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BetterZip Changelog

What's new in BetterZip 5.3.4

Apr 12, 2023
  • Bug Fixes
  • Fixed Zstandard V 1.5.5 for Intel Macs.

New in BetterZip 5.3.3 (Apr 12, 2023)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Updated Zstandard to V 1.5.5.
  • Sped up some operations with large folders containing multi-volume rar files.
  • When creating multi-volume rar archives with more than 9 volumes, BetterZip would show an error message after successfully creating the archive.
  • Under certain conditions, BetterZip did not offer to repair rar files with missing parts when .rev files were available.
  • Tokens for automatically created filenames didn't work correctly in some localizations.

New in BetterZip 5.3.2 (Mar 9, 2023)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • A regression in BetterZip 5.3 could prevent creating rar archives from a single folder.
  • Split zip files with extensions z01,… couldn’t be extracted. It works again.
  • I updated the actions for DropZone 4.
  • The Quick Look extension wouldn’t resize correctly on macOS 10.15 Catalina.
  • Removed an old piece of code that manipulated the “Recents documents” menu to work around a bug in a previous version of macOS which is no longer needed, but still changed the order of items when sorting them by date in other apps.

New in BetterZip 5.3.1 (Feb 13, 2023)

  • Enhancements:
  • Updated zstandard to v 1.5.4 for improved performance on Apple Silicon Macs.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • The Share toolbar button didn’t work under certain conditions.
  • The navigation stack (go back/forward) wasn’t reset when opening another archive from the file browser sidebar.
  • The title of the preferences/settings window now matches the menu item title on macOS Ventura.

New in BetterZip 5.3 (Nov 15, 2022)

  • Enhancements:
  • Added option to not have an icon in the Finder contextual menu. (BetterZip > Preferences > Advanced)
  • Added a size limit for tar archives to be listed in the Quick Look extension. Since compressed tar files can take a time proportionate to their size to list, it can stall the system for a long time, if you try to Quick Look a very large archive. If you ever run into this problem, set an MB limit in BetterZip > Preferences > Quick Look.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • The set password button in the preset configuration was disabled without a hint why, when the password manager was locked. This should be easier to understand now.
  • The columns in the presets table were too narrow and some headers were cut off.
  • Increased the size of the Quick Look panel and optimized column widths.
  • When BetterZip was installed in a folder with a space character in its name, extracting tar based formats could crash BetterZip.
  • Since the rar commandline utility is now available as Intel or Apple Silicon executable, BetterZip can download, install, and update the version fitting your Mac.
  • The AppleScript unarchive option “receptacle” did not work.
  • Rewrote the Alfred workflows, since macOS no longer bundles Python 2.
  • ISO files were mounted as .BetterZipTempfolder; now the volume name will be the filename without extension.
  • The option “Don’t include the single root folder in the archive” prevented the display of the save panel when compressing a single folder.
  • Fixed some string translations.
  • The icon for the “files” preferences tab was missing.
  • Quarantining extracted executables did not work under certain conditions.
  • In save panels, the automatic loading of a preset that does not use zip format could lead to a double extension, e.g., name.zip.rar.

New in BetterZip 5.2 (Dec 14, 2021)

  • New Features:
  • Create ISO images with various formats.
  • You can now use the parent folder name of the compressed files as a variable in a save preset’s filename pattern. If items from multiple source folders are packed together, the nearest common ancestor will be used (the same folder that would be used when selecting “next to original” as destination folder.)
  • Bug Fixes and Enhancements:
  • Open more variations of ISO images, e.g., UDF format
  • Archive operations are now timed and the final operation time is added to the transcript window and shown in the system notifications.
  • Added a column for the compression method (STORE, DEFLATED, etc.)
  • On older macOS versions the Quick Look generator would sometimes not work correctly.
  • tbz2 is now supported as a filename extension.
  • Fixed the size of the lock icon in the statusbar on macOS 12.
  • When extracting RAR archives with .r99, .s99, etc. pieces, these 99er parts were not moved correctly after successful extraction, if a move operation (trash or other folder) was specified in the preset.
  • Fixed error when extracting with a preset with a forced encoding.

New in BetterZip 5.1.1 (Jun 24, 2021)

  • New Features:
  • Support for opening and extracting single (non-tar) zst and brotli archives.
  • Bug Fixes and Enhancements:
  • BetterZip 5.1 couldn't open, extract, or create tar archives on macOS 10.13 and 10.14.
  • The drop areas on the drop bar were skewed on macOS Big Sur.
  • BetterZip 5 couldn't open rpm archives and iso disk images.
  • The Direct Mode menu item didn’t show a check mark when it was toggled on.
  • Fixed a crasher that could occur when viewing or Quick Looking files in archives under certain conditions.
  • Fixed a crasher that could occur when saving archives under certain conditions.
  • Contextual menu commands “Open in new window/tab” in the Favorites sidebar are now being disabled for non-archive items.
  • When an archive cannot be handled, is damaged, or password protected, the Quick Look extension will no longer display annoying error messages.
  • A gz file inside an rpm archive couldn’t be extracted.
  • When no encoding was set in an extract preset, the drop-down button in the preferences displayed “Arabic (DOS)” instead of “Detect Automatically”.
  • Increased default panel size and enhanced column resizing in the Quick Look extension.

