USING STUFFIT DELUXE StuffIt Deluxe provides many ways for you to create zipped file or archives. The benefit of using the New Archive Wizard is that it provides a way to access some of the more powerful archiving features offered by StuffIt from within a simple step-by-step interface. THE STUFFIT START PAGE The first time you launch the StuffIt application the first window that will be opened is the StuffIt Start Page. The Start Page is a convenient place from which to access all of StuffIt's most useful features. The New Archive Wizard button will bring you to a Wizard style dialog that walks you through the process of creating a new archive. This Wizard walks you through the creation of a new archive and then walks you through the process of uploading that archive to an FTP server. This Wizard walks you through the creation of a new archive and then walks you though the process of sending that archive via email. Prompts you to select an archive to be opened in the StuffIt application. CREATING ARCHIVES (COMPRESSED FILES) The StuffIt application provides several ways to create archives. IN A WINDOWS EXPLORER FOLDER: StuffIt Context Menu (right-click): When you right-click files or folders, the StuffIt menu in the Windows contextual menu provides a fast and easy way to combine and compress those selected items into an archive. You can select files, folders, or any combination of the two. Choose "Compress" from the StuffIt menu to quickly combine the files and folders you have selected into an archive. When using the StuffIt Context Menu, by default the "Compress" command will compress the items you have selected into a Zip archive. You can change the default format used by the "Compress" command by launching StuffIt Deluxe, going to the Edit menu, choosing Application Options, and then choosing "Context Menu" from the list in the left side window pane. The default can be Zip, StuffIt X or StuffIt. You can also quickly compress using a different archive format by choosing any of the options in the Archive menu (which is a sub-menu of the StuffIt menu). This Archive sub-menu allows many compression choices. The first time you create an archive using the StuffIt Context Menu, the Tutorial Dialog will prompt you to choose a location in which to save the new archive. You can either choose to create the archive in the same folder as the items you are archiving (click "Same As Original"), or you can browse for a new location (click "Browse").
IN THE STUFFIT APPLICATION: Drag and Drop: This is yet another very easy way of creating an archive. It may become your favorite. You can click the Drop Areas button (located in the toolbar at the top of the StuffIt Deluxe application window). This will bring up 4 Drag and Drop squares. You can drag any file or folder, from any Windows Explorer window, into the top left area to make a Zip archive, or into the top right area to make a StuffIt X archive. To make it easier to find the files and folders you want to compress, you can click the Folders button (also located in the StuffIt Deluxe toolbar). This will bring up the Folders panel in the left window pane of the StuffIt Deluxe window, and the Folder Contents panel in the bottom pane. This allows you to navigate to the folder that contains the files you want to archive. You can then select and drag the files from the Folder Contents panel to either the Zip or StuffIt X Drop Area. For more information on Drag and Drop, please view the Drag and Drop topic. Creating a New Archive in ArchiveView: For more complex compression tasks you can create a new archive using the archive viewer. This is the best method if you need to add multiple files from various locations to the archive you are creating. To create a new archive in ArchiveView: 1. Click the New Archive button in the Toolbar. To add content to this new archive: 1. Use the Folders button in the StuffIt Deluxe toolbar (as described above) to bring up the Folders tree and navigate to the folder that contains the files you want to archive. 2. Drag the files you want to archive from the Folder Contents panel into the new archive window. If you want to add files from a different location to the new archive, you can use the Folders tree to navigate to a new folder, and drag files from the Folder Contents panel to the new archive. You can also Drag and Drop Files into the new archive from any Windows Explorer window The Add Files dialog provides a more powerful way to add files, allowing you to add files based on name and date criteria. For more information on the Add Files dialog, please view its topic. EXPANDING ARCHIVES AND ENCODED FILES The StuffIt Application provides several ways to expand archives and encoded files. IN A WINDOWS FOLDER: Double Click: When you double click an archive file that is associated with StuffIt, a "Tutorial Mode" dialog is displayed that gives you several options as to how the archive will be opened. The first question you are asked to answer is whether the archive should be immediately expanded, or whether it should be opened for viewing. If you click the "View" button, the archive will be opened in ArchiveView. Using ArchiveView you can decide which of the files and folders contained in the archive you want to expand, rearrange files and folders, and add or remove items.
