The following instructions, images, illustrations, and outline are based on the use of a PC computer operating under the Microsoft Windows 11 operating system. The details and images in these instructions may vary if you are using a different computer, operating system, or electronic device; for example, if you are using a PC computer operating under the Windows 10 operating system, or if you are using an Apple/Macintosh device. The general concepts and procedures should apply to any similar device, however.

We will use the pictures from the ‘Peanuts Wisdom’ example project in the illustrations for the following instructions. You can view the ‘Peanuts Wisdom’ example project (and other example projects) by clicking here.

INSTRUCTION

ILLUSTRATION

Depending on how many and the sizes of the files you are working with, you may find it convenient and beneficial to combine and compress multiple files into a single file. Doing so could result not only in a reductioin in the number of files you are working with but also in a reduction in the overall size of the individual files versus the combined/compressed version of the files.

To achieve a reduction in the number of files and/or a reduction in the overall size of the individual versus combined version of the file(s), you can ‘zip’ multiple files together into one or more ‘zipped’ (.zip) files.

To ‘zip’ multiple files into one compressed ‘zipped’ file, first, select the files to be ‘zipped’ into one compressed ‘zip’ file. You can select multiple files by holding down the <Ctrl> key on the keyboard while clicking on the names of the files, as shown on the right. In the example, the file being ‘zipped’ are picture (#.jpg) files.

After selecting the file(s) to be ‘zipped’ into one combined/compressed ‘zip’ file, right-mouse-click on the selected file(s) and select ‘Compress to ZIP file’ from the drop-down window.

The ‘zip’ file that is created will show as a new file along with your original files. In this example, the ‘zip’ file (peanuts 8.zip) contains the four (picture) files (peanuts 5.jpg, peanuts 6.jpg, peanuts 7.jpg, and peanuts 8.jpg) that were selected when the ‘zip’ operation was initiated, but in a smaller compressed format.

The resulting combined/compressed ‘zip’ file can be treated and manipulated as any other file; that is, it can be copied-and-pasted, re-named, attached to an email message, etc.