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Quick Start Guide

The WinZip® Courier Quick Start Guide introduces WinZip Courier and helps you get started with its basic use. We're going to assume that you have already completed the simple installation process.

For complete information on WinZip Courier, start with the Contents.

  • If you are upgrading see what's new in the new WinZip Courier.

What does it do?

WinZip Courier makes it easy to create zipped (compressed) attachments to your Microsoft Outlook e-mail messages. WinZip Courier has many benefits:

  • Easily zip attachments when sending Outlook e-mail messages
  • Zip, encrypt, and e-mail your documents directly from Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint
  • Conserve space in your Outlook data store
  • Save disk space
  • Save transmission time
  • Keep multiple related files and documents together in one attachment
  • Zipping may help you send files that would otherwise be blocked by the recipient's e-mail system
  • Protect sensitive documents with encryption

Despite all it can do, WinZip Courier is very easy to use; just install it and it is ready to work for you. Let's get started!

Automatically zipping your e-mail attachments

First, let's see how easy it is to zip your e-mail attachments.

  1. To start, create a new e-mail message in Outlook, address it to yourself, and attach a few files.
  2. Now click Send.

That's all there is to it--you've zipped your attachments.

To see what happened, open the Outlook Sent Items folder and double-click the e-mail you just sent. If you look at your attachments, you'll see that they have been replaced by a single Zip file. Double-click the Zip file to open it and see your original attachments, now compressed and organized into a single attachment (you will need WinZip or another Zip file utility to do this).

There are lots of options that control what WinZip Courier does when you click Send. You can set WinZip Courier to encrypt your attachments, change how the zipped attachment will be named, specify whether images are resized, and much more. See Configuring WinZip Courier for complete information.

Manually zipping your e-mail attachments

You can also manually zip and attach your documents and other files:

  1. To start, create a new e-mail message in Outlook, address it to yourself, click the Insert tab and then click on the Attach File (Zipped) control in the Courier group or in Outlook 2003, click the button in the toolbar.
  2. You'll see a standard Windows "Open File" dialog with a few additional options for WinZip Courier. Navigate to a documents folder, select a few documents, and click OK.

You will see a new zipped attachment. Double-click the attachment to open it; inside the Zip file are the documents you selected.

Zip and mail your Office documents

It's just as easy to zip and e-mail the Office documents on which you're working. Try it out:

  1. Open a Word, PowerPoint, or Excel document, or create a new one.
  2. Open the File menu, click Send as Zip file.
  3. In some cases, you may be asked to first save a new or changed document in its regular Office format (.doc, etc.).
  4. In the Send as Zip file dialog, just click OK.

That's all there is to it. WinZip Courier will create a new Outlook e-mail message, attach the zipped document, and leave the window open for you. Now you can complete and send your message as you normally would.

Zipping your Office documents

As an added feature, WinZip Courier allows you to save your open Office documents as Zip files:

  1. Open a Word, PowerPoint, or Excel document, or create a new one.
  2. Open the File menu and click Save as Zip file.
  3. In some cases, you may be asked to first save a new or changed document in its regular Office format (.doc, etc.).
  4. In the Save as Zip File dialog, specify the name and location for the Zip file and click Save.

Your document is now saved as a Zip file.

Learn more

You've learned how to use the basic features of WinZip Courier, but there is much more. When you've become comfortable with using WinZip Courier, spend some time learning:

  • How to configure WinZip Courier to work exactly the way you want.
  • How to protect your sensitive documents using encryption.
  • How to override WinZip Courier's settings for an individual e-mail message.
  • How to use WinZip Courier's ribbon or toolbar.

Support, comments, and questions

We hope you enjoy WinZip Courier and find it useful and easy to use. If you have comments, suggestions, or questions, your best resource is to follow the "Support" link from the WinZip home page.