The ability to create a zip file without using third party tools appeared in Windows a long time ago. The first Windows version which had native ZIP archive support was Windows Me. All modern Windows versions support this archive format. As you may already know, to put a file or folder inside a zip archive in Windows 10, all you need to do is right click it and select Send to - Compressed (zipped) folder from the context menu. However, this item might be missing from the right click menu. In this article, we will see how to restore this item if it is missing.
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The Compressed (zipped) folder command is just a special shortcut. If this item disappears from the context menu, it might be because of file system corruption, a malware infection or some app which deleted the Zip shortcut due to a bug. Thankfully, it is very easy to restore it.There is a copy of this shortcut in the default user profile in Windows 10. You can just copy it from the default user profile back to your personal profile and you are done. Here is how.
To restore Compressed (zipped) folder in Windows 10, do the following.
- Press Win + R shortcut keys together on the keyboard to open the Run dialog.
- Put the following text in the Run box:
C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
- Press Enter. The appropriate folder will open in File Explorer:
- Right click the Compressed (zipped) folder item and select "Copy" from the context menu:
- Now, type or copy-paste the following text in File Explorer's address bar:
%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo
- The appropriate folder will be opened in File Explorer:
Paste the shortcut you copied there:
You are done. The fix will work instantly. Just right click the required file or folder after you have pasted the shortcut:
In File Explorer, you can just select the files and folders you want to ZIP, go to the Share tab of the Ribbon and press the Zip button.
That's it.
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it happens on my windows 7 long time ago too when my computer has bunch of malware!
good to know that you have fixed the issue.
I also had to remove a rogue item from %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo before the other links would show – so if you already see the “zip” and “desktop” shortcuts in the folder, but they don’t show in the context menu, look at the items that do show and see if removing one of those helps.
As an alternative to this – running the following from a CMD prompt should fix you up:
copy “C:\Users\Default\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo\Compressed (zipped) folder.ZFSendToTarget” “%userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo\” /y
Following a suggestion from Dec. 15, 2015 post in the Microsoft Community, I removed an extraneous 0 byte “Bluetooth” rogue item from %userprofile%\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\SendTo and Compressed File option started to show up again for me when I right click.
Just deleted the Bluetooth Icon and i see everything now, Thanks
Thank you. That was really helpful, it fixed my problem instantly.
Happy to read this.
The process is easy, precise and helpful.
Thank you. With the screenshots it was helpful. I have noticed the winzip was under hidden folder and hence it was not showing up. Thank you for the screenshots.