Utilities

BetterZip 4.1 – Archiving tool.

March 22, 2018

BetterZip lets you quickly inspect archives without first extracting their contents.

Extract Only Files You Really Need: If you only need a few files or folders from a larger archive, you don’t have to extract the whole thing. Simply drag the files you need from the BetterZip window to any Finder window or the desktop.
Open Archives Without Extracting: Not only can BetterZip open archives without first extracting them but you can also search for a file using the iTunes-like interface. BetterZip can open and extract archives with the most common formats: ZIP, SIT, TAR, XAR, XZ, GZip, BZip2, RAR, 7-Zip, CPIO, ARJ, LZH/LHA, JAR, WAR, CAB, ISO, CHM, RPM, DEB, NSIS, BIN, HQX, DMG, EPUB, and Winmail.dat.
Create Archives: Simply drag files and folders from your hard drives, disks, or network places into your new zip file. You no longer have to copy all the files into a temporary folder first. The supported formats are ZIP, TAR, GZip and BZip2 compressed TAR, XAR, 7-ZIP, and RAR (using the external RAR commandline tool). Large archives can also be split.
Protect Your Data: BetterZip can protect your data with a password and create AES-256 encrypted archives. 7-zip and rar archives can also be protected.
Update Archives: Add new or updated files to existing archives. Remove any file or folder from an archive, or even move files around inside the archive as if it were a normal folder.
Make Archives Compatible: Strip Mac-specific files and resource forks from archives for best compatibility with systems like Windows or Linux.

Version 4.1:

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).

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.

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