There are many compression software now, but WinRAR has won everyone's love for its small and practicality. However, this software has many practical tips. Using them can really help us achieve twice the result with half the effort.
1. Make self-extracting files
If you usually use WinRAR to compress files, and your friends will not use WinRAR, but your data must be compressed before you can give it to them. At this time, we can make the RAR compression package into an EXE file. It only needs to execute the generated EXE file to be decompressed.
(1) Direct generation method
For example, if we want to compress the C:\Main Information.txt file into an EXE format file, we can start "Explorer", select the C:\Main Information.txt file, right-click, and select the WinRAR → "Add to Compression Package" command. Then select the "Create a self-decompressed compressed file" check box under "Compression Options" in the "Compression File Name and Parameters" setting window. Click the "OK" button to compress the selected file into a self-extracting file.
(2) Conversion method
If we have the RAR compression package on hand, we can also convert it into an EXE file through WinRAR: start WinRAR, then locate it in the RAR compression package folder, select the RAR compression package, and then select "Tools" → "Convert compressed file to self-decompression format" or press the Alt+X key and click the "OK" button to generate the self-decompression file.
We just need to send the generated EXE file to friends by email. After receiving it, they can unzip the files in the compressed package into the current folder by just double-clicking.
Note: If the corruption occurs and cannot be self-extracted, you can change the extension of this file from EXE to RAR. After double-clicking, you can open it using WinRAR and you can unzip it yourself.
2. Treat WinRAR as a file manager
WinRAR is a compression and decompression tool, but it is also a pretty excellent file manager. As long as we type a folder in its address bar, all the files under it will be displayed, and even the hidden files and file extensions can be seen! We can copy, delete, move, and run these files like in Explorer
3. Repair damaged compressed files
If you open a compressed package, you find that it is damaged. You can start WinRAR, locate it under this damaged compressed folder, select the file, and then select the "Repair" button on the toolbar (the English version is Repair). After confirmation, WinRAR will start repairing the file and a repair window will pop up. We just need to choose the repaired ZIP file package or RAR compressed package.
4. Automatic shutdown after compression
Start Explorer and select the file. Right-click, select WinRAR → "Add to Compressed Package" command, open the "Compressed Package Name and Parameters" window, the "Advanced" tab, and select the "Power off the computer after completion" check box. In this way, the machine will automatically shut down after the data is backed up.
5. Encrypt and compress important files
Using WinRAR, we can encrypt and compress our important files: select the "Set default password" command under the "File" menu in WinRAR, then set your own password (appropriately extend the length of the password), and then compress the files to be encrypted. This way, you can encrypt and compress it in one go. While encrypting important files, you can also compress files. It is indeed a good thing to kill two birds with one stone. At the same time, a decompressor for RAR compressed format files is built in the Total Commander software. We can directly view the RAR file by installing the Windows Commander software on the machine, but the premise is that we can only enter after entering the correct password.
6. Free file splitter
WinRAR can easily split files, and files can be compressed while splitting. It's quite simple to operate, just select an option: start WinRAR compression software, and select the file you want to compress (you can choose multiple choices or folders), then click the "Add" icon on the toolbar, and in the pop-up window, click the "Compress Volume Size, Bytes" drop-down list box, select or enter the split size. After clicking the "OK" button, WinRAR will generate a segmented compressed package according to our segmented size.
7. Quickly release the compressed package file
Generally, when we get a compressed package file, we always open it with its associated program, and then click the "Decompress" button to decompress. In fact, in WinRAR, as long as you open a compressed package file, the files contained in it will be displayed in the WinRAR window. At this time, just select them like in "Explorer" and drag them to a folder to achieve quick decompression of these files. It can also help us quickly decompress files with folder information to specific folders.
