Operations supported by the ArchCommander

Browsing folders

To display the content of a folder, just select it using arrow keys (or mouse) and press Enter (or double-click it with the mouse) and the app will display items in that folder. To go back, press the . key (or double-click “..” Item).

Displaying more attributes of files

By default, only a few major file attributes are displayed in the browser table. You can change it by showing more columns. To do that, right-click the table header and select the columns you want to see.

Previewing and opening items

To preview an item, select it and press Space.

To open an item, select it and press Enter. You can also right-click it with the mouse and select “Open” or “Open with” item from a drop-down menu. The latter item allows you to select an app to be used.

Note that in both cases, the item needs to be unpacked.

Add items to an archive

(7z, zip, jar, wim, tar)

To add items to an open archive, set a folder into which you want to add items to, and click the button (or press Command + 5). Then select items using the items selection dialog.

You can also select items in the Finder and drag & drop them into the app window.

Setting compression level

(7z, zip, jar)

You can change the default compression level that will be used when adding new files to an archive. To do that, open the archive, open the options panel (press Control + o) and select the compression level using a slider control. Then click the ‘OK’ button. Any new file added to the archive in this session will be added with the compression level you selected.

Unpack items

To unpack a set of items, select them in the app window and click the button (or press Option + command + 6). Then select a local folder into which you want to unpack. If you want to repeat the operation multiple times, you can set a default unpack folder using the “Unpack Location” item in the “Settings” menu.

If you want to unpack entire archive that you are browsing, click the or press Control + command + 6.

You can also use drag & drop selected items to the Finder app window.

You can improve performance of unpack operation by running it using multiple jobs.

Rename an item

(7z, zip, jar, wim)

To rename an item, select it and press Control + r. Then enter a new name and press Enter key.

Remove items

(7z, zip, jar, wim)

To remove items from an open archive, select them and click the button. You can also press Command + 8 or Backspace key.

Making folders

(7z, zip, jar, wim, tar)

Select a folder into which you want to add a subfolder and click the button (or press Command + 7). Then provide a name for your new folder and press Enter to confirm.

When providing a folder name, you can also include entire new path to be created. For instance, typing “vacation/2021” will make “vacation” in the current folder and then “2021” in it.


See also: