What is the "ZIP Manager" extension and how does it work?

This extension serves as a viewer and extractor for archive files (ZIP, RAR, 7Z), capable of opening local archives and those hosted on a remote server without requiring prior downloading. When opening a local file, users can click the toolbar (action) button to launch the manager window and then drag and drop the ZIP file into the view or use the “Open” button in the toolbar. Users can access the extension through the right-click context menu item for opening remote archives. However, it’s worth noting that for remote content, the extension needs to fetch a portion of the archive, which may take some time depending on the size of the archive.

This extension uses the official 7z command-line tool compiled in WASM, so it supports a wide range of archive formats: 7z, ZIP, GZIP, BZIP2, TAR, WIM, XZ, ARJ, CAB, CHM, CPIO, DEB, DMG, FAT, HFS, ISO, LZH, LZMA, MBR, MSI, NSIS, NTFS, RAR, RPM, UDF, VHD, WIM, Z

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What's new in this version?

Please check the Logs section.

Is it possible to download individual files or a select few files from a large archive stored remotely?

Yes, To download specific files, start by opening the remote or local archive using the extension and wait for the fetching phase to complete. Once the entries are displayed, double-click the desired file to initiate its download into the default downloads directory. Alternatively, you can click on multiple files and then press the "Extract" toolbar button to download all the selected files. If no files are selected, the extension will attempt to extract all the files in the ZIP archive. Keep in mind that this extension preserves the folder structure of the ZIP archive, but only if your browser supports downloading into subdirectories. Currently, Chrome and Opera support this feature, while Firefox is expected to add this feature in the future.

How does this extension differ from OS-level ZIP managers?

Unlike OS-level ZIP managers, this extension relies on JavaScript API to open and extract ZIP archives. However, it does not preserve file flags when extracting files, which means that on Linux-based operating systems, potentially harmful file permissions are removed. As a result, if you need to extract executables or files that require special permissions, it’s recommended to use a native ZIP manager instead. Additionally, this extension does not extract dot files since they are typically hidden on Linux-based operating systems, requiring a native tool to manage them.

As of version 0.1.2, a new feature has been added that allows users to click on a ZIP manager window entry and drop it into a local folder, such as the Desktop directory. Note that this feature is currently only supported in Chromium browsers (e.g. Chrome, Opera, Vivaldi). Additionally, it’s possible to drop a dot file out of the manager window using this technique.

Is it possible to open the ZIP manager in a browser tab instead of its pop-up window?

Yes, you can open the ZIP manager in a browser tab by right-clicking the action button and selecting the "Tab Mode" option. With this mode, you can open multiple instances in different browser tabs, and even open multiple files in each tab or window. Note that the extension will remember the mode after a restart. If you need to switch back to the window mode, you can change it from the right-click context menu again.

What is the default location for the extracted files?

The extracted files are downloaded using the download API of your browser and are located in the default download directory of your browser. If your browser supports downloading into subdirectories, the extracted files will have the same structure as the ZIP archive. If you want to choose a different destination directory, you can press the "Extract" button while holding down the Ctrl key on Windows or the Command key on Mac. This method brings up the directory selector.

Is it possible to open and manage multiple ZIP files in a single window using this extension?

Yes, it is possible to open and manage multiple ZIP files in a single window. You can do this by dragging and dropping multiple archives into the extension's manager window. The extension will display all the files from these archives in the same view, and you can extract single or multiple files from them simultaneously.

How does the "Use Native" option on the manager interface work?

If your browser supports native filesystem access, selecting the “Use Native” option allows the extension to use it to write all selected files to the disk. This method preserves the correct filename, even when the filename contains special characters or starts with a dot. Additionally, using the native method can bypass writing limits imposed by your browser, resulting in faster extraction times.

However, note that you need to create a subdirectory on your Desktop or Downloads directories for the browser to allow the directory access to the extension. This limitation improves your privacy by not allowing any extension access to these important directories.