Google Drive is great for storing, collaborating, and sharing files with others. It syncs your files with Google Cloud. However, it disappoints users with the way it handles compressed files. It only allows you to view the file name and its extension. You can’t open and preview the actual file or unzip a single file from the ZIP in Google Drive. Say, you have 10 files inside a compressed folder, but you only want to extract two files. This is impossible via Google Drive because you have to decompress the entire zip file.

To overcome all these odds, there exists a handy Google Chrome extension. It allows you to preview all the contents of a ZIP file before you go ahead and extract it in Drive. Moreover, it also allows the extraction of only the desired number of files, rather than the complete ZIP or RAR file.

Steps to Unzip Files from a ZIP in Google Drive

  1. Head over to the Chrome Web Store and download the ZIP Extractor extension.
    google drive zip extractor
  2. Click Add to Chrome and then Add from the pop-up menu.
  3. Next, head to Google Drive and click Drive. Go to More > Connect More Apps.
    connect more apps in drive
  4. Hover your cursor over to ZIP Extractor and click Connect.
    connect zip extractor drive
  5. You’ll also get a pop-up asking the extension to be the default one for handling compressed files. I have it enabled but it depends on your personal choices.
    default app for extracting zip in drive
  6. Now open any ZIP file from your Google Drive. Once you do so, you’ll have to Authorize this extension with Drive. Until you do so, you can’t preview or extract individual files from the ZIP in Drive.
    extract zip authorize
  7. Next, sign in with your Google Account and grant it the necessary permissions.
    extension permissions
  8. Next to each file is a checkbox, tick mark only those files you need to extract right now. Finally, click Extract to begin the process.
    extract zip drive
  9. You’ll have the option to preview each of these files present in the compressed bundle, beforeextracting it. To do so, just click that file name.
    preview zip drive

So with that, we conclude this guide on how to preview and extract individual files from ZIP in Google Drive. Follow us for more such Google Apps-related tips and tricks. Do share your thoughts on this extension as well. Drop in your views in the comments section below.

Read next: Add Events to Google Calendar using Chrome’s Address Bar

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