So, along with the release of The Unarchiver 3.0 comes another new things: The Archive Browser. This is the often-requested version that lets you browse archives and preview their contents before extracting. However, since this is not a program that I personally need, this one will actually cost a few dollars. Buy it if this is what you really need, or buy it if you want to support the development of The Unarchiver!

http://itunes.apple.com/app/the-archive-browser/id510232205?mt=12&ls=1
http://archivebrowser.c3.cx/

For now, bug reports and feature requests can go on the The Unarchiver bug tracker:

http://code.google.com/p/theunarchiver/issues/list

It is much better to post them there than in this thread, because I tend to forget things that are not on the bug tracker.

And since someone will no doubt wonder about this, I should clarify one thing: The Archive Browser is not a replacement for The Unarchiver, and The Unarchiver is still going to be developed just as before. I prefer using The Unarchiver myself, so I am not going to stop working on it. And all improvements in format support is shared automatically between The Unarchiver and The Archive Browser.

Hello, i would buy The Archive Browser IF it would be a complete replacement for the Unarchiver.

Dont get me wrong, the Unarchiver wich is free is pure awesome, but i dont want 2 Apps for one "Problem".

>>3

It should be able to do everything The Unarchiver can do, but it does not have the same simple interface.

call me crazy, but you should make "the archiver" next. there still seems to be no simple way to make password protected zips. would pay 1.99 for that in a heartbeat.

Hey, what does one do if this application just does not work?

>>6

Well, start by explaining what happens, and what you are trying, and on what kind of system.

I see that you can Quick Look files in the archive, but does The Archive Browser allow you to Quick Look the contents of archive files in the Finder? (Like http://macitbetter.com/BetterZip-Quick-Look-Generator/)

>>8

Not at the moment. Perhaps in the future, perhaps not, I am not sure.

I've purchased The Archive Browser, but I have 1 issue that prevents me from using it/enjoy it. The app still runs when closing the archive. You have to manually quit the app every time you use it to extract something. I still support the developer all the way, and have no problem paying for it even though I'm not going to use it now. I would really like to see this changed though. This would be my main unarchiving utility if this 1 change/feature was implemented. Maybe it could be made into a preference in case some people like its current functionality. I hope to see this happen!

>>11

Post an issue about it, and I will see about it for the next update. However, I am not sure how that works when you want to start it up and then drop some icons on it, since it doesn't open any windows by default.

Version 1.1 has been released. It is just a bugfix release that fixes crashing on 10.6.

I would love to be able to browse JAR archives, edit files in them and it automatically get repackaged. This is a PITA today, as JAR puts fiels in a special order. There are some tools out there which does this but none of them have been updated for ages and nothing works in Lion. Think this would be a very good "killer" feature

>>14
can't you just use the jar utility included in the jdk?

Version 1.2 is now released, and should show up on the App Store soon. Changes in this version are:

• Added option for opening extracted files in the Finder.
• Added Services for opening and extracting archives.
• Added option for closing browser windows after extraction.
• Added a workaround for a Mac OS X sandbox bug that was causing extracted apps to not launch properly.
• Fixed extraction of partial RAR files.
• Fixed spurious warnings about resource forks for some Zip files.

The Unarchiver should be getting a matching update to 3.2 too, but it is currently stuck trying to get through review. Hopefully that'll get sorted out soon.

Do you think PAR2 support might be added at some point?

Suggestion: include a QuickLook plug-in for the Finder. There are a couple of options out there that do this for a few file types (zip, pkg, etc.), but most are old and not often updated. I would be very interested in spending $4 to get a version of your app that does that. QuickLooking into pkg & mpkg would require some way to display the scripts that run, where the files would be installed, etc., but you get the idea.

Please add an option to display a .app as an application with its icon, not as a folder with a folder icon. The actual display is quite confusing when looking for an application in a large archive.
I understand it can be useful to browse inside a package, but this shouldn't be the standard option, maybe add a shortcut (option key?) to permit this.

Hi waha. Love the app. One thing though, I'm new to OSX, could you explain how to make it the default program for archive files, so I don't have to right-click and select it manually? Thanks!

