Menu

BetterZip 4 – Version History

BetterZip 4.2.5 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Compatibility Fix

This latest version fixes the Quick Look generator to work with new security restrictions in macOS 10.15 Catalina. Catalina no longer allows users to extract files directly from the Quick Look panel, invoke presets, or save the panel configuration. Sadly, I had to remove these features for Catalina users.

BetterZip 4.2.4 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Bug Fixes

  • When editing files inside an archive, BetterZip 4.2.3 would not mark the archive as changed even though the user asked to update the file.
  • Files with a space as the last character of the filename couldn’t be extracted individually from zip and 7z archives.
  • Damaged zip and 7z archives could crash the BetterZip Quick Look generator under certain circumstances.
  • The BetterZip QL generator did no longer honor Dark Mode on the latest releases of macOS Mojave.

BetterZip 4.2.3 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Enhancements

  • BetterZip is now a notarized app and uses the “hardened runtime” for added security. Notarization means that Apple scans BetterZip for code-signing issues and possible security flaws before it is released.
  • Better results when extracting broken rar archives.
  • Added an Internet Access Policy file for Little Snitch which explains BetterZip’s internet usage (checking for updates and installing the external rar tool, if you choose to do so.)
  • Updated file type detection to include more rar based archives.

Bug Fixes

  • Extracting a large app (or any package really) with drag and drop while the preview for the app was still extracting could lead to an error.
  • Fixed a problem with tar files whose name, excluding the last extension (tar.gz does usually not have the problem), is the same as the folder inside when they are extracted through the queue.

BetterZip 4.2.2 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Enhancements

  • If you change the preview font, BetterZip will now remember it.
  • Added an explicit encoding option in the file open panel. BetterZip does have automatic encoding detection built in, but at times the filename encoding of Windows zip archives cannot be determined automatically and you need to tell BetterZip what to use. If your zip archive shows weird characters instead of correct filenames, close the archive, choose File > Open… from the menu, and use the encoding option in the file open window to select the correct encoding.
  • Better progress bar behavior during extraction of tar based archives.

Bug Fixes

  • The encoding detector (not related to the zip filename encoding mentioned above) in the preview sidebar didn’t always work correctly for text files.
  • When creating a multi-volume rar archive and the specified volume size was larger than the resulting archive, an error was displayed.
  • When previewing a folder in the archive and having a preview rule setup for “*”, a subsequent drag and drop extraction of that folder could fail.

BetterZip 4.2.1 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a problem with opening archives from Finder for users on macOS 10.10 and 10.11.
  • Fixed the progress not being shown correctly when testing large zip files.

BetterZip 4.2 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

New Features

  • Added support for macOS 10.14 Mojave’s Dark Mode.
  • BetterZip now has a menu bar icon onto which you can drag items and that has a shortcut menu with the most important functions. Activate the menu bar icon in the BetterZip settings on the tab “General”.
  • You can now specify in extraction presets what BetterZip should do, if there are conflicts with already existing files or folders.
  • BetterZip now supports zipx files that use xz compression as well as WinZip split files (z01, z02, …)
  • Added an option to not “show folders” when in flat list view. Toggle this option via the View menu.
  • Added a Polish translation. Thank you, Bartosz!

Enhancements

  • Filenames containing numbers are now sorted numerically like in Finder.
  • The “Replace File” dialog shows more clearly which file or folder is older and which is newer.
  • Changed the logic of the option “Quit after last window closed”: only archive windows will trigger the quitting, not the settings, transcript, or queue windows.
  • Show combined progress of all windows (not only queue) in Dock tile (and menubar item).
  • Added a button for testing the archive in the warning message window when an error occurs during opening.
  • Added an AppleScript command to get the selected item paths in an archive window.
  • The Drop Bar is now forced to the front when dragging files over it.
  • Add a setting to not show the queue window when queue operations are started. Turn it on in BetterZip > Settings > Advanced.
  • The encoding of text files is now automatically detected when previewing text files in the preview sidebar.
  • You can now select multiple files in the File > Open panel.

