FAQ: Corrupted Zipped Files

Objective: Best practices when exporting files when using Windows OS.

Difficulty: Easy

In this article, you will find:

1. Why are Windows zipped files corrupted? Why do exported files compressed via zip contain differing contents depending on the operating system?
   • Download from PLM-WebClient
   • Export to Gmail web
   • Export to the desktop mail app

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Why are Windows zipped files corrupted? Why do exported files compressed via zip contain differing contents depending on the operating system?

This issue is caused by the Windows OS incorrectly adding an invalid character (e.g., an asterisk, an underscore symbol, a period, a capitalized letter) into the file/folder name, rendering it faulty on windows versions with zip utility. This is what causes certain files to be lost during the uploading and/or downloading process. The below images display this phenomenon.

Folders with Special Characters - View A

Folders with Special Characters - View B

Folders with Special Characters - View C

There are three different methods you can follow to prevent this from happening on your computer; please see the options below and chose whichever way works best for you. 

Download from PLM-WebClient

1. Download 7zip or WinRaR onto your computer using the coordinating hyperlinks.
2. Download your files from Webclient (through Duro) directly to your computer using either of the above-mentioned extractors.
3. These will extract your documents with no loss of data. 

Export to gmail web

1. Download 7zip or WinRaR onto your computer using the coordinating hyperlinks.
2. Export the zip folder to Gmail web using either of the above-mentioned extractors.
3. These will extract your documents with no loss of data.

Export to desktop mail app

1. Download 7zip or WinRaR onto your computer using the coordinating hyperlinks.
2. Export the zip folder to Windows 10 Desktop Mail application using either of the above-mentioned extractors.
3. These will extract your documents with no loss of data.

Note: Any free zip extractor can be used (suggestions are stated and hyperlinked in each method).