New in BetterZip 5.1 (Mar 19, 2021)

  • New Features:
  • BetterZip is now a universal app that supports the new Apple Silicon based Macs natively.
  • Added a new Quick Look extension: Finder can use this in the preview sidebar and when in column view where the previous QL generator was not used. Unlike the old-style generator, the new extension is not HTML, but based on standard UI elements which gives it a more natural look and feel. Like the old Quick Look generator, the new Quick Look extension is free to use for all users. You can configure a few default settings through BetterZip’s preferences window. This also works without purchasing a BetterZip license. Enable and disable the extension in System Preferences > Extensions.
  • Added a preset option to show a file panel to ask for the destination folder into which to move the archive/originals after a successful operation.
  • Added a preset option to force a filename encoding when extracting a Windows zip archive.
  • Enhancements:
  • The Helpers tab now shows the currently installed version of the rar helper tool.
  • Updated the built-in unrar component and most external helper tools to the latest versions.
  • Added scripting support for the “move archive/originals” preset options.
  • The password manager's auto-locking options are now shown even while the password manager is locked. Of course, you still need to unlock the vault before you can change them. Similarly, the preset configuration indicates whether a password is set in a preset while locked.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • The ⌘R keyboard shortcut (extract selected) didn’t work.
  • Prevent users from creating folders with invalid names.
  • Filenames with semicolons could confuse the BetterZip Finder Extension.
  • Fixed a crasher that could occur when opening zip files under certain conditions.
  • For solid 7z files the compressed size and index field wouldn’t be displayed.
  • Unlocking the password manager from the password panel during compression forgot to enable the OK button.
  • When one file was selected and a different file was extracted with a drag-and-drop operation, the progress bar would display the selected file’s size instead of the dragged one’s.
  • When adding files in Direct Mode to a rar archive, an access denied error would be displayed.
  • Modifying files in a password protected rar file would display an error message.
  • Due to new restrictions in macOS, DMG disk image files are no longer supported in the Quick Look preview.

New in BetterZip 5.0.3 (Sep 7, 2020)

  • Enhancements:
  • Notifications in the macOS notification center are now clickable and will reveal the processed items in Finder.
  • When opening an archive, BetterZip now lists all paths of the archive in the transcript window to give you a textual file listing which can be copied to the clipboard.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Dragging a folder with a numeric path extension into a window’s drop area led to a false error message.
  • Recursive extraction of all archives in folders was not working correctly.
  • BetterZip now allows extraction of folders in its submenu in Finder’s contextual menu.
  • Suppress an error message when an archive has multiple entries for one item.
  • Don’t only quarantine apps, but all executables.
  • The lock icon in the statusbar wasn’t shown for encrypted zip files.
  • The BetterZip Finder extension would interfere with Dropbox's and OneDrive's extension and the sync icons would disappear. I fixed a small bug in BetterZip's extension, but I am not really sure that this was connected to the problem. I was able to reproduce this behavior only rarely after having my Mac run for a long time (weeks) without restarting which makes it hard to pin down. Since the problem also occurs with other extensions, my suspicion is that it's rooted in the extension system itself. I will keep investigating this. If your sync icons continue to disappear with BetterZip 5.0.3, please disable the BetterZip extension for the time being, and if you have any hints, please do let me know.

New in BetterZip 5.0.2 (Jul 8, 2020)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Opening certain types of zip archives could crash BetterZip.
  • The volume size setting in presets for the rar format could lead to problems when the size was greater than the actual archive.
  • Prevent a crash when extracting files while they were already extracted for the preview.
  • The encoding detection for Windows zip files didn’t always work correctly.
  • BetterZip no longer trims whitespace characters in the filename patterns in presets.
  • Automator, AppleScript: When extracting with a preset, the settings for conflict resolution were ignored and when the preset was set to show the save panel, it stopped the worklflow.
  • After a compression Automator action, BetterZip quit too fast for Automator, possibly breaking workflows. I have added a short delay to allow Automator to continue.
  • Extracting individual files that had previously been previewed could take longer than expected or even hang completely.
  • Sometimes the __MACOSX folder was not hidden regardless of the option in the View menu.

New in BetterZip 5.0.1 (Jul 8, 2020)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Saving an archive with an invalid regex exclusion pattern could crash BetterZip.
  • The archive name in the navigation bar was not updated after opening archive.
  • DMG disk images couldn’t be created through a preset using the operations queue, e.g., from the BetterZip menu in Finder.
  • You could choose to split a disk image, even though the format doesn’t support splitting.
  • The Internet Access Policy used by Little Snitch now describes that in order to install the external rar tool, access to rarlabs.com is required.
  • The menu command Help > Open BetterZip’s Application Support Folder is now disabled, if that folder doesn’t exist. Currently this folder is only created, if you have BetterZip download and install the external rar tool.
  • In the preferences the file association for the Apple Disk Image type couldn’t be deselected.
  • The title (filename) of a compression operation was shown incorrectly after it finished.
  • The queue window showed an ever growing file size when compressing folders.
  • The BetterZip Finder extension didn’t work on external disks.
  • Not all archive types on the exclusion list were actually excluded from the Favorites sidebar, leading to an error message when opened. The exclusion list was also ignored in the Finder extension.
  • BetterZip wouldn’t display and extract all files from certain larger zip archives.
  • “Move originals” preset option didn’t work correctly, if Mac specific files were to be included in the archive, but there were none.
  • The QL generator didn’t work for some users on macOS 10.13 and 10.14.

