Settings – Advanced
The Advanced tab collects options that most users won’t need but that come in handy when you want to tweak performance, behavior, or diagnostics.
Concurrent archive operations
When you queue several compress, extract, or test operations, BetterZip can run more than one at a time. Auto (recommended) lets macOS decide based on free CPU and disk; pick a number from 1 to 16 to pin a specific limit.
Threads per tool
How many CPU threads each individual archive operation may use. The default is the number of cores; lower this if compressing in the background slows down other work, raise it (where the tool supports it) to push large archives through faster.
Use low priority for tool processes
Runs the external tool processes (7-Zip, tar, zstd, etc.) at background quality of service. On Apple Silicon Macs the work then runs primarily on the efficiency cores; on Intel Macs the OS just lowers its scheduling priority. Either way, archive jobs take somewhat longer but stay out of the way of interactive apps and use noticeably less battery. Pair this with a lower Threads per tool setting for a true background-batch feel: large compressions become barely noticeable while you keep working.
Amount of debug output written to the console
From Don’t log to files through Errors, Warnings, Default, up to Debug (lots). Raise this when you’re chasing a bug or sharing diagnostics with support; lower it for normal use.
Purge log files
How long to keep BetterZip’s log files before automatic cleanup. Range: never, 1 day, 1 week, 1 month, 6 months, 1 year. See Logging for where the logs go and how to share them.
Temporary folder
BetterZip uses this folder for working copies, intermediate archives, and extracted files during operations. If you frequently archive files that live on an external drive, pointing the temporary folder at that same drive avoids slow copies, because it can use fast linking instead.
Reset learned progress weights
BetterZip learns over time how long each operation type tends to take, so the progress bar gets more accurate. Click to clear those learned weights and start over: useful if your workload changes dramatically or after switching to a faster Mac.
Enable the single-click action for the drop-down buttons (Save, Extract, View) in the toolbar
Some toolbar buttons have drop-down menus that open when you click them. This option makes a single click invoke the button’s default action and only when pressing and holding the button down, it will drop down the menu.
Post status messages to the Notification Center
Sends a macOS notification when an operation finishes (success or failure). Convenient for long-running jobs.
Show hidden files and folders in the save/open panels
Show files that start with a dot which are usually hidden in Finder or save panels in the standard save/open dialogs without needing to press ⇧⌘. each time.
Cut off trailing numbers from save names
Zipping photo 1.jpg, photo 2.jpg, photo 3.jpg together produces photo.zip instead of photo 1.zip.
Cut off extension from save names
Zipping abc.jpg produces abc.zip instead of abc.jpg.zip.
Display all sizes in kibi-, mebi-, and gibibyte
Use binary units (1 KiB = 1024 B) instead of the default decimal units macOS uses for file sizes elsewhere.
Show the real password length in the preset configuration
By default the password field in preset editors shows a fixed-length placeholder so onlookers can’t guess length. Enable this to see the actual length.
Always save with the default preset when clicking the toolbar button, even if the archive is not new
Normally, clicking Save on an existing archive saves it in place. With this option, the toolbar button always uses the default save preset (e.g., to re-archive with different settings), regardless of the original archive’s settings.
Load the default preset in the save panel
Pre-populates the save panel with the default save preset’s options instead of leaving them at their last-used values.
Open queue window when starting an operation
The queue window pops into view as soon as a compress, extract, or test job starts. Helpful if you frequently kick off long-running jobs and want to keep an eye on progress.
Use relative dates
Show dates as Today, Yesterday, etc., instead of absolute dates.
Do not quarantine extracted apps (less secure)
macOS adds a quarantine flag to apps you extract from archives so Gatekeeper checks them before launch. Disabling this skips the flag: faster, but you lose Gatekeeper’s first-run check.
Show all shortcuts in script menus
Lists all your shortcuts in BetterZip’s script menus (preset configs and save panels), not just the ones you’ve explicitly marked with BZ or BetterZip in their names. I have added this filter for people with hundreds of shortcuts.