Zip files normally use the .zip extension. If your email provider, or the one used by the recipient of your file, restricts or rejects attachments with this extension due to security concerns, you can configure WinZip Courier to use a different extension in WinZip Courier Options. If you open this from Outlook, you would then click the Zip Attachment name button to set an alternate extension. If instead you click Configure WinZip Courier from the Start button (or if your Courier version is older than version 8.0), you would then click the Attachment options button. Then, in either case, simply click the box labeled Use Custom file extension to put a check mark in it and type the extension in the field provided after Use Custom file extension. For example, if you type zea (zipped email attachment), the zipped attachments might be named "WinZip Compressed Attachments.zea" rather than "WinZip Compressed Attachments.zip". This would enable you to send the Zip file without error.
| Note: if you use this feature, you must be especially careful about the contents of your attachments. Be certain that all of your attachments are checked, safe, and virus-free. |
- This option affects WinZip Courier's Send as Zip File feature in Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint. Documents that you zip and email from your Microsoft Office applications will use the alternate extension.
- This option affects WinZip Courier's feature for manual zipping of email attachments. Files sent using Attach file (Zipped) will use the alternate extension.
You will need to let your recipients know that the attachments are Zip files. In general, your recipients will not be able to open the zipped attachments by double-clicking them as they normally would (but see below). Recipients will need to use the Save As feature in Microsoft Outlook or their email program to save the attachment with the normal ".zip" extension.
If your recipients have WinZip 11 or later installed, they can configure WinZip with your alternate extension in the System tab of the WinZip Options dialog. Otherwise, recipients to whom you frequently send Zip files with an alternate extension may be able to configure Windows to associate these files with WinZip so that they can be opened normally.
Another option that you may want to consider would be to use an available Cloud Service to send your Zip file as a download link. In this way, the email provider would not be involved with the file itself.
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