New in BetterZip 5.0 (Jun 17, 2020)

  • Even Better Integration with macOS:
  • App (Share) Extension to compress files from inside other apps.
  • Share from BetterZip to other apps and cloud services.
  • BetterZip submenu in Finder’s contextual menu. This is fantastic: Instead of manually adding each preset to the macOS Services menu (which you still can), you can now access all your presets conveniently from a BetterZip submenu of Finder’s contextual menu.
  • Drag and Drop modernized: Drag items from an archive directly to other apps, e.g., Transmit. And when you drag items to the Desktop or Finder windows with icon view, the items will (finally!) be placed where you dropped them.
  • Added an Automator action for testing archives.
  • All Automator actions now report their progress back.
  • New Formats:
  • Create the most important flavors of Apple disk images (DMG files).
  • Extract and create archives with the Zstandard format (fast and high compression).
  • Extract and create archives with the Brotli format (also fast and high compression).
  • Open and extract archives with the XIP format.
  • Places:
  • BetterZip 5 lets you manage your favorite folders and use them as quick extraction targets and as destinations to move your archives to with one button click. Yes, BetterZip now has a “Move archive” command and toolbar button that lets you move the archive to another folder or to the trash.
  • More Powerful Delete Commands:
  • Redesigned “Delete with pattern”: Firstly, BetterZip 5 lets you invoke your favorite patterns from the toolbar or menu. Secondly, you can now review which files are going to be deleted and tweak the list before actually deleting anything.
  • BetterZip 5 lets you delete all Mac specific files from an archive with a toolbar button click or menu command. And you can purge all empty folders from your archive.
  • Additional Preset Options:
  • Instead of only customizing the filename extension in save presets, you can now specify a pattern to automatically generate filenames using fixed text and variables (like date, time, and username).
  • The post-processing script in presets can now be an AppleScript script or even an Automator workflow in addition to shell scripts.
  • Upon popular demand, save presets now let you move the original files and folders to the trash or any other folder after successful compression. (Limited to direct mode and queued operation.)
  • Many More New Features and Enhancements:
  • Added “Test”, “Open in BetterZip window”, and “Add to archive” to BetterZip button in Finder.
  • BetterZip can now keep the external rar commandline utility up-to-date and automatically download and install new versions when they are available.
  • Added an option to always or never update edited files inside the archive. While at it, I enhanced the updating of edited archive files in general (fewer alerts, keeping track of open files after saving changes back to an archive).
  • For added security, BetterZip will now quarantine apps extracted from archives. You can disable this in the preferences.
  • The “Replace File” dialog no longer blocks all other operations and you can now quick-look the two files for a last visual check.
  • Better handling of Windows zip archives with non-latin character sets.
  • Change the encoding of open archives without reopening them.
  • BetterZip will now ask for the correct encoding, when it cannot be determined automatically.
  • The info pane in the preview sidebar now shows more details. When no files are selected, general archive information is displayed.
  • Better visibility when errors occur during queued operations, even if you choose to ignore the errors and continue. And the Reveal button in the queue window will open the transcript window in this case.
  • Favorites sidebar: Added options to not show archive count badges and to disable file browsing, for users who use it as quick and simple extraction drop target only.
  • Enhanced the logic of opening file packages (most importantly apps) with a double click. BetterZip will now only navigate into the package, if the option “File packages are expandable” in the View menu is toggled on. Otherwise it will either extract and open the package or do whatever you specified in Preferences > Files. Holding down the cmd key will toggle the behavior temporarily.
  • When previewing an app in an archive, its icon, version, and copyright string are extracted and displayed.
  • BetterZip now lets you save all the settings in the save panel as a preset. Use the new gear button for this. Loading presets has been moved to this button as well.
  • When quitting BetterZip while archive operations are running, you are asked whether you really want to quit. This warning can be suppressed.
  • Password panels allow you to show the entered password, even when not using the password manager.
  • Added a command to completely reset the password manager in case you forgot the master password.
  • When you load a preset in the save panel that has a password set, you can now use that password or clear it to enter a new one. You also get the chance to set a new password when doing a “save as…” command with an encrypted archive.
  • More accurate progress bars for all operations.
  • Added a tab for the configuration of default settings for the BetterZip Quick Look Generator in the preferences window. macOS Catalina rendered all other means of remembering settings for QL generators defunct. The QL generator is still free for all (i.e., no BetterZip license required) and free users can also use the app to set default settings without problems.

New in BetterZip 4.2.4 (Jul 1, 2019)

  • 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.

New in BetterZip 4.2.3 (Mar 18, 2019)

  • Enhancements:
  • BetterZip is now a notarized app and uses the “hardend 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.

New in BetterZip 4.2.2 (Feb 5, 2019)

  • 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.

New in BetterZip 4.2.1 (Oct 18, 2018)

  • 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.

New in BetterZip 4.2 (Oct 15, 2018)

  • 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 preferences 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 preferences, 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 > Preferences > 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 Preferences > 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.

New in BetterZip 4.1.3 (Apr 26, 2018)

  • 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.

New in BetterZip 4.1.2 (Apr 3, 2018)

  • 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.

New in BetterZip 4.1.1 (Mar 27, 2018)

  • 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.

New in BetterZip 4.1 (Mar 21, 2018)

  • 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 preferences 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 preferences 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 preferences file.
  • I added an option in the Advanced section of the preferences 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 preferences.
  • 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

New in BetterZip 4.0.3 (Jan 16, 2018)

  • 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:
  • Added a new Italian localization by Dino Guidone. Thanks Dino!

New in BetterZip 4.0.2 (Dec 5, 2017)

  • 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 preferences 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 preferences 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.

New in BetterZip 4.0.1 (Aug 3, 2017)

  • 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 Preferences > 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.

New in BetterZip 4.0 (May 24, 2017)

  • 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.
  • Navigation Bar:
  • 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 preferences.
  • 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 preferences (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 preferences window.
  • The preferences 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.

New in BetterZip 3.2.1 (Feb 2, 2017)

  • Fixed a bug in yesterday’s version 3.2. It crashes BetterZip when saving an archive in one of the TAR formats.
  • If you need to create TAR archives, please get the new version. There are no other changes in this update.

