Chapter 10

Archives

Manta opens ZIP and TAR archives like folders: you see the contents right away, without extracting first. This chapter also covers extracting archives and creating new ones.

Supported formats¶

• .zip
• .tar, .tar.gz / .tgz, .tar.bz2, .tar.xz, .tar.zst
• single compressed files: .gz, .bz2, .xz, .zst

Open an archive as a folder¶

1. Select the archive.
2. Press ↩ or double-click it.

The path bar shows the archive like a folder, for example Downloads › backup.zip › docs. A chip with a lock marks the pane as a read-only archive.

• ⌫ or ⌘↑ in the archive's top folder goes back to the folder the archive is in, with the archive selected.
• Back and Forward work across the archive.

Other ways:

• ⌥↩ (Open With Default App) opens the archive with its default app (macOS's Archive Utility, for example).
• Documents that are ZIP files inside (.docx, .xlsx, .jar, .apk …) still open in their app. Right-click → Browse Archive shows their contents.
• If you never want archives to open as folders, turn off Settings → General → Open archives as folders.

Archives on servers and archives inside archives are first downloaded to a temporary file (with progress and Cancel in the pane). Big archives are read in the background.

What works in an archive – and what doesn't¶

Archives are read-only. Manta refuses new folders, renaming, deleting, moving and dropping files into the archive, with a hint.

Copying out always works:

• with F5 to the other pane,
• by dragging to another pane,
• with Extract Here or Extract to Other Pane.

Extract an archive¶

A whole archive:

1. Select the archive file.
2. Press ⌥⌘E (Extract Here) – or right-click → Extract Here or Extract to Other Pane.

Extract Here unpacks next to the archive: into a folder named after the archive, or directly if the archive holds a single item.

Single items from an open archive:

1. Open the archive as a folder and select the items.
2. ⌥⌘E extracts them into the folder that contains the archive. F5 or right-click → Extract to Other Pane… extracts them to the other pane.

Extracting runs as a background transfer (see Transfers).

Create an archive¶

1. Select files and folders.
2. Press ⌥⌘C (Compress…) or choose it in the context menu.
3. Choose the Format: zip, tar.gz, tar.xz or tar.zst.
4. Check the Name. Manta suggests one, such as "site.zip" or "Archive 2.zip".
5. Use the Level slider to choose between Faster and Smaller.
6. Exclude .DS_Store and __MACOSX is on, so no Mac helper files end up in the archive.
7. Click Compress.

The archive is created in the current folder. This works on servers too: Manta builds the archive in a local temporary file and uploads it.

Safety¶

• Entries with .. or absolute paths could write outside the target folder when extracted. Manta never shows or extracts them and reports "Skipped N unsafe entries".
• Encrypted ZIP entries have a lock badge. Manta can't open or extract them and doesn't ask for a password.

Limitations¶

• No changes inside archives (adding, deleting, renaming).
• No password-protected ZIP entries.
• Symbolic links are shown as links; extracting copies the target file, and links to folders are skipped.
• Compressed TARs over 2 GB get slower, because Manta re-reads them from the start for every file.
• Split ZIP archives and TAR sparse files aren't supported.