Using Total Commander as an archiver shell

Total Commander can work with packed files as if they were directories. This means that you can double click (or press ENTER) on such an archive, and Total Commander will show the contents of this file. All files packed into the archive are shown in a normal file window.

If a file was packed into the archive together with its path, the relevant directories are shown as normal directories. You can navigate in these directories as normal and unpack any files and even complete directories. If you want to know more about a packed file, just press ENTER to show details like full path, compression method and ratio.

Total Commander can now also open archives in archives! To unpack an archive to a temporary directory, just press ENTER on that archive. If the archive has an unusual extension, or is a self extracting archive, you must press CTRL+PgDn instead. When you leave the archive by switching to its parent directory, or by switching to a different drive, the archive will be automatically deleted from the temporary directory.