New in BetterZip 3.2 (Feb 1, 2017)

  • New Features:
  • Added a hidden setting to make a folder expand when double clicked in the archive window instead of extracting and viewing it.
  • Added a hidden setting to show the real password length in the preset configuration (instead of always five bullets).
  • Added support for Android apk files.
  • Enhancements:
  • BetterZip now respects the System Preferences’ setting Sound > "Play user interface sound effects”.
  • Enhanced the QL preview for the weirdly zoomed Spotlight window.
  • Added .mscz as supported file extension to the QL generator.
  • Changed the default for concurrent operations to 4 instead of Auto, because the system would max out all processors.
  • Clarified the help page for the preset configuration.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Switching to flat list view mode didn’t work correctly on macOS Sierra.
  • Fixed the weird focus behavior when editing text fields in the preset configuration on macOS Sierra.
  • Changing hidden settings in the German help system didn’t work correctly on macOS Sierra.
  • When creating multi-part rar archives through the BetterZip service other multi-part rar archives in the same folder were moved to the trash.
  • After deleting all presets, the preset configuration didn’t work correctly under certain conditions.
  • AppleScript: destination:original wasn’t handled correctly.
  • The options in the save panel weren’t always set correctly with the preset values, if the preset used “Show save panel”.
  • Duplicating a preset sometimes didn’t copy the password to the new preset.
  • The sheet with the progress bar could get stuck when the archive window was minimized during a lengthy operation.

New in BetterZip 3.1.2 (Jul 15, 2016)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed a security vulnerability in the included Quick Look generator.
  • Choosing a save or extract preset from the menu didn’t work under certain conditions.
  • Extracting files while the preview for the right sidebar was still being generated could result in an empty file.
  • Fixed two rare crashers.

New in BetterZip 3.1.1 (May 4, 2016)

  • Bug fixes:
  • Zip and 7z archives would extract with the current daylight saving time setting instead of the setting on the file date.
  • Save as multi-volume showed an error message on reloading after the save, although no errors occurred.
  • The “create individual archives” setting now affects the “Compress with BetterZip” service.
  • When using the password manager with the setting “Always try passwords”, rar archives with header encryption lead to an error.
  • Added a few missing Chinese strings.

New in BetterZip 3.1 (Mar 14, 2016)

  • New Features:
  • Added a list of file extensions that shouldn’t be opened as archives: xlsx, docx, pages, and numbers by default. Add your own on the “Hidden Settings” page in the BetterZip help.
  • Added column “Total Size” that includes the resource fork’s (._ file’s) size.
  • BetterZip now lets you drag images from your web browser and drop them directly into an archive window.
  • Added a hidden setting for choosing what to do when clicking a file in the QL panel: open the archive in BetterZip and select the clicked file, extract the file and open it, or extract the file and reveal it in Finder.
  • Added a hidden setting that allows you to activate an additional switch in extraction presets to overwrite files without warning. Don’t use this switch!
  • Added an option to the extraction presets that allows you to close the archive window after successful extraction.
  • Enhancements:
  • The password suggestion popover annoyed me a bit, so I converted it to a drop-down button inside the password panel. I also added a hidden setting to control how many words make up a suggested password.
  • Added a hidden setting to add a folder’s contents in the root of the archive instead of the folder itself when compressing one folder through the operations queue.
  • Updated Sparkle framework to latest version.
  • Simplified the Quick Look plugin's "simple mode" even more to allow for even larger archives (OS X imposes a memory limit on QL plugins).
  • Broken and multi-volume rar archives with missing parts are handled more gracefully and can be extracted as far as no data from the missing or broken parts is needed. BetterZip will now show you which part is missing.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Header encryption was dropped when re-saving rar or 7z archives that originally had it turned on.
  • Tar archives with their resource forks in extra . folders couldn’t be extracted with all extraction methods.

New in BetterZip 3.0.4 (Jan 20, 2016)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Special folder icons were not preserved correctly in archives.
  • Automatically setting the archive’s date to the latest date of any file inside didn’t work when using Direct Mode or the “Compress with BetterZip” service.
  • The hidden setting for automatically dropping file extensions for single file archives didn’t work in Direct Mode or the “Compress with BetterZip” service.
  • "Hide BetterZip" during archive operations didn't work in some cases.
  • I added tbz2 as recognized extension for BZip2 compressed TAR archives.
  • Fixed the column headers in preset configuration.
  • TAR archives with intermediary "." folders couldn't be extracted as a whole.
  • Fixed a possible crasher bug related to the file browser.

New in BetterZip 3.0.3 (Aug 25, 2015)

  • Bug Fixes
  • : One problem I thought I fixed in version 3.0.2 was still not completely gone: When creating a zip archive with a custom extension, e.g., cbz, BetterZip would create a 7z archive instead and then fail to read it back as zip.
  • BetterZip 3.0.2 couldn't open rar archives with password protected file listings (header encryption).
  • Setting the hidden options from the help page didn't work in all languages.

New in BetterZip 3.0.2 (Aug 21, 2015)

  • Enhancements:
  • Added power user option to re-enable handling of AppleDouble (._) files. (See Hidden Settings in the BetterZip help).
  • Recognize .sXX file extensions for multi-volume rar archives.
  • Quick Look can now look into Corel brush libraries which are actually zip files.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • El Capitan compatibility: Zip and 7-zip archives didn't work. Also, BetterZip crashed a lot.
  • The password manager didn’t work correctly for RAR archives.
  • AppleScript: Saving with a preset with a set password still asked for a password.
  • Setting the number of concurrent operations didn’t work correctly.
  • When creating a zip archive with a custom extension (e.g., cbz) BetterZip would create a 7z archive instead and then fail to read it back as zip. Doh!
  • Added tbz2 and tb2 as recognized extensions for tar.bz2 files.
  • BetterZip would go to sleep during an archive operation, when the system shut off the display. App Nap is now prevented.
  • BetterZip would crash, when a part of a multi-volume archive was opened while the exact same archive was already extracting with the operations queue.
  • The QL generator window only offered the default, not any user-defined presets.

