Extracting and creating zip files

A website quickly consists of hundreds of files. Uploading them one by one takes a long time. It's faster to pack everything into a single zip file on your computer, upload that one file, and extract it on the server. The other way round, you can pack a folder to download it in one go or keep it as a copy.

Extracting a zip file

1. Upload the zip file to the folder where the files need to go, for example public_html (see Uploading and downloading files).
2. Right-click the zip file and choose Extract (1). You'll only see this option for archive files, such as .zip and .tar.gz.

3. Extract to (1) shows the folder the zip file is in. If you want the files somewhere else, choose a different folder in the list below it or type the path.
4. Check Merge and overwrite (2). If this is on (default), existing files with the same name will be replaced by those from the zip file.
5. Click EXTRACT (3).

After this, the files are in the folder. The zip file itself remains: delete it once you're done, so it doesn't take up space and no one can download it through your website.

Please note: If you extract into a folder that already contains a website, you'll overwrite your existing files with Merge and overwrite. If in doubt, extract into a new, empty folder first and then move what you need.

A common mistake: a folder too deep

If you pack the folder mysite on your computer, that folder will appear again inside the zip file. After extraction, your website ends up in public_html/mysite and can only be seen at yourdomain.com/mysite. Two solutions:

• On your computer, pack the contents of the folder (select all the files in the folder and zip those), not the folder itself.
• Or, after extracting, move all the files from the subfolder to public_html: select them, click Move and choose public_html.

Getting a 403 error after extracting?

A zip file carries over the permissions of the files. If these are set too strictly on your computer, the web server won't be allowed to read them and you'll get a 403 Forbidden error. Check the Permissions column: files should be set to -rw-r--r-- (644) and folders to drwxr-xr-x (755). You can read how to change this in File and directory permissions (chmod).

Packing a folder (creating a zip)

1. Tick the folder or files you want to pack.
2. Click Archive.
3. Under Name, type a name for the archive. Under Archive type, choose the type of archive, for example zip.
4. Under Destination, choose where the archive should go.
5. Click ARCHIVE.

Tip: It's better not to put an archive with a copy of your website in public_html, but in the home folder of your package. Anyone who guesses the name can download whatever is in public_html.

Frequently asked questions

Extracting or packing stops halfway through or times out.
This can happen with very large archives (several GB or tens of thousands of files). In that case, split the archive into parts, for example one zip with the uploads and one with the rest. If you have a package with SSH (Power Webhost Three and Four, AI Wordpress Three and Power Reseller), you can also use unzip or zip in the Terminal (see Terminal in your browser). A full backup of your package isn't made with Archive but with Backup and Restore or WebOké Backups (see What backups are available at WebOké).

Can I also extract .rar files?
We recommend using .zip or .tar.gz instead. These are always supported. Extract a .rar file on your computer and make a zip of it.