<primary>File Roller</primary>

</indexterm>

<indexterm zone="index">

</indexterm>

<indexterm zone="index">

<primary>Archiving</primary>

</indexterm>

<primary>Archives</primary>

<secondary>Adding files to</secondary>

</indexterm>

<primary>Archives</primary>

<secondary>Deleting files from</secondary>

</indexterm>

<primary>Archives</primary>

<secondary>Opening</secondary>

</indexterm>

<primary>Archives</primary>

<secondary>Viewing</secondary>

</indexterm>

<primary>Archives</primary>

<secondary>Extracting</secondary>

</indexterm>

<primary>Archives</primary>

<secondary>Creating</secondary>

</indexterm>

<!-- ============= Introduction ============================== -->

<!-- Use the Introduction section to give a brief overview of what

the application is and what it does. -->

<title>Introduction</title>

<para>You can use the &app; application to create, view, modify, or unpack an archive. An archive is a file that acts as a container for other files. An archive can contain many files, folders, and subfolders, usually in compressed form.

</para>

</informaltable>

<para>The most common archive format on UNIX and Linux systems is the tar archive compressed with <command>gzip</command> or <command>bzip2</command>. </para>

<para>The most common archive format on Microsoft Windows systems is the archive created with <application>PKZIP</application> or <application>WinZip</application>. </para>

<title>Compressed Non-Archive Files</title>

<para>A compressed non-archive file is a file that is created when you use <command>bzip2</command>, <command>gzip</command>, <command>lzip</command>, <command>lzop</command>, <command>compress</command> or <command>rzip</command> to compress a non-archive file. For example, <filename>file.txt.gz</filename> is created when you use <command>gzip</command> to compress <filename>file.txt</filename>.</para>

<para>You can use &app; to create, open and extract a compressed non-archive file.</para>

</sect1>

<!-- ============= Getting Started =========================== -->

<title>Getting Started</title>

<para>This section provides information on how to start &app;, and describes the &app; user interface.

</para>

<!-- ============= To Start File Roller ============================ -->

<title>To Start &app;</title>

<para>You can start &app; in the following ways:</para>

<variablelist>

<varlistentry>

<term>Command line</term>

<listitem>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</sect2>

<title>When You Start &app;</title>

<para>When you start &app;, the following window is displayed:</para>

<title>&app; Window</title>

<screenshot>

<mediaobject>

<imageobject>

</imageobject>

<textobject> <phrase>Shows File Roller main window.</phrase>

</textobject>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry> <term>Folderbar</term>

<listitem>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry> <term>Display area</term>

</variablelist>

<para>When you right-click in the &app; window, the application displays a popup menu. The popup menu contains the most common contextual archive commands. </para>

<title>Browsing the Filesystem</title>

<para>Several &app; dialogs (<guilabel>New</guilabel>, <guilabel>Open</guilabel>, <guilabel>Extract</guilabel>,...) enable you

to browse files and folders on your computer. Refer to the <ulink type="help"

<!-- ======= Working with archives ============= -->

<title>Working With Archives</title>

<para>

When you use &app; to work with an archive, all changes are saved to disk immediately. For example, if you delete a file from an archive, &app; deletes the file as soon as you click <guibutton>OK</guibutton>. This behavior is different to that of most applications, which save the changes to disk only when you quit the application or select <guimenuitem>Save</guimenuitem> in the menu.</para>

This manual documents functionality from the menubar.

</para>

<title>Filename Patterns</title>

<para>&app; enables you to add, extract, or delete several files at once. To apply an action to all files that match a certain pattern, enter the pattern in the text box. The pattern can include standard wildcard symbols such as <keycap>*</keycap> to match any string, and <keycap>?</keycap> to match any single symbol. You can enter several patterns separated by semicolons. &app; applies the action to all files that match at least one of the patterns. The examples in the following table show how to use filename patterns to select files.

</para>

<!-- ======= To open an archive ============= -->

<title>To Open an Archive</title>

<para>

To open an archive, perform the following steps:

To open another archive, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Archive</guimenu><guimenuitem>Open</guimenuitem></menuchoice> again. &app; opens each archive in a new window. You can't open another archive in the same window.

</para>

<para>

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Selecting files in an archive ============= -->

<title>To Select Files in an Archive</title>

<para>

To select all files in an archive, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Edit</guimenu><guimenuitem>Select All</guimenuitem></menuchoice> or press <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>A</keycap></keycombo>. </para>

<!-- =========== Extracting Files From an Archive ==================== -->

<title>To Extract Files From an Archive</title>

<para>

To extract files from an open archive, perform the following steps:

Select the folder where &app; extracts the files.</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>

Click <guibutton>Extract</guibutton>.</para>

If some but not all of the files in the archive are protected by a password, and you have not specified the password, &app; does not ask for a password. However, &app; extracts only the unprotected files.

</para>

<para>

</para>

</note>

</listitem>

</orderedlist>

</para>

<para>

The Extract operation extracts a <emphasis>copy</emphasis> of the specified files from the archive. The extracted files have the same permissions and modification date as the original files that were added to the archive.

