# How to make a zip file



## Yvon (Nov 15, 2020)

Hi, I’m currently doing an on-line photography course and soon I will need to to send my final piece photos via a zip file/folder.  I have a Mac desktop computer.  I have been able to to make a folder for the pictures in Lightroom Saved Pictures (which I’ve accessed by clicking ‘export’).  I’m unsure as what to do next, can any one advise please?  I hope that I’m making sense


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## Paul McFarlane (Nov 15, 2020)

So, you have the photos downloaded now to your local computer? Depending on the size, you may be able to select them, right-click and compress then email. However, if too big fir email, then we often use WeTransfer (it's free and you simply upload to it and the recipient gets a download link).


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## Paul_DS256 (Nov 15, 2020)

Yvon said:


> I’m unsure as what to do next


I'd suggest understanding the file requirements. It is likely that it will be a specific file format, dimensions and/or file size that is accepted. I would also look for instructions on email/uploading since your institution would have dealt with this many times. 

MACOS can zip files/folders. See here.


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## clee01l (Nov 15, 2020)

Yvon said:


> Hi, I’m currently doing an on-line photography course and soon I will need to to send my final piece photos via a zip file/folder.  I have a Mac desktop computer.  I have been able to to make a folder for the pictures in Lightroom Saved Pictures (which I’ve accessed by clicking ‘export’).  I’m unsure as what to do next, can any one advise please?  I hope that I’m making sense


The zip function is built into the Finder menu.  You can not create a zippering file from within the Lightroom Export dialog.  After exporting, open Finder and navigate to the file.  Right Click to expose the context menu and choose "Compress" to create the zipped copy of the file.


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## Yvon (Nov 15, 2020)

Paul McFarlane said:


> So, you have the photos downloaded now to your local computer? Depending on the size, you may be able to select them, right-click and compress then email. However, if too big fir email, then we often use WeTransfer (it's free and you simply upload to it and the recipient gets a download link).


Hi Paul, that’s good to know as I have had difficulty emailing photos in the past, I’ll have a look at that,. Thank you very much


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## Yvon (Nov 15, 2020)

Paul_DS256 said:


> I'd suggest understanding the file requirements. It is likely that it will be a specific file format, dimensions and/or file size that is accepted. I would also look for instructions on email/uploading since your institution would have dealt with this many times.
> 
> MACOS can zip files/folders. See here.


Hi, Paul that’s good advice, I’ll have another look, more information must be there like you say, thank you


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## Yvon (Nov 15, 2020)

clee01l said:


> The zip function is built into the Finder menu.  You can not create a zippering file from within the Lightroom Export dialog.  After exporting, open Finder and navigate to the file.  Right Click to expose the context menu and choose "Compress" to create the zipped copy of the file.


Thank you Cletus, that‘s great,  I’ll have a look at that.


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## Denis de Gannes (Nov 17, 2020)

Yvon said:


> Thank you Cletus, that‘s great,  I’ll have a look at that.


If you have several files to send to the same recipient you can place them in a folder, then use the same process you do with a file and compress the folder to create one zip file with the folder and all the files it contains.


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## Yvon (Nov 20, 2020)

Thank you for your help, and everyone else’s. I have now successfully worked out how to make the zip file with all my photos in.  However, my next issue is that, even though I have compressed the zip file, when I email it, the size of the file is larger.  For example, I compressed the zip file to 1.4MB and then emailed it to myself but when I received it, it was then 17 MB.  The course has given us a 10MB limit.  Mmmm any ideas please?


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## Gnits (Nov 20, 2020)

Use WeTransfer (free or paid) or similar service. 

https://about.wetransfer.com/products


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## clee01l (Nov 20, 2020)

Yvon said:


> Thank you for your help, and everyone else’s. I have now successfully worked out how to make the zip file with all my photos in. However, my next issue is that, even though I have compressed the zip file, when I email it, the size of the file is larger. For example, I compressed the zip file to 1.4MB and then emailed it to myself but when I received it, it was then 17 MB. The course has given us a 10MB limit. Mmmm any ideas please?


The Zipped file sent may have been 1.4MB,  When you opened the email, your OS/mail client probably unzipped it automatically. Is the file that you received from yourself a 17Mb file with a JPG extension or is there attached to your email a file withlthe ZOP extension that is only 1.4MB?


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## Yvon (Nov 21, 2020)

Gnits said:


> Use WeTransfer (free or paid) or similar service.
> 
> https://about.wetransfer.com/products
> 
> View attachment 15564


Thanks Gnits, I’ve just tried WeTransfer and it is very easy to use but the same problem occurred. It sent a 625


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## Yvon (Nov 21, 2020)

Hi Gnits, I’ve had a look at it, really easy to use, thank you


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## Paul_DS256 (Nov 21, 2020)

Yvon said:


> For example, I compressed the zip file to 1.4MB and then emailed it to myself but when I received it, it was then 17 MB


I would check that your email client is not expanding the ZIP file automatically. Check your SENT folder to see the size of the email that was sent


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## Conrad Chavez (Nov 21, 2020)

Yvon said:


> …even though I have compressed the zip file, when I email it, the size of the file is larger.  For example, I compressed the zip file to 1.4MB and then emailed it to myself but when I received it, it was then 17 MB.  The course has given us a 10MB limit.


I have heard another explanation that has more to do with how email attachments get encoded, not so much any unzipping along the way. I’m a little fuzzy on the details but I think this Wikipedia entry about e-mail attachments might have the possible explanation I was thinking of:


> Also note that all these size limits are based, not on the original file size, but the MIME-encoded copy. The common Base64 encoding adds about 37% to the original file size, meaning that an original 20MB file could exceed a 25MB file attachment limit.[11] A 10MB email size limit would require that the size of the attachment files is actually limited to about 7MB.


If any of the email applications or servers along the way can only pass on an attachment using Base64 encoding, causing the attachment to get re-encoded at some point, then the paragraph above would apply. If that’s the cause here, the last sentence suggests that an attachment file may need to start out under 7MB in order to squeeze under a 10MB attachment limit, if it gets re-encoded anywhere along the way.


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