Zip or unzip files

The Compression steps bundle files and unpack them: a month's invoices zipped into one attachment, or a supplier's zip of price lists unpacked so each file can be read. Each one is its own step, and none needs a connection.

Who can do this

Workspace Admins and Editors, on every plan.

The steps

Steps

Zip files:

1. Select + where the files are. In the step picker, open Utilities, select Compression — No connection needed — then Zip files. Or search zip.
2. In Zip, choose These files (the default) to make an archive for each item from the files you list, or Every item's files — makes one archive from all the items, from every file every item carries.
3. With These files, under Files, select Add a file and drag in a file from Data from earlier steps, a line each. See Pass files between steps.
4. In Archive name, keep files.zip or type your own — for example consulace-invoices-september.zip. A name without .zip gets it added.
5. Select Run this step, then check Output.

Unzip a file, Gzip a file or Gunzip a file:

1. In the step picker, under Utilities › Compression, select the step.
2. Under File, select Add a file and drag in the zip, the file to compress, or the .gz file from Data from earlier steps. Only the first file in the box is used.
3. Select Run this step, then check Output.

Output

Zip files gives the archive under file — read as file.name, file.size and file.mimeType — and fileCount, how many files went in. With These files, each item keeps its other fields and files. With Every item's files, the step gives one item, holding only the archive and fileCount.

Unzip a file gives one item per file in the zip, each with the file under file and path — where it sat inside the zip, such as price-lists/eu.csv — beside the zip item's other fields.

Gzip a file gives the compressed file under file, named as the original with .gz added, and fileCount (1). Gunzip a file gives the opened file under file, named as the original without .gz.

Good to know

• Unzip has limits so a small zip cannot fill the server: up to 1,000 files and 250 MB unpacked in total. A zip over either stops the step and says which. Gunzip a file stops at 250 MB unpacked, and Zip files takes up to 1,000 files in one archive.
• Paths outside the zip are refused. A file inside a zip named to land elsewhere — ../ in its path, or a path from the root — stops the step.
• Folders. Unzip a file gives a folder's place inside the zip as path; empty folders give no item. Zip files puts every file at the top of the archive, and two files with the same name become invoice.pdf and invoice (2).pdf.
• Password-protected zips cannot be opened.
• Files are kept with the run, like any file passed between steps, up to 250 MB each. A step may take up to five minutes.

If something goes wrong

Related

• Pass files between steps
• Get attachments from an Outlook email
• Send an email with Outlook