Pack files from archive to separate archives, one per file

[wanderer]

At the one panel, inside a 7z file. At the other panel, inside a normal folder. I select a few files from inside the 7z and press ALT+F5 to unpack and re-pack them in the folder. In the "pack files" dialog, "Create separate archives" checkbox is disabled. Why?

[gdpr deleted 6]

Your F5 target is an archive (the opened archive in the target panel). Therefore, there is only one single archive to pack into -- the archive shown in the target panel. In this context, there are no archives to be created, there is only an existing archive being updated.

[wanderer]

Your F5 target is an archive (the opened archive in the target panel). Therefore, there is only one single archive to pack into -- the archive shown in the target panel. In this context, there are no archives to be created, there is only an existing archive being updated.

Wrong. Please read again what i've written. The source is an archive, the destination is a plain folder...

[gdpr deleted 6]

The source is an archive, the destination is a plain folder...

How do you get a "Pack" dialog in this situation then? Pressing F5 in this situation will just show the "Unpack" dialog and not the "Pack" dialog. It doesn't explain what you mean by saying "re-pack them in the folder".

(I was about to assume that you intended to write "Alt+F5" instead of "F5" after your response, but since my first interpretation was clearly wrong and you asked me to read again what you have written, i decided to follow your advice and stick with what you wrote and not attempt any further interpreting or assuming...)

[wanderer]

I was about to assume that you intended to write "Alt+F5" instead of "F5"

Well, you should have! Of course i meant ALT+F5, my bad. I've corrected it...

Anyway, any idea why the limitation i'm describing exists?

[gdpr deleted 6]

Anyway, any idea why the limitation i'm describing exists?

I have no idea whether this is a bug/oversight or an intentional decision by Christian. It's best to wait for Christian to respond; you know, straight from the horse's mouth...

(Just as a side note. i tend to believe it is a bug/oversight, because TC is able to unpack files from an archive to a temp folder and then pack them into some target archive - which for the most part would constitute the logic necessary for the functionality offered by this checkbox, and which is used already for "copying" files between two archives. And the other thing required is to pack the files in the temp folder into separate archives instead of a single archive, something TC is also already capable of. So it's difficult for me to fathom a technical reason for intentionally disabling this checkbox...)

[wanderer]

I have no idea whether this is a bug/oversight or an intentional decision by Christian. It's best to wait for Christian to respond; you know, straight from the horse's mouth...

Well, that was the intention of the post...

As for the rest of what you said, those were my thoughts too but many times Christian has come up with a specific reason why something is implemented in a certain way, so let's wait to see what he has to say on the matter...

Anyway, thanks for the input on this matter.

[ghisler(Author)]

There is no particular reason, it's just not implemented. The functions to pack files/directories and to re-pack an existing archive are completely separate - the latter has to first unpack the selected files and then call the pack function. At the time when I wrote it, I must have thought that it would be highly improbable that someone would want to split an archive this way - and indeed you were the first to complain.
Just unpack the archive to a temporary directory yourself and then pack from there.

[wanderer]

Hi Christian.

Just unpack the archive to a temporary directory yourself and then pack from there.

Well, that's what i'm doing at the moment but since i'm playing with large archives, it takes quite some time to unpack and i have to keep my mind on it in order to start the re-packing process. Not the most convenient way, but it is a workaround...

and indeed you were the first to complain.

Ha. Well, i'm sure there must have been 1-2 others but perhaps they were too lazy to complain.

[white]

Moderator message from: white » 2023-12-28, 17:06 UTC

2wanderer

The thread title doesn't accurately describe the subject. I suggest to change it, for example to:

• Pack files from archive to separate archives, one per file

[wanderer]

The thread title doesn't accurately describe the subject. I suggest to change it

Changed.