Bug Fixes

  • Dropping files (especially a mix of supported archives and non-archive file types) onto the BetterZip Dock icon did not work reliably.
  • When switching view mode without a sorting column selected in the table, BetterZip could crash.
  • BetterZip will no longer allow to extract zip files outside of the destination folder. (Thanks, Meituan Financial Security Team!)
  • Fixed the opening and extraction of plain xz archives.
  • For some users the BetterZip Finder button did not work.
  • Extracting multi-part, password protected rar archives with CRC errors could lead to an endless password entry loop.
  • When editing a file type in Settings > Files and clicking Ok without making any changes in the window, the type disappeared from the list.
  • PDF files showed only the first page in the preview sidebar.
  • Compressing a folder with a space character at the end of the name didn’t work.

BetterZip 4.1.3 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Enhancements

  • BetterZip can now move itself to the Applications folder.

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a regression in 4.1.2: Under certain circumstances apps were not executable after extraction from archives.
  • The QL generator couldn’t save its settings.
  • If you have multiple empty BetterZip windows open and then open multiple archives from the Finder, BetterZip will now only reuse one of the empty windows and open as many new windows as necessary.
  • Fixed a few translation problems.
  • When closing an archive window while a file extraction for the preview from a rar file ran in the background, BetterZip could crash.

BetterZip 4.1.2 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Enhancements

  • Improved the speed of post-processing of files after extraction (restoring metadata, resource forks, …)
  • Added a Swedish localization. Thank you, Frank!

Bug Fixes

  • The favorites sidebar could show ghost items when a folder contained hidden files and all filters were turned off.
  • Fixed a possible crash when extracting archives while using the favorites sidebar.
  • Fixed a possible crash when dealing with split rar archives that miss the first part, either opening them or just having them in the favorites sidebar.
  • The extract preset option to overwrite files without warning wasn’t working.

BetterZip 4.1.1 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Enhancements

  • The release notes can now be opened through the help menu.

Bug Fixes

  • The QL generator in version 4.1 didn’t work, if your system language was not one of the localized in BetterZip.
  • When you try to add a password to a preset while the password manager isn’t initialized yet, BetterZip now asks you to choose a master password before proceeding.
  • Under certain conditions exclude patterns didn’t work in direct mode or when creating archives through the operations queue.
  • Favorites sidebar: Archives in folders that are not Spotlight indexed were not treated as archives, i.e. not opened when selected, and not filtered correctly.
  • When modifying and saving a split zip or 7z archive, BetterZip would under certain conditions loose track of the archive or even crash.
  • Opening a rar archive from Finder in a fresh BetterZip window when there was a favorite in the sidebar that is a parent folder of that rar file and that also has a huge number of other archives could be very slow (with beachball). This one was very weird and is now fixed.
  • Fixed a crash after closing a BetterZip window on macOS 10.11.

BetterZip 4.1 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

New Features

  • Configure which apps to use to open which file types when viewing and how to treat them in the preview (e.g., as text)
  • Major rewrite of the password manager
  • Passwords are now stored AES-256 encrypted in the settings file instead of the macOS keychain, keeping your passwords safe, but making it easier to completely copy your BetterZip setup from one Mac to another or using a common set of passwords in a multi-user environment. The transformation will be done automatically.
  • Additionally, the passwords can now be locked and unlocked with the master password for increased security. Configure when BetterZip should lock your passwords in the settings window.
  • The password manager’s “Import” function became “Edit Passwords as Text”, which allows you to edit all passwords as text and copy them to the clipboard for external save keeping, e.g., in a text file that you put in an encrypted zip file, or in a secure note in your favorite password manager (e.g., 1Password).

Enhancements

  • The exclude patterns field in the presets configuration and the save panel is now a drop-down combobox that lets you either select one of your already used patterns or enter a new one.
  • For easier deployment in multi-user environments, user folders in presets are now stored abbreviated with the tilde in the settings file.
  • I added an option in the Advanced section of the settings to not automatically load the toolbar preset in the save panel when using a standard Save command, either from the menu, the toolbar or by pressing ⌘S on the keyboard.
  • BetterZip now forces the queue window to the front when starting from a service.
  • Included the latest unrar library (version 5.5.8).
  • QL generators have a limited amount of memory and will be shut down if they exceed that limit. This could affect the BetterZip QL generator when previewing archives with many files (more than 10,000 or so). To prevent this problem, the item count is now limited to the first 10,000 files and folders and the head section of the preview now shows the full count.
  • BetterZip no longer displays an annoying warning message when you cancel saving.
  • I have brought back the option to subscribe to the beta version channel in the auto-updater. Activate it on the „General“ tab in the BetterZip settings.
  • When opening a damaged rar archive and having the external rar helper installed, you now have the option to open the archive without trying to repair it.