New in BetterZip 3.0.1 (Jun 2, 2015)

  • Enhancements:
  • Clicking the toolbar button “Save” for an existing archive now saves it instead of using the default toolbar button preset to re-save it. If you don’t want this new behavior, you can stay with the old one by switching it on the “Hidden Settings” page in the BetterZip help.
  • Included the latest unrar library 5.2.7.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • BetterZip could crash when extracting archives with the operations queue.
  • On OS X 10.9 zip and 7z archives couldn’t be quick looked in the Finder.
  • Canceling Direct Mode toggling via the toolbar didn’t work correctly.
  • Fixed a superfluous error message when extracting a folder while also selecting its contents.
  • The progressbar didn’t always update correctly when saving archives.
  • Compressing files by dropping them on the queue window was broken.
  • Password handling was not working correctly in some situation.

New in BetterZip 2.3.4 (Dec 2, 2014)

  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed the localizations for OS X 10.10.
  • The text labels on the drop-down buttons in the toolbar were not always correctly enabled/disabled.
  • Extracting multiple tar archives with the queue failed.
  • Fixed some user interface problems on OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
  • Some tar.gz files couldn't be extracted correctly on OS X 10.10 Yosemite.
  • Under certain circumstances, the Keychain wouldn't remember that access to the BetterZip passwords had been allowed permanently.

New in BetterZip 2.3.3 (Mar 5, 2014)

  • Bug fixes:
  • ._ files were unnecessarily added when re-saving archives.
  • Access to archive passwords stored in the keychain wouldn’t stick for some users on Mavericks.
  • Uncompressed tar now works correctly on Mavericks.
  • The save panel didn’t honor specifically set filename extensions from the preset when “show save panel” was set.
  • The radio buttons in the preset lists in the preferences could get confused.
  • On Mavericks the main menu was always displayed in English, regardless of the system locale.
  • Includes the latest unrar.

New in BetterZip 2.3.2 (Nov 19, 2013)

  • Enhancements:
  • Support for the new RAR 5 format.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Restore TAR compatibility on OS X 10.9 Mavericks.
  • Compressing and extracting files with extended file attributes (xattrs) are now fully supported.
  • Added a safeguard against storing empty passwords in the password manager.
  • CPGZ archives are handled correctly again.
  • In some cases the main menu was not displayed in the correct language (or only partially).
  • Prevent a very rare crash after upgrading from an older version.
  • Added a Spanish translation for names of default preset.
  • Work around a PDF preview bug in Mac OS X 10.7.4.
  • Added a safeguard against malformed zip archives.

New in BetterZip 2.3.1 (Feb 13, 2013)

  • New Features:
  • Added Spanish localization.
  • Enhancements:
  • You can now unset the default and service presets in the preset configuration.
  • 1024px application icon for retina display Macs.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed a small memory leak.
  • Fixed a crash when extracting 7-zip archives with a custom-set, invalid temp folder.
  • DEB archives were not handled correctly in some cases.
  • Fixed compression of symbolic links.
  • Fixed the file attributes when extracting certain executables zipped on a Windows box.
  • Extracting a single folder from a SIT archive didn't work.
  • "No compression" didn't work for files larger than 4GB.
  • When directly extracting a rar file, passwords were not tried automatically, even if the option to do so was set in the preferences.
  • When changing the order of presets, the default choices were lost.
  • Fixed the 1-click "Download & Install" function for the external rar commandline utility.

New in BetterZip 2.3 (May 30, 2012)

  • New Features:
  • You can now change the preview font and switch line wrapping in the preview on/off.
  • Added Czech and Brazilian Portuguese localizations.
  • BetterZip is now signed with my Apple Developer ID which lets it run with Gatekeeper. Because of this, you will have to allow BetterZip to use its own passwords. It will ask you for each password, but only once if you click "Always allow".
  • Enhancements:
  • Enhanced the replace file panel when updating multiple files in an archive at the same time.
  • You can now reorder the list of presets in the preferences with drag-and-drop.
  • Display service and default (toolbar) markers in the presets lists.
  • Added a setting in Preferences > Advanced to control which Growl notifications to issue (only needed for Growl 1.2 users).
  • Handle incorrectly named tgz and tbz archives more gracefully.
  • Click on dock icon will once again open a new window, if no windows are open and the "new window" option is set in preferences.
  • Updated the included 7-zip commandline tool to the latest version (9.20).
  • Bug fixes:
  • The BetterZip services were not translated correctly for some languages.
  • Fixed a possible crash when setting a new master password for the password manager.
  • Fixed the misleading error message when trying to extract or save to a read-only folder.
  • The Favorites sidebar's background had drawing errors when BetterZip was in the background.
  • Creating a new folder inside a tar archive wouldn't work under certain conditions.
  • In rare cases parts of multi-part rar archvies were not deleted correctly after extraction.
  • Fixed a possible crash after using the PDF preview on Mac OS X 10.7.4.
  • Fixed a possible crash when trying to print an archive from the Finder (printing is not supported, but cmd+o and cmd+p are neighbors on the keyboard).