8. Generate ZIP compressed files
Although WinRAR is even worse than WinZIP in terms of compression speed or compression rate, since WinZIP is the most popular compression software at present, the generated ZIP compression format has become an industrial compression standard, so we sometimes have to use ZIP compression format (if the compression into another format cannot be opened, it will have to resend again, which is not cost-effective!) However, there is also a ZIP compressor built in WinRAR. After selecting the file, we just need to click the "Add" button on the toolbar, and selecting the compression package format to ZIP to generate ZIP files, eliminating the trouble of starting WinZIP.
9. Change the backup file
Sometimes you have to process a large number of files, and you don’t know which files to back up after a long time. In fact, using WinRAR functions, you can easily back up files, and it can also be guaranteed to be the latest! First, compress all files in the backup folder into one file. In the future, select this backup folder in WinRAR, click the "Add" button on the toolbar, and note that the update mode is selected as "Add new update file" at this time, so that all files in the backup folder will be added to the file. In the future, as long as you perform the same operation before getting off work every day, just open this file, you can ensure that your file is up to date.
10. Add a comment to your own compressed package
If you use more compressed files, you will not know which files are there over time, let alone what content is there. If you write a few comments to your compressed file, you will know what it does after opening it and checking it out. This function is provided in WinRAR. The specific method is: first use WinRAR to open the corresponding RAR file, then click the "Comment" button on the toolbar, and enter your own comment content in the comment window (supports Chinese input).
Next time you want to add or view, click the "Comment" button on the toolbar again. When you open this file in the future, its annotation information will appear on the right side of the window, which is clear at a glance!
There are many compression software now, but WinRAR has won everyone's love for its small and practicality. However, this software has many practical tips. Using them can really help us achieve twice the result with half the effort.
11. Connect MP3 music clips with WinRAR
Do you have some small MP3 music clips on hand who want to synthesize them into a file? Just use WinRAR to do it: find several MP3 files in "Explorer", place them in turn, select them with the Ctrl or Shift keys, then right-click the mouse, select the "Add to Compression Package..." command, click the "Compression Method" drop-down box in the pop-up window, select "Storage", and change the extension of the default compressed file from .ZIP or .RAR to .MP3, and click "OK".
12. Install WinRAR in batches
Installing WinRAR on a computer is very convenient. Just follow the wizard and click the "Next" button step by step. However, if you have to install WinRAR to many computers (such as all workstations in a certain computer room), repeatedly asking installation questions may be annoying. In this case, you can run WinRAR installation and add parameters: -s, so that all problems can be skipped and default values are used instead.
13. Relative path compression file
I don’t know if you have noticed that there is an option "Save full path info " in WinZip’s “Add files” (WinZip 7.0 and previous versions are “Save Extra Folder Info ”). Once this item is selected, WinZip will be pushed into the ZIP file package along with the absolute path other than the disk letter of the file. The next time it is released, it will be released together with all file pressing information, which sometimes causes some inconvenience to us. In WinRAR, can we click the "File" tab in the "Compress File Name and Parameters" window, and then choose to compress the relative path or the absolute path or even not select the path, so that the user has another choice.
14. Customize WinRAR toolbar
There are many buttons on the WinRAR toolbar. In fact, we can also freely customize it: start WinRAR, press Ctrl+S, and select the "General" tab in the "Settings" dialog box that opens. Click the "Button" button in it to add and delete the buttons on the toolbar and the commands in the shortcut menu that appear after selecting a file. After some setup, WinRAR is now more considerate to your usage habits.
15. Convenient import and export settings
When using WinRAR, it is inevitable to make necessary settings for WinRAR according to your personal preferences. If you go to another machine and run WinRAR, you will find that the style does not match your own. At this time, you have to re-set it, which is more troublesome. Select the corresponding command under "Options" → "Import and Export Settings" to save your settings as a registry REG file very conveniently, and you can also import and use it more personalized.
Can also collect wonderful things
In IE, we encountered a website we like, and we can add this website to our favorites. In fact, WinRAR can also implement similar functions: open the folder you want to add to your favorites, and then select "Favorites" → "Add to Favorites" (or press the shortcut key Ctrl+F) to add this folder to WinRAR's favorites. In the future, just click the "Favorites" menu and select the folder you want to enter.
