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How do you make a PC unzip a downloaded file with one click in Chrome? Macs do this, why not PCs?

On my Mac, when I download a .zip file, it shows in the bottom bar of Chrome. If I click once on that download in the Chrome bottom bar, it unzips the archive into the same directory ("Downloads") without any further interaction from me.

How can a PC user get a file to unzip with that same convenience? Everything I've tried requires you to go to make two or three steps.

mkrieger1
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Desmond Mullen
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1 Answers1

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Here's how to do it. It is not nearly as seamless and quick as on a Mac, but it works without any user interaction by monitoring your download folder for archives. When one shows up in the folder, it automatically unzips the archive and can optionally delete the .zip, or run a command line, or what-have-you. On a slow PC I tested it on, it took about 40 seconds to recognize there was a new archive and to process it. Hopefully that's faster on faster PCs.

Here are the basics:

  1. download ExtractNow onto PC from http://www.extractnow.com
  2. in the Settings tabs, under Monitor, select the path to the folder want to monitor and check the "Automatically extract" checkbox.

That's basically it.

Additionally you can run a command. I needed to do something a little unusual - open an .html file from the just-expanded archive using Microsoft Word - and I was able to get it to do that automatically. Here's what I entered in the Process tab under the "Archive operation complete" section:

  1. check the "Run a program" checkbox
  2. in the Command: box, enter this: winword {ArchiveFolder}"{ArchiveName}.html"

You can tweak that for your circumstances. The point is that ExtractNow can pass info about the archive (the name, the path, etc.) in bracketed, named variables so that you can use them to invoke other commands or processing.

I don't love the time lag, but it completely does what I wanted and more. Cheers!

Desmond Mullen
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