New in BetterZip 2.2.1 (Mar 22, 2012)

  • Enhancements:
  • Allow merging of folders and “keeping both” when adding items that already exist in the archive.
  • The “Open With” menu is sorted and displays better results now.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed a possible crash when deleting an archive in the Finder while it was visible in the favorites sidebar.
  • Fixed a possible crash when using the “open with” menu with unknown file types.
  • The percentage badge on the BetterZip icon in LaunchPad could get stuck.
  • In some cases BetterZip was not able to track moved or deleted archives.

New in BetterZip 2.2 (Feb 28, 2012)

  • New Features:
  • Added “Open with” to the contextual menu and changed the View toolbar button to a drop-down button with “Open with” functionality.
  • You can now specify a custom file extension in save presets.
  • Added a menu item to extract all archives in a folder recursively.
  • Added an option and menu item to compress each of multiple dropped items into an individual archive.
  • Added Japanese (by Koichi Matsumoto) and Polish (by Mariusz Nicpoń) localizations. Thank you, guys!
  • Added the Greenwich localization framework by Whitney Young, FadingRed LLC to allow super easy translation into new languages. Start BetterZip, hold down the Alt/Option key and drop down the Help menu. There’s a new menu item “Translate BetterZip” that will open the translation interface.
  • Enhancements:
  • Increased extraction speed for rar files.
  • BetterZip will now display exactly which part of a multi-volume rar archive is missing, if any.
  • In the save panel the standard file extension will be appended to the filename.
  • Bug fixes:
  • Fixed a possible crash when quitting BetterZip with the favorites sidebar opened.
  • Fixed a few errors in the Russian translation.
  • The registration window could lead to an infinite loop under certain circumstances.
  • Growl will no longer write a warning message to the log.
  • Fixed a bug that could lead to files being overwritten when extracting certain tar.gz archives.

New in BetterZip 2.1.2 (Nov 18, 2011)

  • New Features:
  • Added a Russian localization.
  • Enhancements:
  • Hold down the Cmd key while dropping a folder in the queue window to recursively extract all archives in it.
  • Hold down the Alt key while dropping an archive in the queue window to force compression.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • When starting BetterZip through one of the services in the Services menu, no empty archive window will be opened.
  • Fixed a possible crash when quitting BetterZip with the favorites sidebar opened.
  • The registration window could lead to an inifinite loop under certain circumstances.
  • The split size for 7z archives was limited to 4GB.
  • Fixed a bug in handling "additional options" when creating archives.
  • Using the option "show save panel" together with the queue could lock up BetterZip.
  • Trailing numbers are no longer cut off from the filename when saving with automatically created archive names.
  • Fixed "reuse passwords for subsequent archives" in queue.

New in BetterZip 2.1.1 (Oct 3, 2011)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Split size is now base 10 (1MB = 1,000,000 Bytes) like the rest of the application.
  • Search field was invisible on Mac OS X 10.6 under certain conditions.
  • The English help was replaced by the French help.
  • Fixed the update mechanism. It will work again from now on.
  • Fixed a possible crash when creating previews.
  • Extracting all archives in a folder didn't work under certain conditions.
  • Some strings were not correctly translated in the French localization.

New in BetterZip 2.1 (Sep 21, 2011)

  • New Features:
  • Using the service "Extract with BetterZip" you can now extract all archives in a folder hierarchy.
  • If files are selected in the archive window, presets now only extract those instead of all files. Hold down Shift to extract all anyway.
  • Enhanced "replace existing files" dialog: it now allows to merge extracted items into existing folders, keep both versions or replace the existing version with the one from the archive.
  • Enhancements:
  • Enhanced accessibility.
  • Improved SIT file handling.
  • The favorites sidebar is now populated in the background and there is no longer a delay when starting BetterZip.
  • Re-added "Terminate after last window closed" option.
  • Enabled the additional parameters field for tar archives.
  • Holding down the option key now shows a save panel even for services or direct extraction.
  • The location preset in the save panel is now by default next to original/archive.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed two bugs that could lead to a crash.
  • BetterZip now uses the original encryption method when resaving an archive, i.e., header encryption will be retained.
  • Splitting 7z archives was off by a factor 1024.
  • The Save toolbar button wasn't correctly initialized with the default preset.
  • Cancelling archive creation through a service in the save panel no longer displays a confusing message.
  • Moving or deleting the external rar program could lead to a crash when saving with a preset with rar format.
  • The progress bar no longer gets stuck when hiding BetterZip while extracting large archive.
  • Extracting an archive via context menu while the same archive was open in BZ could crash BetterZip.
  • Fixed a problem with extracting read-only folders in archives.

New in BetterZip 2.0.2 (Jul 4, 2011)

  • New Features:
  • Added an option to suppress the creation of folders for extracted archives (in extract presets).
  • Enhancements:
  • The queue window is now closed upon completion of all operations, if it was opened automatically.
  • Enhanced Lion compatibility.
  • Removed option "quit after last window closed". If BetterZip is started as a service, it will always quit when finished. If started in normal window mode, it will never quit automatically.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed crash when using BetterZip as a service.
  • Closing windows with unsaved changes now works correctly.
  • The password manager no longer gets confused when switching tabs in the preferences window.
  • BetterZip no longer asks to save modified, empty archives when exiting.
  • The queue progressbar didn't update correctly when extracting rar archives.
  • BetterZip now prevents extracting of unsaved archives.

New in BetterZip 2.0.1 (Jun 23, 2011)

  • Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed extraction for SIT archives.
  • Fixed the selection of service and default presets.
  • Fixed correct execution of some post-extraction options (revealing the extracted files in Finder, removing the archive, ...)
  • Fixed a potential security problem.

