How to Create a Zipped (Compressed) Folder on a Mac

Whether you need to email 50 high-resolution photographs to a client or archive a folder containing hundreds of old documents, sending them individually is inefficient and often blocked by email file size limits.

The solution is to create a ZIP file. Zipping compresses multiple files and folders into a single, much smaller archive file. This single file is incredibly easy to attach to an email, upload to cloud storage, or share via a USB drive.

macOS has a powerful compression utility built directly into the operating system. In this guide, you will learn how to quickly create a zipped folder on your Mac without installing any third-party software.

Step 1: Select the Files or Folders

You can compress a single file, multiple individual files, or entire folders.

1. Open the Finder and locate the items you want to compress.
2. To compress a single folder, click it once to highlight it.
3. To compress multiple files scattered in the same window, hold down the Command (⌘) key on your keyboard and click each file individually. All selected files will be highlighted in blue.
4. To compress a continuous list of files, click the first file, hold the Shift key, and click the last file in the list.

Step 2: Compress the Items

Once your items are highlighted, creating the ZIP archive requires only two clicks.

1. Right-click (or hold Control and click) on any of the highlighted files or folders.
2. A context menu will appear. Look for the option that says Compress.
   • If you selected a single folder named “Invoices”, the menu will say Compress “Invoices”.
   • If you selected multiple files, the menu will say Compress 5 Items (or however many you selected).
3. Click the Compress option.

Step 3: Locate and Rename Your ZIP File

macOS will immediately begin compressing the files. For a few small documents, this is instantaneous. For gigabytes of video, a small progress window will appear.

Once finished, the new ZIP file will appear in the exact same location as the original files.

• If you compressed a single file or folder, the ZIP file will share the original name (e.g., Invoices.zip).
• If you compressed multiple items at once, macOS will automatically name the new file Archive.zip.

To rename it, click the Archive.zip file once to highlight it, press the Return key on your keyboard, type a descriptive name (e.g., Project_Files_2024.zip), and press Return again.

How to Unzip a File on a Mac

Because the ZIP format is an open standard, the person receiving your file does not need a Mac to open it; Windows and Linux PCs can unzip the file natively.

If you receive a ZIP file yourself, opening it on a Mac is even easier than creating it:

1. Locate the .zip file in your Finder (often in your Downloads folder).
2. Simply double-click the ZIP file.
3. macOS will instantly extract the contents and place them in a new, uncompressed folder right next to the original ZIP file.

By mastering the built-in macOS compression tool, you can effortlessly organise your data and bypass frustrating email attachment limits.