If you click the "Expand" button, you are next asked to select a Destination to which the entire contents of the archive should be expanded. You can either choose to expand the contents of the archive in the same folder as the archive itself (Same As Original), or you can browse for a new location (Browse). Double clicking an encoded file will take you straight to the Expand Destination dialog since an encoded file cannot be viewed. Right Click: This is a very easy way to expand an archive or encoded file. It may become your favorite. When you right click any archive or encoded file, you can choose the Expand command, this will immediately take you to the Expand Destination dialog. If you right click on a StuffIt (.sit or.sitx) Zip (.zip) or Tar (.tar) archive you will also see View available as the second command in the Context Menu. This allows you to View the archive as described above. Additional options are available in the StuffIt Archive contextual menu. IN THE STUFFIT APPLICATION: Drag and Drop: You can click the Drop Areas button (located in the toolbar at the top of the StuffIt Deluxe application window). This will bring up 4 Drag and Drop squares. You can drag any archive or encoded file, from any Windows Explorer window into the lower right square to expand it. To make it easier to find the archives and encoded files you want to expand, you can click the Folders button (also located in the StuffIt Deluxe toolbar). This will bring up the Folders tree in the left window pane of the StuffIt Deluxe window, and the Folder Contents panel in the bottom pane. Just like Windows Explorer, the Folders tree allows you to navigate to the folder that contains the files you want to expand. You can then select and drag the files from the Folder Contents panel to the Expand drop area. For more information on Drag and Drop, please view the Drag and Drop topic. StuffIt supports all popular archive, compression, and encoding file formats EXTRACT FILES FROM AN ARCHIVE StuffIt allows you to view the contents of a StuffIt X, StuffIt, Zip, or Tar archive, and allows you to extract individual files without expanding the whole archive. Viewing the Contents of an Archive: To view the contents of a StuffIt X (sitx), StuffIt (.sit) Zip (.zip), or Tar (.tar) archive, use the Drag and Drop button in the StufIt Deluxe toolbar to bring up the View Archives drop area. You can then drag an archive from any Windows Explorer window to the View drop area. Alternatively, you can use the Folders button (also in the StufIt Deluxe toolbar) to bring up the Folders tree and navigate to the folder that contains the archive you want to view. You can then drag the file from the Folder Contents panel to the View drop area. You can also choose to have StuffIt and Zip archives open in ArchiveView when you double click them. You will be given the chance to set this preference the first time you double click a Zip or StuffIt archive. If you want your choice to stick for all archives you double-click, uncheck the "Continue to display Tutorial Mode dialogs" checkbox when you are asked to View or Expand. The Tutorial dialogs can be turned back on in the Application Options > General section. Application Options are available from the Edit Menu in StuffIt Deluxe.
You can Extract a file by right clicking it in ArchiveView, and clicking the Extract button on the StuffIt toolbar. This action will result in a dialog allowing you to browse for a location in which to save the file. Double-clicking a file in an archive will cause the file to be opened. Only one file can be opened at a time in this manner. If you wish to open multiple files simultaneously, extract them first and then open them from the location in which you chose to save them Navigating folders within an Archive: In the same way that a hard drive can contain multiple nested folders, an archive can also contain a directory structure made up of nested folders. To open a folder in an archive, double click the folder in ArchiveView. To move up to the containing folder (ie move up a level in the directory) double click the "(up a level)" green arrow. ADD FILES TO AN ARCHIVE To add files to an existing archive, the archive must first be opened in the StuffIt application. Viewing the Contents of an Archive: To view the contents of a StuffIt X (.sitx), StuffIt (.sit), Zip (.zip), or Tar (.tar) archive, use the Drag and Drop button (in the StufIt Deluxe toolbar) to bring up the View Archives drop area. You can then drag an archive from any Windows Explorer window to the View drop area. Alternatively, you can use the Folders button (also in the StufIt Deluxe toolbar) to bring up the Folders tree and navigate to the folder that contains the archive you want to view. You can then drag the file from the Folder Contents panel to the View drop area. You can also choose to have StuffIt X, StuffIt, Zip and Tar archives open in ArchiveView when you double click them. You will be given the chance to set this preference the first time you double click a StuffIt X, StuffIt, Zip or Tar archive. If you want your choice to stick for all archives you double-click, uncheck the "Continue to display Tutorial Mode dialogs" checkbox when you are asked to View or Expand. The Tutorial dialogs can be turned back on in the Application Options > General section. Application Options are available from the Edit Menu in StuffIt Deluxe. When an archive is open in ArchiveView, you can add files by dragging them to the ArchiveView dialog from a Windows Explorer window, or the Folder Contents panel. You can add folders to an archive by dragging them from either Windows Explorer or the Folders panel. You can also add files to an archive using the Add Files dialog. The Add Files dialog is designed for complex archiving tasks, and allows you to add files by criteria such as name and date.