New in BetterZip 2.0 (Jun 23, 2011)

  • New Features:
  • Queueing of multiple archive operations
  • Services: Extract and compress files through the Finder's contextual menu
  • Presets: create configurations for extracting and compressing archives
  • Password manager
  • Test archive integrity
  • New, friendly layout
  • BetterZip is now 64-bit
  • Replaced filebrowser with favorites sidebar
  • Quick Look inside archive
  • More archiving options (expert options)
  • Added configurable filters to remove unwanted files (e.g., Windows Explorer files) when extracting
  • BetterZip can now extract pieces of partially damaged archives
  • View unrecognized files as text in preview
  • BetterZip 2 can automatically set the archive's file modification date to the latest date of any file inside the archive
  • Enhancements:
  • Removed confusing Mac/Compatibility mode switch
  • Better error handling
  • Re-saving multi-part archive with fewer parts will remove no longer used old parts
  • Execute a script after extraction or archive saving, e.g., hand extracted files to a virus scanner, upload archive to a server, attach to email after save, ...
  • The modification date is displayed will automatically change format depending on the available space.
  • Newer XAR format (safariext-files) can now be opened and extracted.
  • Show estimated compressed size for files in solid archives.
  • XAR: better display of save-progress, more save-settings.
  • BetterZip now bases all file sizes calculations on 1 KB = 1000 bytes, 1 MB = 1000 KB, 1 GB = 1000 MB.
  • Better structured more complete help.
  • Bug Fixes:
  • svn-Patterns: Escaped the dot correctly.
  • In flat view BetterZip no longer keeps the files listed in order of their folder.
  • BetterZip couldn't be made the default handler for tbz files on some configurations.

New in BetterZip 1.8.3 (Sep 9, 2009)

  • Tar archives couldn't be opened reliably on Mac OS X 10.6.
  • Header encryption was dropped when re-saving a header encrypted archive.

New in BetterZip 1.8.2 (Sep 1, 2009)

  • New Features:
  • BetterZip now uses pbzip2 for BZip2 compression. This parallel version can utilize multiple CPU cores resulting in faster compression.
  • Showing and hiding columns can now be done through a contextual menu accessed by clicking on the header of the main table like in iTunes or other programs.
  • Added optional header encryption for 7-zip and rar formats. Select this option in the save panel in the pop-up button "Encryption method".
  • Changes:
  • Tar archives couldn't be opened on Mac OS X 10.6.
  • Bugs fixed:
  • The BetterZip icon was shown without a name in Activity Monitor, Force Quit window and DragThing.
  • Fixed a possible crash in the registration window when entering or editing the key.
  • Integrated the latest rarlib for faster and more stable extraction of rar files.
  • Extracting an empty folder from an archive didn't work.
  • The progress bar in some tar archives behaved strangely.

New in BetterZip 1.8.1 (Apr 29, 2009)

  • New Features:
  • BetterZip can now concatenate split files: something.001 + something.002 + ...
  • Added a Russian localization by Alexandr Slavyshensky.
  • Bugs fixed:
  • File modification times in zip files created with BetterZip were shifted by the timezone offset.
  • Folder modification times were always set to the time of the archive creation.
  • When RAR files were re-saved they always ended up as multi-volume archives.
  • Files in multi-volume RAR archives with missing parts can be previewed and extracted again, if the missing parts are not necessary.
  • RAR files with header encryption are handled in a better way now. You get repeated chances to enter the correct password and the archive will no longer be moved to the trash when you cancel the process. (If you had enabled this feature in the preferences.)
  • Only the first part of a multi-volume RAR archive with the old naming scheme (r00,...) was deleted automatically when the deleting option was set.

New in BetterZip 1.8 (Mar 3, 2009)

  • New Features:
  • Archives can now be moved to the trash automatically after a direct extraction (set this in the preferences, tab Advanced).
  • Added a switch in the preferences to suppress the display of an extraction's destination in the Finder.
  • Open, extract, and create XAR archives.
  • Open and extract PKWARE AES encrypted zip archives.
  • Added support for Python eggs. At least zip based eggs.
  • Added the Chinese localization by He Yunxuan.
  • Changes:
  • Speed-up for zip and 7-zip.
  • Rar compressed comicbook files (cbr) can now be handled by other programs without losing rar handling in BetterZip.
  • Worked around a problem with the built-in archive handler in Windows XP and Vista.
  • Tar based archives that only have a . folder are displayed now as a normal folder. Previously the . folder was always treated as a hidden folder.
  • Small enhancements in the registration window.
  • Bugs fixed:
  • In some cases the automatically created destination folder name included .part01 when extracting a multi-volume rar archive.
  • Rar files that didn't have the correct magic bytes at the beginning of the file could not be opened.
  • Larger archives (4-8GB) couldn't be created with zip format.
  • Old format uncompressed tar archives were not recognized and couldn't be opened.
  • Previewing files and switching archives via filesystem browser could lead to a crash.
  • After modifying a tbz or tgz archive a save operation would result in an uncompressed tar archive.
  • BetterZip now correctly detects when a wrong rar password was used for extraction.
  • Fixed two minor memory leaks.
  • Extracting two folders where one's name is the prefix of the second's (e.g., data and data2) would only extract the first.