</para>

<para>

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Closing the Archive ============= -->

<title>To Close an Archive</title>

<para>To close the current archive and the current &app; window, choose <menuchoice> <guimenu>Archive</guimenu> <guimenuitem>Close</guimenuitem> </menuchoice>, or press <keycombo><keycap>Ctrl</keycap><keycap>W</keycap></keycombo>.

</para>

<!-- ============= Creating Archives ============================= -->

<title>Creating Archives</title>

<para>

In addition to opening existing archives, you can also create new archives with &app;.</para>

<title>To Create an Archive</title>

<para>

To create an archive, perform the following steps:

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<para>Click <guibutton>New</guibutton>. &app; creates an empty archive, but does not yet write the archive to disk.

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

<note>

<para>&app; writes a new archive to disk only when the archive contains at least one file. If you create a new archive and quit &app; before you add any files to the archive, &app; deletes the archive.

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Adding files to an archive ============= -->

<title>To Add Files to an Archive</title>

<para>

To add files to an archive, perform the following steps:

</listitem>

</orderedlist>

</para>

<para>The Add operation adds a <emphasis>copy</emphasis> of the specified files or folders to the archive. &app; does not remove the original files, which remain unchanged in the file system. The copies that are added to the archive have the same permissions and modification date as the original files.

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Adding files - Adding folder ============= -->

<title>To Add a Folder to an Archive</title>

<para>

To add a folder to an archive, perform the following steps:

</listitem>

</orderedlist>

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Converting an Archive to Another Format ============= -->

<title>To Convert an Archive to Another Format</title>

<para>To convert an archive to another format and save as a new file, perform the following steps:

</para>

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

If some but not all of the files in the archive are protected by a password, and you have not specified the password, &app; does not ask for a password. However, &app; copies only the unprotected files to the new archive.

</para>

<para>

</para>

</note>

</listitem>

</sect1>

<!-- ======= Operations on Archive Contents ============= -->

<title>Modifying the Contents of an Archive</title>

<para>

You can modify the contents of an archive in several ways.

</para>

<!-- ======= Encrypting files in an archive ============= -->

<title>To Encrypt Files in an Archive</title>

<para>For security, you might want to encrypt the files that you add to an archive. </para>

<para>If the archive format supports encryption, you can specify a password to encrypt the files that you add to the archive.</para>

</orderedlist>

<para>&app; uses the password to encrypt the files that you add to the current archive, and to decrypt the files that you extract from the current archive. &app; deletes the password when you close the archive.

</para>

</para>

<note>

<para>The encryption provided by archive utilities is weak and insecure. If security is important, use a strong encryption tool such as <ulink url="http://www.gnupg.org" type="http">GNU Privacy Guard</ulink>.

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Renaming files in an archive ============= -->

<title>To Rename a File in an Archive</title>

<para>To rename a file in an archive, perform the following steps:</para>

<orderedlist>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Copying files in an archive ============= -->

<title>To Copy Files in an Archive</title>

<para>To copy files in an archive, perform the following steps:</para>

<orderedlist>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Moving files in an archive ============= -->

<title>To Move Files in an Archive</title>

<para>To move files in an archive, perform the following steps:</para>

<orderedlist>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Deleting files from an archive ============= -->

<title>To Delete Files From an Archive</title>

<para>To delete files from an archive, perform the following steps:</para>

<orderedlist>

<term><guilabel>Files</guilabel></term>

<listitem>

<para>

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</sect2>

<!-- ============= Modify a File in an Archive ==================== -->

<title>To Modify a File in an Archive</title>

<para>

To modify a file in an archive perform the following steps:

</para>

<para>&app; uses the system-defined associations between file types and programs to determine the appropriate application to launch for a specific file. These assocations can be displayed and modified in the <guilabel>Open With</guilabel> tab of the file properties dialog. If &app; cannot determine the appropriate application, &app; displays the <guilabel>Open Files</guilabel> dialog to let you choose an application, as described in below.

</para>

<title>To Modify a File in an Archive with a Custom Application</title>

<para>

You can use an application specified by you, rather than the default application, to modify a file. To use an external application to open a file:

</orderedlist>

</para>

<para>&app; displays the <guilabel>Open Files</guilabel> dialog, which lists all of the applications that can open files of the specified type. To select one of the applications, double-click the application name or click on the application name and then click <guibutton>Open</guibutton>. Alternatively, enter the application name in the <guilabel>Application</guilabel> text box and then click <guibutton>Open</guibutton> to launch the application of your choice.</para>

</sect3>

</sect2>

</sect1>

<!-- ======= Viewing an archive ============= -->

<title>Viewing Archives</title>

<para>&app; enables you to view several aspects of an archive.