>>19

This is a lot harder than it seems, actually. Especially for solid archives.

>>20

Either use the list in the preferences, or use "Get Info" in the Finder.

Hey does Archive Browser support opening nested compressed files? within the same view? and can we add or remove files within the compressed files without unzipping, add/remove and rezipping?

Could you please add 'jar', 'war', 'ear' and other zip-compatible file types to 'Open these archive types...' section? Currently I have to associate every jar with The Archive Browser app manually.

Thanks in advance!

>>24

This would mean programs packaged as jar files would no longer launch after a person clicked "Select all" in The Unarchiver, which seems like it would annoy quite a large number of people, so probably not.

If I ever get around to making some kind of separate list of "filetypes which you can add but maybe shouldn't", I could put them in there, but for now I'm going to leave them out.

>>26
another option would be to have a "Select recommended" button in addition to the "Select all" button... This might look a little cleaner than displaying two separate lists.

Hi.

I want to move, copy, rename in archive directly. This feature is not rare one in Windows or Linux archiver.
I hope The Archive Browser implements this feature.

Thanks!

Hi.

I want to move, copy, rename in archive directly. This feature is not rare one in Windows or Linux archiver.
I hope The Archive Browser implements this feature.

Thanks!

When is the next update coming out??

Large archives (usually Zip) are almost always corrupted. Built-in Archive Utility opens files right, but not The Archive Browser.

>>31

I'll need some test files to do anything about it.

the unarchiver didnt solve my problem. Im still getting the infinte loop of unopened zip files.

>>33

This is not a problem I have heard of. Please give some more information on that, and test files if you have them.

generel the function to extract only one file of many in a rar-archive does not work. There is always extracting all files. Macbook Air 2012, Mountain Lion

>>36

Can you be more specific about what you are doing?

And together with the release of The Unarchiver 3.3, there is also an update for The Archive Browser to 1.3. Changes are mostly the same:

• Updated to support Apple's new stricter sandboxing rules. This means the program will need to nag the user more often, but should also mean that extraction should work better in non-standard locations. May also have introduced new bugs, so be careful and report any problems.
• Support for extracting bitmap images from PDF files.
• Support for AppleSingle files.
• Better handling of file collisions when dragging files to the Finder.
• Bugfixes.

Hi,
I love TAB and I was wondering if it was possible to have an internal file viewer a la WinZip because I can't QuickLook the contents of files named "read.me", "readme.1st", "program.nfo" and the like.

Thank you very much!

I just purchased the browser edition from mac store, when I run app it stacks on the dock without opening any window. Any idea?

>>39

Does Quick Look not work on those?

>>40

That's normal. You need to open some files to do anything.

Hello i like your app and would like to buy the archiver browser.
i just have one question, can you edit file from the archive without un-zip ?
can you also do that for jar file ? does your program can open jar file ?
thanks you so much

>>42

You can open jar files, but you can't edit things, only view and extract them.

Version 1.4 has been released, mostly matching The Unarchiver v3.4. Changes:

• Added Retina display support.
• Now properly opens PDFs inside archives in the user's preferred PDF viewer.
• Bugfixes for Tar and PDF extraction.
• Bugfix for the extraction progress bar for some 7z files.

cannot update, reinstall, uninstall, delete, install archive browser (bought in mac app store) no the unarchiver

not dealing with this mess of a supposed support threat

fix it

>>45

First, without any more exact information, there is nothing I can do. Second, no App Store program handle installation, updating or uninstalling themselves. That is all handled by the App Store itself, and if it is not working, report it as a bug to Apple.

I've run into another couple of issues after I downloaded the OSX Lion installer from the App Store and compressed it.

First, it spends a very long time "reading archive contents".

Second, it says "compressed using Zip from 449 MB" which is wrong: uncompressed size is 4.75 GB. I looked around inside the archive and found out that TAB shows the InstallESD.dmg file inside it as 425 MB when the real size is 4.72 GB

>>47

Could you make an archive that contains some of the files that don't work, and post it in an issue on the bug tracker?

