Opening & previewing

Open an archive

Use the native file picker, Finder’s Open With command, or drag a supported archive into an ezarchive window. The app also handles macOS file promises: attachments that a source application supplies as a file after you drop them.

Drag support depends on what the source app provides. A web link, text selection, or image of a file is not an archive file. If a drop does not work, save the attachment to Finder and open that saved file.

• An ordinary file drop opens the original location.
• A promised attachment is received into local temporary storage. Save important copies elsewhere before cache cleanup.
• Several supported files can be opened in the same workspace.

Browse and inspect

Choose an archive in the sidebar. Navigate its folders, sort columns, search by name, and select entries to inspect their details. An archive inside another archive can be opened as a nested archive.

Preview with Quick Look

Use Quick Look to preview supported content. The formats that can be previewed depend on macOS and installed preview support; being able to extract an entry does not mean it has a preview renderer.

Previews are extracted to a local temporary file. Even if the original archive is encrypted, that preview copy is not encrypted by ezarchive. The default per-file preview limit is 2 GB and can be changed in Settings.

See local file safety for cleanup. To edit a preview and write it back, read editing archives.