A	If you have Microsoft xp on your machine then you can use the routine Right Click>Send to>Compressed (zipped) folder. You will not need Winzip or this section. Winzip is a popular file compression utility - it is widely available as a demo on computer magazine CDs or from the Winzip web site: http://www.winzip.com . Compressed files obviously take up less storage space on your discs and transfer more quickly over the Internet. Screen shots here were taken from Winzip version 8.1 - other versions may look slightly different.
B	For Learning Platform use you should collect all files you need into a single new folder - probably in your My Documents folder. It's a good habit to replace spaces in folder and graphic file names using the underscore character ( _ ). Having spaces sometimes makes Learning Platform behave in strange ways; using the underscore character always corrects any anomalies.

C	Collect into your My_Course folder everything you want to bring into Learning Platform. This collection might include html pages (plus any graphics for these pages), Word docs, spreadsheet, PowerPoint, sound file, etc. You can use sub-folders if you wish to keep all Chapter_1 materials together for example.
D	When your folder collection is complete, start Winzip's main working screen:

E	Click the icon to create a brand new zip folder. First you select where the zip folder will be stored - navigate to your My_Documents folder. And you also select the zip folder name - eg My_Course_zipped. Then click OK. Note: if you choose a name for the zipped file which exists as a folder already (eg My_Course) then Winzip opens that folder as a potential place to save the zip folder. To avoid this happening, add the suffix 'zipped' to your folder name.

F	On the next screen you select the file containing your materials - your My_Course folder. Make sure this folder is opened so you can see its contents.

G	NOTE: any folders which are empty will be totally ignored in the zip process - folders MUST have at least one file each time.
H	Make sure the ticks are set exactly as shown in the screenshot above - only in the Include sub-folders option. Then click Add with wildcards. This process ensures that everything in the visible window is put to the zip folder and that the sub-folder structure you have is remembered for later unzipping.
I	The zip folder is saved to your chosen location.
J	You have a check that the process worked perfectly. Look carefully at the information screen that appears when the zip folder has been created - the Path column will include the Chapter1 / Chapter2 folder information.

K	You could always double click the zipped folder and choose to Extract the contents to a Temp folder - the original folder/sub-folder structure would be recreated.
L	Another free zip program is available at http://www.easyzip.com/

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