Navigating folders within an Archive: In the same way that a hard drive can contain multiple nested folders, an archive can also contain a directory structure made up of nested folders. To open a folder in an archive, double click the folder in ArchiveView. To move up to the containing folder (i.e. move up a level in the directory) double click the "(up a level)" folder. STUFFIT WIZARDS StuffIt Wizards are designed to make it easy for you to create an archive, and then send that archive via email or FTP. StuffIt Wizards allow you to perform archive and file transfer tasks using a step by step interface that is very easy to use. The following Wizards are available: New Archive Wizard Archive and FTP Wizard Compress and Email Wizard The New Archive Wizard The new archive wizard uses a step by step interface to walk you through the process of compressing files and folders into a new archive. You can choose to create archives in either Zip, StuffIt, or StuffIt X format. The New Archive Wizard contains the following steps: 1. Choose Files: Prompts you to select the files and folders to be added to the new archive. 2. Compression Settings: Prompts you to select the archive format to be used. Other options related to the creation of the archive can also be set via this dialog. By default this dialog sets the location of new archives created by this StuffIt Wizard to be the "My Archives" folder which StuffIt creates in your "My Documents" folder. The "My Archives" folder is created when StuffIt is installed. If you choose to delete the "My Archives" folder, the default location for archives created by this StuffIt Wizard will be your "My Documents" folder. You can click the Browse button to choose a different location for archives created by this Wizard. The Compress and Upload via FTP Wizard The Compress and Upload via FTP Wizard uses a step by step interface to walk you through the process of compressing files into an archive, and then uploading that archive to an FTP server. You can choose to create archives in either Zip, StuffIt, or StuffIt X format. The compress and FTP wizard uploads the file to an FTP server directly from the StuffIt application. An external FTP client is not used. The compress and FTP wizard contains the following steps: 1. Choose Files: Prompts you to select the files and folders to be added to the new archive. 2. Compression Settings: Prompts you to select the archive format to be used. Other options related to the creation of the archive can also be set via this dialog. This dialog sets the location of new archives created by this StuffIt Wizard to be the "My Archives" folder which StuffIt creates in your "My Documents" folder. The "My Archives" folder is created when StuffIt is installed. If you choose to delete the "My Archives" folder, the set location for archives created by this StuffIt
Wizard will be your "My Documents" folder. The archive location for this Wizard cannot be changed. 3. FTP Details: This step prompts you to enter the server and login information for the FTP site to which the archive should be uploaded. Wizard FTP Step The FTP dialog contains settings related to the task of uploading the archive you have created to an FTP server. The following fields must be completed: Server: Enter the name of the FTP server to which files should be uploaded. Typically you will enter something like "ftp.company.com". Path: The path field specifies the exact folder on the FTP server in which the archive you have created will be placed. Typically, this will look something like, "myaccount/incoming/files/" URL: As an alternative, the FTP wizard also allows you to enter the FTP information as a complete URL. Such a URL will look something like: ftp://ftp.company.com/myaccount/incoming/files/" The FTP protocol also allows you to enter your user name and password as part of the URL. Assuming that your user name for the above example is "user", and your password is "password", the URL would appear as follows: "ftp://user:password@ftp.company.com/myaccount/incoming/files". If the FTP server is on a non-standard port, you can also specify a port as part of the URL. Assuming that the port for the above server is 99, the URL would appear as follows: "ftp://user:password@ftp.company.com/myaccount/incoming/files:99" If the user name and password are not used in a URL as shown above, use the following two fields: FTP Login, User Name: This field is used to provide your user name to the server FTP Login, Password: This field is used to provide your password to the server. Replace Existing Items (Check box): This preference is used to determine how the wizard will handle a situation whereby a file with the same name as the one being uploaded already exists on the server. When this box is checked, the existing file will always be replaced with the copy being uploaded. Force Passive Mode (Check box): Use this setting if the administrator of the FTP server you are trying to use recommends it. The Compress and Email Wizard The compress and email wizard uses a step by step interface to walk you through the process of compressing files into an archive, and sending that archive to other people using email. You can choose to create archives in either Zip, StuffIt, or StuffIt X format. The compress and Email wizard sends the email directly from the StuffIt application. Your regular email client is not used. The Compress and Email wizard contains the following steps: 1. Choose Files: Prompts you to select the files and folders to be added to the new archive. 