>>48

This is likely because the built-in OS X archiver is severely broken and creates invalid archives. Try running "unzip -v" on the file and see if that reports the same incorrect size.

>>49

Length Method Size Ratio Date Time CRC-32 Name
-------- ------ ------- ----- ---- ---- ------ ----
424584010 Defl:N 414645572 2% 11-07-12 15:35 3f003c32 Install Mac OS X Lion.app/Contents/SharedSupport/InstallESD.dmg

It seems you're right. The size is incorrect. What can I use to create correct zip files then?

>>50

I think the command-line zip utility makes correct ones, but I am not sure. I haven't tested any GUI apps.

(Also, the file will probably be extracted correctly if you try to extract it, it just shows the wrong size.)

v1.5 has been released. Most of the changes mirror The Unarchiver v3.5:

• Added support for password-protected 7z files.
• Better support for very old StuffIt archives, including password-protected ones.
• Fixed bugs that caused embedded archives to display poorly.
• Fixes for Mountain Lion.
• Fixed a bug where the app might stop launching at all under rare circumstances.
• Various bugfixes for PDF, hqx and sitx.

After update to version 1.5 (App Store)
Crash programs!
My system 10.7.5

>>53

Yes, it seems Apple has changed something that makes all newly compiled apps break on 10.7 and 10.6. I am not sure what, I am investigating.

>>53

I submitted a fix to the App Store. Now we just have to wait for Apple.

Just bought it in App Store, Lion but it crashes, when will you update?

>>56

I submitted the update several days ago. Still waiting for Apple.

This is what I get on Mountain Lion, regardless what file I'm trying.

Any ideas?

>>58
I'm getting the same when accessing files over AFP.

>>58-59

This is also fixed in the 1.4.1 version that Apple is being incredibly slow in reviewing or approving.

its not working

Great, thanks. I'll just wait ;)

The fixed version should be out now, finally. It is ridiculous how long it took for Apple to get around to this.

Hi,

Every time I update The Unarchiver and The Archive Browser, a new entry gets added to the Open With menu as shown. Is this an OS X issue, or a TAB/TU issue?

Thank you very much!!

>>49

Here's an archive with plain text files having NFO, ME and 1ST extensions I can't preview with Quick Look. In Windows, I can open these with WinZip's internal viewer.

Hi,

I have thousands of zip files in external disks and other laptops and I miss how I can test them with WinZip, WinRAR, etc in Windows. Other than extracting for real, this is not possible in TAB or TU.

Can this feature be added to a future release in TAB at least?

Thank you very much!!

>>66

That sounds like a pretty good idea, probably. Please file it as an issue on https://code.google.com/p/theunarchiver/ or else I might forget about it.

>>64

Apps have no control over that menu, it is handled entirely by OS X and the App Store, so you should file the bug with Apple.

Hi,

I encounter this error every time I am Quick Looking images inside an archive. As I press the spacebar on the first file and go thru them one after another, the Quick Look window has graphical corruption on each image. This doesn't happen when I Quick Look the images uncompressed inside a folder.

I don't know how to attach multiple files here, so I have included a single file that contains the archive I used for the test and another that contains the screenshots that show the corruption.

I use a MacBook Pro 15 Early-2011 2.2 GHz with 16 GB RAM running OS X 10.8.2, in case you need this information to troubleshoot.

Thank you very much!!

>>69

Hmm, I can't replicate that. It sort of seems like an OS X bug, though, because all the Quick Look loading and display is handled by OS X. There's not really anything The Unarchiver could do to cause that that I can think of.

since i've upgraded to mountain lion, the unarchiver just opens the preference window when i click a file to open it. i havent figured out a work around yet

>>70

Maybe you're right. I noticed it only happens when the Intel HD graphics are being used. The ATI graphics don't seem to exhibit this behavior.

