may not Zip files directly from Google Drive.
- Press CTRL + E while in the Files app.
- This creates a new folder.
- Place all the files you want to zip in the new folder.
- Right-click the folder.
- Lastly, in the menu that shows up, click on ‘Zip Selection’ to zip all the files.
The completed zip archive then shows up in your downloads folder. That’s it. Now you know how to zip or unzip files on Chrome OS.
Use An Online Tool
Alternatively, you can use an online tool like Zip Extractor to manage your zip files on your Chromebook. Zip Extractor can extracts files in your Downloads folder or those on Google Drive.
However, you must authorize your Google Account (mandatory) to unzip files from local storage or Google Drive. You may save the files to your downloads folder or send them to Google Drive after extraction.