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Is it possible to change the “Send to Compressed (zipped) Folder" functionality to create the zip file in a pre set directory, rather than the current one?

Also, any information anyone can share about how this functionality works (The shortcut seems to open Compressed (zipped) Folder.ZFSendToTarget, which appears to be 0 byte file?!), would be appreciated.

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2 Answers 2

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As you saw, the Windows built in zip functionality always creates the zip in the same folder as the source. However, there's a workaround:

  1. Create a dummy zip file on/in the destination drive/folder using the Windows built in "Send to/compressed (zipped) folder" functionality. I simply created one with a single line text file as zero length files are not supported by the Windows built in zipper.

  2. Open the zip folder

  3. Copy the source files/folders into the zip file. Windows adds the source files/folders to the zip file which can be on a different drive / in a different folder to the source files/folders.

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    I REALlLY appreciate you resurrecting this old thread, and wonder if that rule only applies to forums, which is no what StackExchange is
    – user66001
    Commented Sep 12, 2023 at 17:13
  • Glad you found my answer useful @user66001. I did add some context but it got edited out for being too extensive 😆. Personally I don't mind a bit of context - but hey, I do like concise answers too when I'm just looking for a solution. 😆 And it's funny how a question originally asked in 2013 is still relevant 10 years later 😆
    – cb2791
    Commented Jul 1 at 22:43
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One easy solution is to install 7-zip (or some other third-party tool, but 7-zip in particular is well-maintained and free and supports regular zip files as well as other formats.)

And on installation be sure the option is checked to make it the default handler for zip which will make it the handler for that compress files function also. But what really makes this a good solution IMO is it includes several configurable context menu options, including one for compress to a folder in a set location.

Another more difficult option if you don't want to use 7zip might be to create a batch file to zip from the command line then move to the right location. Then add this bat file to the context menu manually.

Editing and updating based on comments

The built-in compression utility is called "windows compressed folders" and is run using a very limited-functionality "zipfldr.dll" that does not include such capability as-is via rundll32.exe. However, there does seem to be a vbscript interface for it.

Also I should add that if you are looking to distribute an application or something like that without requiring a user to download another app, another possibility would be to include 7zip's dll as part of your own package, with the caveat that you'd need to adhere to the same gpl for your app.

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  • Thanks for your answer Neil Neyman, however I already use 7-zip, and was just wanting to add a slight amount more functionality to the built-in options, for less-important compression operations, (unfortunately) without resorting to batch/scripting, which would also seemingly require download of a command line zip utlitity.
    – user66001
    Commented Sep 22, 2013 at 21:42
  • P.S Was not suggesting moving the full-stop outside the brackets (IMO - So it ends the sentence, and not just the contents of the brackets... The code monkey in me) was a grammar error, I left out mention of it as it was a very minor change :) I do wonder if it might be British English's rules, given my country of origin, however.
    – user66001
    Commented Sep 22, 2013 at 21:42
  • @user66001 gotcha. That is exactly the issue! I actually meant 'that one' so I revised it to clarify. Tablet typing is a pain and outputs a lot of garbage sometimes.
    – Neil Neyman
    Commented Sep 22, 2013 at 21:56
  • @user66001 I think you may be out of luck because that 0 byte file basically is like a shortcut. The compression utility uses zipfldr.dll and that particular built-in dll does not seem to have any additional functionality that would enable this. I did see some vbscript solutions on google.
    – Neil Neyman
    Commented Sep 22, 2013 at 22:35
  • Thanks for the link - Interesting. However, I do wonder if this is yet another seemingly subtle attempt made by Americans, to separate themselves from Britain, back when this country was founded (z's instead of s's; Date format; etc) :)
    – user66001
    Commented Sep 23, 2013 at 5:31

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