</para>

<!-- ======= Archive Properties ============= -->

<title>To View the Properties of an Archive</title>

<para>To view the properties of an archive, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Archive</guimenu><guimenuitem>Properties</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to display the <guilabel>Properties</guilabel> dialog. The <guilabel>Properties</guilabel> dialog displays the following information about the archive:

<variablelist>

<!-- ======= Archive Contents ============= -->

<title>To View the Contents of an Archive</title>

<para> &app; displays the archive contents in the main window as a file list with the following columns:

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><guilabel>Size</guilabel></term>

</para></listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><guilabel>Location</guilabel></term>

</para></listitem>

</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

</para>

<para>If another program has modified the archive since &app; opened the archive, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>Reload</guimenuitem></menuchoice> to reload the archive contents from disk.

</para>

</para>

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ============= Viewing a File in an Archive ==================== -->

<title>To View a File in an Archive</title>

<para>

</para>

</sect2>

<!-- ============= Testing the Integrity of an Archive ==================== -->

<title>To Test the Integrity of an Archive</title>

<para>Sometimes an archive can be damaged for some reason, to check whether an archive is damaged, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>Archive</guimenu><guimenuitem>Test Integrity</guimenuitem></menuchoice>:

<itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<!-- ======= Customizing the Archive Display ============= -->

<title>Customizing the Archive Display</title>

<para>You can customize the way that &app; displays the archive contents, as follows:

</para>

<itemizedlist>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

</itemizedlist>

<para>&app; updates the display immediately, when you make any of the above customizations.

</para>

<title>To Set the View Type</title>

</para>

<title>Folder View</title>

<para>&app; displays the archive contents in folder view by default. To explicitly select folder view, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>View as a Folder</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

</para>

<para>

<inlinemediaobject>

<imageobject>

</imageobject>

<textobject>

<phrase>Shows icon to navigate backwards in location history list.</phrase>

<para>

<inlinemediaobject>

<imageobject>

</imageobject>

<textobject>

<phrase>Shows icon to navigate forwards in location history list.</phrase>

<para>

<inlinemediaobject>

<imageobject>

</imageobject>

<textobject>

<phrase>Shows icon to navigate up one level in folder tree.</phrase>

<para>

<inlinemediaobject>

<imageobject>

</imageobject>

<textobject>

<phrase>Shows icon to open the top-level folder in the archive.</phrase>

</informaltable>

</sect3>

<title>File View</title>

<para>To select file view, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>View All Files</guimenuitem></menuchoice>.

</para>

</sect2>

<title>To Sort the File List</title>

<para>You can sort the file list by name, size, type, modification date, or location. </para>

<para>To specify a sort order, click on the heading of the corresponding column. </para>

</para>

</sect2>

<title>To Display Additional Details</title>

<para>To open the <guilabel>Last Output</guilabel> dialog, choose <menuchoice><guimenu>View</guimenu><guimenuitem>Last Output</guimenuitem></menuchoice>:

<itemizedlist>

<!-- ====== Using the File Manager Popup Menu to Manipulate an Archive ===== -->

<title>Using the File Manager to Work with an Archive</title>

<para>

You can use the file manager to add files to an archive, or to extract files from an archive.</para>

<!-- ======= Adding files Using File Manager Menu ============= -->

<title>To Add Files to an Archive by Using the File Manager</title>

<para>You can use the file manager to add files to an archive, in the following ways:

<itemizedlist>

<listitem><para>Choose the location where to save the archive file, from the <guilabel>Location</guilabel> drop-down list. If the location is not present in the list choose <guilabel>Other...</guilabel> to select it with the <guilabel>Location</guilabel> dialog.</para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>

</listitem>

<listitem><para>Click <guilabel>Create</guilabel> to add the selected files to the root folder of the specified archive.

</para>

</listitem>

</orderedlist>

</sect2>

<!-- ======= Extracting files Using File Manager Menu ============= -->

<title>To Extract Files From an Archive by Using the File Manager</title>

<para>You can use the file manager to extract files from an archive, in the following ways:

<itemizedlist>

</sect1>

<!-- ======= Create Archive Advanced Options ============= -->

<title>Create Options</title>

<para>When creating a new archive, or when converting an existing archive to another format, click on <guilabel>Other Options</guilabel> to specify the following advanced options:

</para>

<listitem>

<para>Type the password that will be used to encrypt the archive. If no password is specified the archive will not be encrypted.</para>

<note>

</note>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</sect1>

<!-- ======= Add Advanced Options ============= -->

<title>Add Options</title>

<para>The <guilabel>Add Files</guilabel> and <guilabel>Add a Folder</guilabel> dialogs provide the following option:

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</variablelist>

<title>Add to Folder Options</title>

<para>The following options are available in the <guilabel>Add a Folder</guilabel> dialog and allow to automatically select and add all files that satisfy certain criteria:

</para>

<varlistentry>

<term><guilabel>Include files</guilabel></term>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><guilabel>Exclude files</guilabel></term>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

<varlistentry>

<term><guilabel>Exclude folders</guilabel></term>

<listitem>

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>

</sect1>

<!-- ======= Extract Options ============= -->

<title>Extract Options</title>

<para>

<term><guilabel>Files</guilabel></term>

<listitem>

<para>

</para>

</listitem>

</varlistentry>