A common reason for the error
On occassion, a Compressed Folder Error may occur. This appears when windows cannot open the folder. It will often say something like: The compressed (zipped) folder is invalid.
Depending on your operating system's version, a similar error may occur when opening a downloaded archive with your project documents.
Usually, it happens when the archive incorporates files with long paths.
A long path is the total file name that consists of the local disk/flash drive name, root folder name, names of folders/subfolders, filename, file extension, and exceeds 260 symbols.
Unlike the virtual data room, Windows OS / Mac OS restrict actions with such files.
How to open an archive with long paths
7-ZIP
You may open archives containing long paths and safely extract all documents using a 7-ZIP utility, despite their path length. It works as any regular file archiver. Just click the Extract button to unarchive the downloaded documents:
Using 7-ZIP
Open Archive: Use 7-ZIP to open archives containing long paths. This utility functions like a regular file archiver.
Extract Documents: Click the Extract button in 7-ZIP to unarchive and access all documents, regardless of path length.
Note on Access: Be aware that the operating system may still restrict access to some extracted files with long paths.
Troubleshooting: If you encounter issues accessing specific files, try shortening the names of folders or subfolders leading to the file’s location.
Total Commander
This tool is also capable of opening archives that contain files with long paths. Please follow this link to download it. You will be able to rename files with long paths and copy/paste them to the required location.
Using Total Commander
Download: Total Commander can also handle archives with long paths.
Renaming and Copying: Total Commander allows you to rename files with long paths and copy/paste them to the desired location.
Using the Ideals VDR Desktop application, you can download the data room's contents in the original format into a folder instead of a ZIP-archive. However, in this case, access to the files with long paths will still be restricted by Windows/Mac OS, and you will need to shorten the names.