17. Set up WinRAR associated file
If one day, we find that some compressed files are no longer associated with WinRAR, then you can start WinRAR, select "Options" → "Settings", open the "Settings" dialog box, and click the "Comprehensive" tab. Then select the corresponding associated file. Of course, facing such an excellent compression software, it is also good to click the "Select All" button!
18. Set up the startup folder
If there are more compressed files in a folder, you have to select which folder every time you start WinRAR. Isn't it very troublesome? In fact, you can set this folder as the startup folder. This folder will be opened when WinRAR is started. This will be much more convenient: start WinRAR, press Ctrl+S, click the "Path" tab in the "Settings" dialog box, and cancel the "Restore to the folder you worked on at startup" check box. Then click the "Browse" button in "Startup Folder" and select the corresponding folder from the pop-up window.
19. Regenerate WinRAR shortcuts
In order to quickly open a program, we usually create a shortcut for the program on the desktop or start menu. It is very simple to create shortcuts in WinRAR. You just need to press Ctrl+S to open the "Settings" properties dialog box, and then select the "Comprehensive Options" tab. In the "Interface Settings" item, you can choose to create WinRAR shortcuts in the desktop, start menu, etc., which will definitely be much more convenient to use.
20. Put temporary files in other partitions
Many software will generate temporary files. By default, they will be placed in many messy folders of the C drive. Over time, it will affect system performance. At the same time, sometimes when we want to find some files from a temporary folder (for file recovery), it is difficult to find due to the messy distribution. In WinRAR, we can set its temporary folder location by ourselves: select "Options → Settings", open the "Settings" window, click the "Path" tab, enter after "Folder for Temporary File Unzipped" or click the "Browse" button to select, and cancel the "For removable disks only" option.
When we drag and drop files from the RAR compression package into a folder, all files will be placed in this folder and then copied from this folder to the folder we drag and drop.
1. Make self-extracting files
If you usually use WinRAR to compress files, and your friends will not use WinRAR, but your data must be compressed before you can give it to them. At this time, we can make the RAR compression package into an EXE file. It only needs to execute the generated EXE file to be decompressed.
(1) Direct generation method
For example, if we want to compress the C:\Main Information.txt file into an EXE format file, we can start "Explorer", select the C:\Main Information.txt file, right-click, and select the WinRAR → "Add to Compression Package" command. Then select the "Create a self-decompressed compressed file" check box under "Compression Options" in the "Compression File Name and Parameters" setting window. Click the "OK" button to compress the selected file into a self-extracting file.
(2) Conversion method
If we have the RAR compression package on hand, we can also convert it into an EXE file through WinRAR: start WinRAR, then locate it in the RAR compression package folder, select the RAR compression package, and then select "Tools" → "Convert compressed file to self-decompression format" or press the Alt+X key and click the "OK" button to generate the self-decompression file.
We just need to send the generated EXE file to friends by email. After receiving it, they can unzip the files in the compressed package into the current folder by just double-clicking.
Note: If the corruption occurs and cannot be self-extracted, you can change the extension of this file from EXE to RAR. After double-clicking, you can open it using WinRAR and you can unzip it yourself.
2. Treat WinRAR as a file manager
WinRAR is a compression and decompression tool, but it is also a pretty excellent file manager. As long as we type a folder in its address bar, all the files under it will be displayed, and even the hidden files and file extensions can be seen! We can copy, delete, move, and run these files like in Explorer
3. Repair damaged compressed files
If you open a compressed package, you find that it is damaged. You can start WinRAR, locate it under this damaged compressed folder, select the file, and then select the "Repair" button on the toolbar (the English version is Repair). After confirmation, WinRAR will start repairing the file and a repair window will pop up. We just need to choose the repaired ZIP file package or RAR compressed package.