I already reported my troubles using the feedback page (don't have AppleCare), but I don't hold my breath that Apple will address them in a timely manner (I remember a much talked about Facebook privacy introduced in Safari with 10.7.0 and they took 8 months to fix)

Thanks for providing the Unarchiver, I've been using it for years and it's been a GREAT tool. I gladly paid the $4 for the Archive Browser, I would have paid $10. Great work. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

1.6 has been released, to match The Unarchiver 3.6. It brings these changes:

• Added the ability to test archived files without unpacking them.
• Added support for the Internet Archive WARC format.
• Fixed bugs in XAR/.pkg, CAB, HQX and Compress.
• Fixed a few more rare bugs and crashes.

Hi

When I try to change "filename encoding" from the "file" menu all encodings are greyed out.

I'm using OSX 10.8.2 and The Archive Browser version 1.6

Thanks!

>>77

That's really weird, it works here. Could you post the file so I can check if there's something strange about it?

This isn't happening with just one archive. It's the same thing with any archive with cyrillic encoded filenames. I've attached an example.

>>79

Are you sure the archive itself is not broken? The reason that the menu is greyed out is that the RAR file seems to mark the filenames as being Unicode. That means there is no encoding to select, as the characters should be known exactly already.

Please add the ability to add files, folders, etc. to an already existing archive, like with 7Zip or WinRAR on Windows, or the built-in archive software on Ubuntu.

After opening a file with the open button (so not extracting it) where does the temporary file get stored?

>>82

In whatever temporary directory OS X suggests. Unfortunately, I forget where exactly that is. You can try opening a file in a program that lets you do "Show in Finder" to find out.

I tried the test archive feature and noticed the discrete graphics card gets activated at the end of the operation when the green screen appears. Is this normal?

Thank you very much for adding that feature. I find it extremely useful and I hope many more people as well.

>>85

Probably, it uses CoreAnimation layers and filters. Those probably trigger the GPU.

>>86

I understand. But it activates only when the green screen appears, not at any other time.

Is there a reason why TAB browser switches to discrete GFX as soon as a encrypted rar is being opened? Decryption done by the GFX chip? If so, the app should switch back to integrated after extraction. Right now that happens only on app quit.

Reading Archive content takes like ages. As seen on the RealUI package: http://www.wowinterface.com/downloads/info16068-RealUI.html I am not quite sure if this should take that long

i7, 10.8.2, TAB 1.6

>>88

See above.

Also there seems to be some kind of bug that is triggered by certain archives that makes it slow. I have not yet had time to investigate further. Most likely it will get fixed in the next version though.

I missed 85, but is it necessary to use CoreAnimation to display a green (85) or a blue screen with teh password field?

Please have a look into this as GFX sucks quite some power being on mobile use. gfxCardStatus is not the best option for this issue

Good to read that the slowness might be gone soon

>>90

It uses some CoreAnimation filters, and it's up to OS X how it decides to deal with those. I guess it might trigger the discrete graphics on some systems. I don't have one, so I can't really test it.

I do understand that OS X makes the decision, but I presume there are ways to get around this issue.
Probably some of your beta testers have a discrete GFX unit and can test? If not I am willing to help testing.

Released a quick bugfix release, 1.6.1, to fix a bug that caused large archives to fail to open sometimes. Nothing else new, though.

v1.7 has been released. It is mostly bugfixes carried over from The Unarchiver:

• Fix a bug that would make files with invalid filenames not work in Zip and Exe files.
• Fix some small memory leaks.
• Some small interface tweaks.
• Read-only attributes for files in archives are now ignored. This caused some files not to extract correctly in older versions.
• Fix a bug with parsing Tar files.

Will this show the contents of disk doubled AppleWorks (mac not Apple II) files? How about non compressed AppleWorks files?

>>97

I think that is up to OS X. It should be able to extract disk doubled files, but it uses the built-in Quick Look to show contents, so if that can show it, The Archive Browser will show it, otherwise not.

I am considering adding support for buying The Archive Browser through paddle.com, too. Currently, Xee 3 is being sold through that as an experiment.

If you'd like to see this, do speak up.

>>99
To me, the main advantage of staying off the App Store is being outside of the sandbox.

I use an unsandboxed version of The Unarchiver as my main file extractor, with The Archive Browser as a handy way to peek into particular archives every once in a while (and sometimes extract parts of archives into particular folders), so the sandboxing hardly ever bothers me in the latter.