.7z – “7 zip” software

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DocAElstein
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.7z – “7 zip” software

Post by DocAElstein »

Hello,
For the first time I have some files in .7z which I need to open , unzip or whatever the term is to make them do stuff/ the files in them make available. ( Eventually I believe i should in this case end up with an .exe and possibly some other documentation for using that. I am not sure exactly before I can see what I have.)
I have heard of the term 7 zip but have no experience. I think I know that they are some newer variation of zipped files and therefore probably need software other than that built in to windows to “unzip” things.
A simple double click takes me by one route or another to look for software, and I am usually swamped with different offers. I am reluctant to just try stuff out, if I can get any advice on the best way to proceed.

Does anyone have experience with using these files and can recommend me any software and the best place to currently download it from?

I won’t be getting .7z very often, they are not big, and I am not looking for great performance: I don’t need speed of opening/ converting or whatever other criteria is relevant to “performance” with these things.
So my needs are pretty basic.

Thanks

Alan
Last edited by DocAElstein on 09 Aug 2022, 14:37, edited 2 times in total.
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StuartR
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by StuartR »

7-Zip is a very useful :free: utility
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stuck
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by stuck »

I use 7-zip both at work and at home.

Ken

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Jay Freedman
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by Jay Freedman »

Besides the 7z format, 7-zip can also open and extract files from zip, cab, and rar format archives.

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StuartR
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by StuartR »

And it is also the easiest way to create encrypted zip files, which Windows can open but not create.
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DocAElstein
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by DocAElstein »

Thanks Stuart, thanks Ken, thanks Jay
I think that 7-Zip is the one I saw talked about the most, but as popularity is not necessarily always a good sign, it was good to have the benefit of your experiences.

I downloaded, installed, and it seems to be do the job, assuming this “right click – 7zip – Extract Here” is the correct way to do it?
RightClick 7zip ExtractHere.JPG
I did hit a brick wall when I was asked for a password:
PasswordFor7zip.JPG

But then I went back to the supplier, got the password, gave it, and then all was well.


_.___________

Just out of passing interest. Needing to do this may be something to do with Stuart’s last comment, maybe… it came about since for over 2 months now someone was struggling to get something he wanted to share to download without it being blocked, deleted, or screamed at by anti-virus, firewalls, or similar security things on a PC.
For this, his latest attempt, he claims ...." … The 7z file is encrypted and bypasses virus scans so you can download on any PC no matter the anti-virus on it….."
My first attempt seems to suggest its working. In the past I occasionally got his attempts to download, but mostly not. When I did have success, I was jumping through hoops and/ or trying on old unprotected PCs
This latest attempt of his seems initially to get up and running on my newer machines with no fiddling about.

Alan
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Ted Myers
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by Ted Myers »

This Is my main settings. If zipping a folder on a flash drive, it gets set to delete files after compression.
-
Zip.png
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diegol
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by diegol »

A cool feature of 7-Zip is that you can right click on an Excel file, then from the context menu select 7-Zip | Open compressed (translating from Spanish, might change a bit), then go through the Excel file's guts to find insights on file size, extract media, etc.
Before using 7-Zip I used to:
- Generate a copy of the Excel file
- Rename to .zip
- Unzip it, extracting its contents to a separate folder
- Once done, delete that folder

I know I'm late in the conversation but this feature alone makes 7-Zip worthwhile for me.

:argentina: Diegol

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DocAElstein
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by DocAElstein »

diegol wrote:
26 Aug 2022, 14:34
A cool feature of 7-Zip ..... go through the Excel file's guts to find insights....

Before using 7-Zip I used to:
- Generate a copy of the Excel file
- Rename to .zip ......................
Hi
Ah that’s handy. Looks like this 7 zip thing is a pretty useful thing.

Yes I also have done that change to .zip extension trick to find secret things: Typical demo example in the attached workbook: In cell A1 it tells you Tom’s wages. Originally it got that information from a simple look up table in a closed workbook. I deleted that workbook which had a table with the wages of not only Tom, but also the wages of Dick and Harry.
If you open the attached workbook, and choose not to update links when prompted, then it will still tell you Tom’s wages, even though the closed workbook with that info does not exist anymore.

If you now look into things a bit more closely, either with the change to .zip extension trick , or using the context menu select 7-Zip | Open archive , then you can also find the wages of Dick and Harry. :evilgrin:

Alan


TomDicksWages via 7zip Open archive.JPG
TomDicksWages via change to dotzip.JPG
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diegol
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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by diegol »

Yes, that's cool!

Just for fun, once I played around with Power Query importing those externalLinks.xml files to try to reproduce parts of the contents of the linked-to files. It worked.

I forgot mentioning that 7-Zip lets you alter Excel files' contents as well as inspecting them, as it recognizes Excel's zipping algorithm which, fortunately, 7-Zip includes.
Of course this could render the file unusable, so caution and making a copy of the file is advised.
Uses for that... for example, a calculation chain being several MBs big suggested Excel could have been 'confused' after several file edits. So I thought I'd delete the calc chain and force Excel to rebuild it, if ever that would work. Well, it worked, although the reduction in file size was not that substantial, so discarding the altered file seemed a good idea.
Another use could be replacing a logo (image in the Media folder) with the latest logo. Replacing the image file with the same name should do.

Also note, this inspect/alter feature of 7-Zip works with Word and PowerPoint as well.

:argentina: Diegol

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Re: .7z – “7 zip” software

Post by HansV »

The file format used by Word, Excel and PowerPoint since 2007 is the "classic" PKZip format. If you open such a file in Notepad or Notepad++, the first two characters are PK. So if you change the extension to .zip, you can view and - with caution - edit the various components of a document, workbook, or presentation. It's a convenient extra of 7-Zip that you can do so directly, without changing the extension.
Best wishes,
Hans