Bug Fixes

  • Services for presets with ampersands (&) in their name would lead Finder to display an error message.
  • tar.gz extraction was still not working correctly in some cases when using the queue.
  • Misnamed compressed tar files (e.g., a tar.gz file missing the .gz in the extension) would crash BetterZip during extraction.
  • Custom folder Icons were not zipped/restored correctly.
  • Better handling of cpio/cpgz files with resource forks or metadata.
  • Removing a favorite from the sidebar didn’t immediately update the sidebar.
  • QL: Encrypted archives didn’t show the archive icon
  • Cancelling rar creation crashed BetterZip.
  • Fixed „shrink heap buffer overflow“ in p7zip (CVE-2017-17969).
  • BetterZip couldn’t hide ._ files in tar files created on macOS 10.13 correctly.
  • AppleScript archive option destination:”test.zip” led to double extension test.zip.zip

BetterZip 4.0.3 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Bug Fixes

  • The “Extract with Preset” drop-down box in the Quick Look generator didn’t work in macOS High Sierra.
  • The Automator actions didn’t use the selected preset when the workflow was saved as an app. By the way: You know that you can make your own BetterZip droplets using Automator, right?
  • When adding files to an existing archive in Direct Mode, BetterZip falsely reported that the archive has disappeared although the operation was completed just fine.
  • When compressing a multi-volume rar archive and ending up with one single part because the archive is smaller than the specified volume size, BetterZip displayed an error.
  • Extra folder creation set to “Always” still didn’t work correctly for tar.gz. [Sigh.]
  • The BetterZip password manager would truncate passwords with non-ASCII characters.

Enhancements

  • I have added a new Italian localization by Dino Guidone. Thanks Dino!

BetterZip 4.0.2 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Bug Fixes

  • BetterZip would sometimes fail to compress large archives on macOS High Sierra.
  • The extraction of tar based archives with only one root item through the queue was still broken if the preset option “Create an extra folder” was set to “If archive has more than one root item”.
  • Save panel was not drawn properly when “more options” was toggled on macOS 10.13 High Sierra.
  • If the queue window was too narrow, the progress bar overlayed text.
  • Cmd+Enter renamed the selected file instead of opening it in an external editor/viewer.
  • Creating a new folder in an empty BetterZip window didn’t move the “drop here” screen out of the way.
  • Two presets with the exact same name crashed BetterZip.
  • Under certain circumstances BetterZip would crash at startup.
  • Delete in Direct Mode had no progress indicator, which was confusing for large archives with long running delete operations.
  • Removed cbr, cbz, and epub from the QL generator. There are specialized QL generators for these formats available.
  • Added tooltips for the various image buttons in the settings window for VoiceOver users.
  • Creating xar archives in Direct Mode did not work correctly.
  • If an archive contained files that did not have read/write permissions for the user, the files wouldn’t be accessible after extraction. BetterZip now adds user read/write permissions for all extracted files, just like macOS’ built-in Archive Utility does.
  • The pattern comparison function of macOS High Sierra that BetterZip used when extracting archives would sometimes hang. I have switched to a more reliant alternative.
  • Service names with / and & were problematic. This works now, but due to macOS limitations slashes are converted to colons.
  • When extracting multi-volume rar archives BetterZip would sometimes display garbage next to the progressbar (e.g. Chinese characters).
  • Extracting large rar archives would sometimes show wrong progress.

Enhancements

  • You can now hold down the ⌘ key while double clicking a folder to extract and view it.
  • I have added keyboard shortcuts to all the lists (presets, passwords, patterns) in the settings window: Press ⌘N to add a new item and ⌫ (Delete, Backspace) to remove the selected item.
  • BetterZip now supports recursive extraction of all files in a folder with the Finder button or presets in the services menu. Either select the folder in Finder or navigate into it and make sure to have nothing selected when invoking the extraction.

