Adding Zip Support to Smart Pix Manager

The Zip plug-in allows Smart Pix Manager to browse the contents of Zip files in the same way that you can browse file folders.  This includes support for encrypted Zip files.

Enabling Zip Support

Download the plug-in pack from:

http://www.xequte.com/smartpix/plugins.html

After installing the zip plug-in, run Smart Pix Manager.  Select File>Options, Other tab.  Then check 'Enable support for Zip browsing'

Browsing Zip Files

Select Folders mode.  Zip files will appear like normal folders in the folder display list.  Click a Zip file to see its contents.  As with normal files you can click thumbnails to view the relevant file.  You can also delete files within the zip and copy files from the zip.

Create New Zip Files

To create a new Zip, select File>New>New Zip File...

Adding files to a Zip

In folders mode right click a zip file in the folder display list and select 'Add files to Zip...'

Extracting all files in a Zip

In folders mode right click a zip file in the folder display list and select 'Extract files from Zip...'

Frequently Asked Questions:

Q:  Why don't thumbnails display until I click on the file?

A:  Extracting files to create thumbnails would be too slow.  Smart Pix Manager delays thumbnail creation until a file is extracted for display

Q:  Why is it so much slower to browse Zip folders than normal folders?

A:  To display a file in a zip the file must be decompressed and possibly decrypted before it is loaded, this can be slow.  The slowdown is particularly noticeably with large zip files, if you keep your zip files small (less than 100 files per zip) it will be much quicker.

Q:  How can I encrypt a Zip file?

A:  You can encrypt zip files as they are added (e.g. when using 'Add Files to Zip' you just specify a password to use.  You cannot add a password to files that are already in the zip