New in BetterZip 1.7.3 (Oct 21, 2008)

  • Added a CRC-32 column.
  • Changes:
  • Extracting one file that has already been previewed from a RAR archive is considerably faster now.
  • RAR compression will now add -m3 option for normal compression, thus overriding whatever factor is specified in the rarrc configuration file.
  • Live updating transcript drawer while extracting rar archives.
  • Removed the "hidden folders removal" window. Instead, left-over temp folders are silently moved to the trash.
  • Bugs fixed:
  • Opening multiple parts from a multi-volume archive no longer opens multiple windows. This was especially annoying when direct extraction was used as default.
  • Archives with a dollar sign in their names could not be extracted.
  • Single files from archives created by MobileMe couldn't be extracted, if the extracted file contained certain international characters.
  • Executables extracted from an archive couldn't be executed, if they had the s-attribute set.

New in BetterZip 1.7.2 (Aug 5, 2008)

  • 1-Click-Save crashed, if the original archive has been deleted in the mean time.
  • Changing some settings in the preferences window could crash BetterZip, if a window was closed before the change.
  • The open command in the file menu didn't work in 1.7.1.
  • Fixed a possible crash when extracting RAR archives with direct extraction.
  • Fixed a problem when moving a file out of a folder, then deleting the folder, and saving the archive.
  • CBR archives didn't open correctly.

New in BetterZip 1.7.1 (Jun 20, 2008)

  • Fixed crash reporter crash.
  • Fixed problem with password encrypted zip files.
  • Fixed another problem with large 7z files.
  • Fixed problem with extracting single files from cpio archives.

New in BetterZip 1.7 (Jun 19, 2008)

  • Added keyboard shortcut for 1-click save: Command Option S.
  • Added Spanish localization. Thank you, Hugo Bueno S�nchez!
  • Added crash reporter. Thank you, Jelle De Laender from CodingMammoth!
  • Attributes of executable files that were created on FAT file systems (Windows) are now set automatically so that the file can be exectued.
  • Added LZH file handling for more subformats.
  • You can now set the location for temporary folders which is ~/Library/Caches/TemporaryItems by default. If you really need to change this, e.g., because your startup disk is full, you can change it with this terminal command: defaults write com.macitbetter.betterzip MIBTempFolderPath "/your/path"
  • Opening very large zip and 7z archives could fail under certain circumstances.
  • Extracting archives that contained accented characters could fail under certain circumstances.
  • Under rare conditions BetterZip would crash during the registration process.
  • Fixed CPIO support.
  • Fixed Japanese and French help files.

New in BetterZip 1.6.2 (Apr 22, 2008)

  • New: Command Option F: Set focus to toolbar search field (like in Finder, iTunes, and Mail).
  • Tweaked preferences window icons.
  • The direct extraction progress window now remembers its position.
  • Fix: Filenames containing characters that could be interpreted by the shell like (), , |, &, $, , ', ` would not work.
  • Fix: If opening failed while an empty window was open, BetterZip would fall into one infinite loop asking for a password.
  • Fix: I you wanted to add an archive into another archive by clicking the toolbar button "Add", the archive would be opened instead.
  • Fix: When checking or unchecking the Kind colum in the preferences nothing happened until you checked or unchecked something else.
  • Fix: Direct extract with an open empty document didn't do anything.

New in BetterZip 1.6.1 (Apr 9, 2008)

  • New: Allow previewing and viewing of rtfd files.
  • I removed the 'Matryoshka archives' warning. Archives dropped into an empty BetterZip window will now be opened without any interaction needed. To add an archive to a new archive, hold down the command key while dropping the file into an empty window.
  • Enhanced the "remove temporary folder cleanup" window.
  • Fix: International character file names didn't work.
  • Fixed icons in preferences window.
  • Fix: Concurrent direct extractions would terminate after the first has finished.

New in BetterZip 1.6 (Apr 1, 2008)

  • Upon popular demand, I have added an option to make direct extraction the default. When this option is checked, BetterZip will immediately extract archives instead of opening them in a window. Find this new option in the preferences window on the General tab. It's off by default.
  • I have changed the shortcut for direct extraction from Command to Control Command, because holding down the Command key was not sufficient for keyboard users, since they need to hold down the Command key in any case.
  • An archive's file format is no longer determined by the file extension, but by analyzing the actual file data. This is more secure and flexible.
  • Double tooltips in the file browser drawer on Leopard are now suppressed.
  • The "Removing temporary folders" window sometimes locked up BetterZip.
  • The file browser could be rather slow on Leopard. This is fixed now.
  • The compression level setting for zip archives was ignored. Regardless of your selection, BetterZip always used normal compression.
  • On some Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) systems opening larger zip archives could take a very long time. This was fixed. As a side effect, opening archives is now a lot quicker on all systems.
  • When you opened a rar archive and saved it without the rar utility installed, BetterZip could hang.
  • BetterZip would freeze when opening a multi-volume rar file with missing parts.
  • Opening multi-volume rar archives using the old naming scheme rar, r00, r01, ...) by clicking any part other than the first did not work. Now, BetterZip will automatically open the first volume.

New in BetterZip 1.5.6 (Nov 22, 2007)

  • Setting BetterZip as default handler for archive file types should now work reliably on both systems (10.4 and 10.5).
  • Fixed saving SIT archives in another format.

New in BetterZip 1.5.5 (Nov 8, 2007)

  • Changes
  • Holding down the command key and opening an archive while BetterZip is already running now extracts the archive directly.
  • Bugs fixed
  • Filebrowser does no longer go into the autofs folder /net which could hang the program.
  • Various file types (e.g., ZIP) could not be associated with BetterZip due to a change in Leopard. The type system in Mac OS X is still not very predictable. For best results open the preferences, go to the tab File Types, click the Handle None button and then either click the Handle All button or select which file types BetterZip should handle using the check boxes in the list.
  • The archive mode icon in the status bar was clipped on Leopard.
  • Fixed a possible hang (see marbleofdoom.com) when extracting an archive containing a circular symbolic link.