4. Automatic shutdown after compression
Start Explorer and select the file. Right-click, select WinRAR → "Add to Compressed Package" command, open the "Compressed Package Name and Parameters" window, the "Advanced" tab, and select the "Power off the computer after completion" check box. In this way, the machine will automatically shut down after the data is backed up.
5. Encrypt and compress important files
Using WinRAR, we can encrypt and compress our important files: select the "Set default password" command under the "File" menu in WinRAR, then set your own password (appropriately extend the length of the password), and then compress the files to be encrypted. This way, you can encrypt and compress it in one go. While encrypting important files, you can also compress files. It is indeed a good thing to kill two birds with one stone. At the same time, a decompressor for RAR compressed format files is built in the Total Commander software. We can directly view the RAR file by installing the Windows Commander software on the machine, but the premise is that we can only enter after entering the correct password.
6. Free file splitter
WinRAR can easily split files, and files can be compressed while splitting. It's quite simple to operate, just select an option: start WinRAR compression software, and select the file you want to compress (you can choose multiple choices or folders), then click the "Add" icon on the toolbar, and in the pop-up window, click the "Compress Volume Size, Bytes" drop-down list box, select or enter the split size. After clicking the "OK" button, WinRAR will generate a segmented compressed package according to our segmented size.
7. Quickly release the compressed package file
Generally, when we get a compressed package file, we always open it with its associated program, and then click the "Decompress" button to decompress. In fact, in WinRAR, as long as you open a compressed package file, the files contained in it will be displayed in the WinRAR window. At this time, just select them like in "Explorer" and drag them to a folder to achieve quick decompression of these files. It can also help us quickly decompress files with folder information to specific folders.
8. Generate ZIP compressed files
Although WinRAR is even worse than WinZIP in terms of compression speed or compression rate, since WinZIP is the most popular compression software at present, the generated ZIP compression format has become an industrial compression standard, so we sometimes have to use ZIP compression format (if the compression into another format cannot be opened, it will have to resend again, which is not cost-effective!) However, there is also a ZIP compressor built in WinRAR. After selecting the file, we just need to click the "Add" button on the toolbar, and selecting the compression package format to ZIP to generate ZIP files, eliminating the trouble of starting WinZIP.
9. Change the backup file
Sometimes you have to process a large number of files, and you don’t know which files to back up after a long time. In fact, using WinRAR functions, you can easily back up files, and it can also be guaranteed to be the latest! First, compress all files in the backup folder into one file. In the future, select this backup folder in WinRAR, click the "Add" button on the toolbar, and note that the update mode is selected as "Add new update file" at this time, so that all files in the backup folder will be added to the file. In the future, as long as you perform the same operation before getting off work every day, just open this file, you can ensure that your file is up to date.
10. Add a comment to your own compressed package
If you use more compressed files, you will not know which files are there over time, let alone what content is there. If you write a few comments to your compressed file, you will know what it does after opening it and checking it out. This function is provided in WinRAR. The specific method is: first use WinRAR to open the corresponding RAR file, then click the "Comment" button on the toolbar, and enter your own comment content in the comment window (supports Chinese input).
Next time you want to add or view, click the "Comment" button on the toolbar again. When you open this file in the future, its annotation information will appear on the right side of the window, which is clear at a glance!
There are many compression software now, but WinRAR has won everyone's love for its small and practicality. However, this software has many practical tips. Using them can really help us achieve twice the result with half the effort.
11. Connect MP3 music clips with WinRAR
Do you have some small MP3 music clips on hand who want to synthesize them into a file? Just use WinRAR to do it: find several MP3 files in "Explorer", place them in turn, select them with the Ctrl or Shift keys, then right-click the mouse, select the "Add to Compression Package..." command, click the "Compression Method" drop-down box in the pop-up window, select "Storage", and change the extension of the default compressed file from .ZIP or .RAR to .MP3, and click "OK".