2. Compression Settings: Prompts you to select the archive format to be used. Other options related to the creation of the archive can also be set via this dialog. This dialog sets the location of new archives created by this StuffIt Wizard to be the "My Archives" folder which StuffIt creates in your "My Documents" folder. The "My Archives" folder is created when StuffIt is installed. If you choose to delete the "My Archives" folder, the set location for archives created by this StuffIt Wizard will be: your "My Documents" folder. The archive location for this Wizard cannot be changed. 3. Email details: This dialog allows you to specify one or more email recipients to receive the archive you have created via email. You can also use this dialog to enter a subject and message for your email.
USING FILTERS In order to illustrate how StuffIt's filter based archiving works, this wizard will show you how to quickly and easily make an archive from your "My Documents" folder that only includes files that have changed in the last month. 1. Click the "New Archive" button on the StuffIt Start Page to launch the New Archive Wizard. 2. The first page allows you to choose what files will be added to the archive. You can add files and folders to the list of things to be archived simply by dragging and dropping to this window. To access StuffIt's powerful filter based archiving, however, click the "Add Filter" button. 3. When you click the "Add Filter" button, the StuffIt Filter interface is displayed; this tabbed dialog contains three pages that cover the creation of your filter. A filter is best described as a set of search criteria that are applied to a particular folder. Those files that match the criteria specified pass through the filter and are added to the archive. Those files that do not match the criteria do not pass through the filter, and are therefore not added to the archive. The first task when creating a filter is to choose the folder whose contents you want to add to an archive. My Documents is selected by default. For this example, this is the folder we want to use. Next, click the "Date" button to set up our filter to allow files to enter the archive based on the date they were last modified. 4. First, click the "Only Files modified..." radio button. By default, StuffIt will filter based on whether files were modified in the last month. For the purpose of this tutorial, we can leave this value alone, although the page uses standard date controls to give you control over the exact date criteria the filter will use. 5. Click the "OK" button to exit the filter definition phase. The "Files to include in the archive" list now contains the filter we just created as a line item. You can test out your filter and preview the files that will be added by double clicking the line item in "Files to include...". A new window will open and will list the files that currently match the filter you have created. 6. Click "Next" to proceed to the next step. The second page of the wizard dialog covers how the archive will be created. By default, Zip compression is used. For the purpose of this wizard, we'll leave the defaults alone, although you can use the various controls on this page to change the archive format used if you would like to pick another archive format, such as StuffIt X. 7. You can use the "Archive Location" field to choose the location on your hard drive in which the archive will be created. By default, the archive will be created in the My Archives folder, which is located in your documents folder. 8. You can also choose to encrypt the archive being created by typing a password in the "Password" field. 9. Click "Next" to proceed to the final page. 10. When you are using StuffIt Deluxe, StuffIt Wizards give you the option to either run the wizard immediately, or schedule it to run at a later date. Click here for a description of how to use StuffIt's task scheduler. To run the wizard, click the Finish button. The Wizard will immediately start to process the archive task you have created. Copyright 2002-2005 Allume Systems, Inc. All Rights Reserved.