BetterZip 4.0.1 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Bug Fixes

  • Fixed a possible crash when opening an archive through the Favorites sidebar and extracting it with a preset that moves the archive after the extraction.
  • Fixed a possible crash when extracting or compressing an archive through the queue with the “show save panel” option set in the used preset.
  • In some places in the user interface BetterZip 3 was referenced instead of BetterZip 4.
  • “Reveal Service Folder” in Settings > Presets didn’t work correctly.
  • Extracting tar archives with multiple root items with the queue didn’t create an extra folder when not set to “Always”.
  • BetterZip services and the BetterZip button in Finder didn’t automatically show the queue window when compressing or extracting files.
  • “Opening an archive from Finder immediately extracts it” affected the compression, not only the extraction when dropping files on dock icon.
  • The Dropzone action could crash Dropzone after completion.
  • Files were sorted in reverse order when applying a filter in the favorites sidebar.
  • Extracting the BetterZip download package with macOS 10.10 built-in Archive Utility or Safari could lead to BetterZip being “damaged”. (Actually, the two included Automator actions were signed in a way that 10.10 didn’t like … don’t ask me. Sigh.)
  • When adding multiple parts of a multi-volume archive to the queue through the Finder button, they would all be queued instead of the first part only.

Enhancements

  • When renaming a file or folder in an archive, BetterZip now only selects the name without the file extension, just like Finder.

BetterZip 4.0 (for macOS 10.10 and later)

Integration with Other Apps

  • The new Finder extension puts all your presets in the Finder’s toolbar. Select some files in Finder, click the BetterZip button and choose one of your presets from the drop-down menu to create an archive with these files. Of course, you can also invoke any of your extraction presets on selected archives.
  • BetterZip 4 lets you define as many services as you like instead of the preconfigured two that prior versions offered. Use the tools menu in the preset configuration to add a service for the preset with a name of your choosing.
  • BetterZip 4 also comes with Automator actions for extracting and compressing as part of a workflow.
  • And BetterZip 4 interacts nicely with other apps like Alfred, LaunchBar, and DropZone.
  • All this is made possible by enhanced AppleScript support.

The Favorites Sidebar Received Some Love

In the new version you can rename, copy, move, and delete archives, open an archive in a new window or a new tab, display and treat multi-volume archives as one item. You can also choose to show all files in the sidebar instead of only archives. Also, Finder labels!

New Drop Bar

Drop files on the new Drop Bar with drop areas for your favorite presets to instantly compress or extract them.

Drill into folders by double-clicking them like in Finder. A folder path is displayed above the archive contents which gives you easy navigation to all parent folders and allows you to drop items directly into them.

Keep Archives Free of Mac Stuff

When modifying an archive that currently has no Mac specific stuff (metadata, Finder settings, etc.) in it you can now keep all Mac stuff out, add Mac stuff to the archive, or be asked every time what you want to do. Set your preferred option on the General tab of the BetterZip settings.

Repair RAR Archives

If you install the external rar command line tool, BetterZip 4 can try to repair damaged archives when opening or extracting them. Recovery volumes are now treated like other parts of a multi-volume rar archives.

Many More Enhancements Requested by BetterZip Users

  • Instead of moving extracted archives to the trash after successful extraction, BetterZip can now move them to any folder.
  • Open new formats thanks to XADArchive.framework: PDF – extract bitmap images from PDF files. SWF – extract images and music from Flash files. Both formats are, of course, not primarily archives and are treated as normal files. You can open them as archives by holding down the alt/option key while opening them. Or you can remove them from the blacklist in the settings (on the “File Types“ tab).
  • Added zipx and sitx format support.
  • Option to display folders above files (menu View > Sort Folders Above Files).
  • You can now specify in save presets whether you want to create individual archives when compressing through the operations queue. It’s no longer a global setting. Together with the new dynamic services this opens some very cool possibilities.
  • Another global option has been moved into the preset: When compressing one folder through the operations queue, don’t include the folder itself, but add only its contents in the root of the archive. Together with the option to create individual archives, you can now select a number of folders and compress them through a BetterZip service into individual archives that each don’t include the folders themselves.
  • Save presets can now add comments to archives.
  • Empty windows now show a drop area for files.
  • The password manager can now import a list of passwords (one password per line).
  • The preview sidebar can now display more file types by using Quick Look.
  • Choose a preset from inside the save/open panel and its settings will be loaded.
  • The previously “hidden” settings were moved into the settings window.
  • The settings window can now be resized.
  • Added xip and pkg as recognized archive filename extensions. (Not all pkg formats are supported, only xar based.)
  • Notifications now include whether archive extraction, creation, and tests succeeded or failed.
  • Tar based archives are now extracted faster when using the queue.
  • If an archive disappears (e.g., when it is deleted or the disk it resides on is ejected), you will now get a warning with the option to close the window.