12. Install WinRAR in batches
Installing WinRAR on a computer is very convenient. Just follow the wizard and click the "Next" button step by step. However, if you have to install WinRAR to many computers (such as all workstations in a certain computer room), repeatedly asking installation questions may be annoying. In this case, you can run WinRAR installation and add parameters: -s, so that all problems can be skipped and default values are used instead.
13. Relative path compression file
I don’t know if you have noticed that there is an option "Save full path info " in WinZip’s “Add files” (WinZip 7.0 and previous versions are “Save Extra Folder Info ”). Once this item is selected, WinZip will be pushed into the ZIP file package along with the absolute path other than the disk letter of the file. The next time it is released, it will be released together with all file pressing information, which sometimes causes some inconvenience to us. In WinRAR, can we click the "File" tab in the "Compress File Name and Parameters" window, and then choose to compress the relative path or the absolute path or even not select the path, so that the user has another choice.
14. Customize WinRAR toolbar
There are many buttons on the WinRAR toolbar. In fact, we can also freely customize it: start WinRAR, press Ctrl+S, and select the "General" tab in the "Settings" dialog box that opens. Click the "Button" button in it to add and delete the buttons on the toolbar and the commands in the shortcut menu that appear after selecting a file. After some setup, WinRAR is now more considerate to your usage habits.
15. Convenient import and export settings
When using WinRAR, it is inevitable to make necessary settings for WinRAR according to your personal preferences. If you go to another machine and run WinRAR, you will find that the style does not match your own. At this time, you have to re-set it, which is more troublesome. Select the corresponding command under "Options" → "Import and Export Settings" to save your settings as a registry REG file very conveniently, and you can also import and use it more personalized.
Can also collect wonderful things
In IE, we encountered a website we like, and we can add this website to our favorites. In fact, WinRAR can also implement similar functions: open the folder you want to add to your favorites, and then select "Favorites" → "Add to Favorites" (or press the shortcut key Ctrl+F) to add this folder to WinRAR's favorites. In the future, just click the "Favorites" menu and select the folder you want to enter.
17. Set up WinRAR associated file
If one day, we find that some compressed files are no longer associated with WinRAR, then you can start WinRAR, select "Options" → "Settings", open the "Settings" dialog box, and click the "Comprehensive" tab. Then select the corresponding associated file. Of course, facing such an excellent compression software, it is also good to click the "Select All" button!
18. Set up the startup folder
If there are more compressed files in a folder, you have to select which folder every time you start WinRAR. Isn't it very troublesome? In fact, you can set this folder as the startup folder. This folder will be opened when WinRAR is started. This will be much more convenient: start WinRAR, press Ctrl+S, click the "Path" tab in the "Settings" dialog box, and cancel the "Restore to the folder you worked on at startup" check box. Then click the "Browse" button in "Startup Folder" and select the corresponding folder from the pop-up window.
19. Regenerate WinRAR shortcuts
In order to quickly open a program, we usually create a shortcut for the program on the desktop or start menu. It is very simple to create shortcuts in WinRAR. You just need to press Ctrl+S to open the "Settings" properties dialog box, and then select the "Comprehensive Options" tab. In the "Interface Settings" item, you can choose to create WinRAR shortcuts in the desktop, start menu, etc., which will definitely be much more convenient to use.
20. Put temporary files in other partitions
Many software will generate temporary files. By default, they will be placed in many messy folders of the C drive. Over time, it will affect system performance. At the same time, sometimes when we want to find some files from a temporary folder (for file recovery), it is difficult to find due to the messy distribution. In WinRAR, we can set its temporary folder location by ourselves: select "Options → Settings", open the "Settings" window, click the "Path" tab, enter after "Folder for Temporary File Unzipped" or click the "Browse" button to select, and cancel the "For removable disks only" option.
When we drag and drop files from the RAR compression package into a folder, all files will be placed in this folder and then copied from this folder to the folder we drag and drop.