# Unpacker V2 — user guide Unpacker V2 is a Windows archiver built on the 7-Zip engine. Drop archives to extract them, drop anything else to compress it, or point it at a folder to work on everything inside. This guide walks through each flow. ![The main window: drop zone and options on the left, the job queue on the right](screenshots/02-queue-done.png) ## Install Download `unpacker-v2--setup.exe` from the [Releases page](https://github.com/AxialForge/unpacker-v2/releases/latest) and run it. It installs per-user (no administrator prompt) and updates itself silently from GitHub Releases; you can turn that off in Settings. The build is not code-signed, so Windows SmartScreen shows a warning the first time. Click "More info", then "Run anyway". No 7-Zip install is needed; the engine ships inside. If WinRAR is installed, Unpacker V2 can also *create* RAR files through it. Extracting RAR needs nothing extra. ## The main window The sidebar on the left switches between **Archives** (the queue and the compress/extract tools), **Google Takeout** (the guided wizard), **Settings** and **About**. The sidebar footer shows the version and, while jobs run, whether the PC is being kept awake. - **Drop zone.** Drop files, folders or archives. In **Auto** mode archives are extracted and everything else is compressed. - **Buttons.** *Add files*, *Add folder* and *Open archives* do the same via a picker. *Mass extract*, *Mass convert*, *Google Takeout* and *Verify a manifest* open the flows described below. - **What to do with dropped items.** Switch Auto to *Compress*, *Extract*, *Convert* or *Test* to force one action. Format, compression level, split size and password apply to compress and convert. - **Queue.** Every job is a row with a progress bar, its stage, the current file, and Cancel. Finished rows link to the output; click it to show the file in Explorer. Rows that finished with warnings turn amber and list them. ## Extracting Drop an archive, or right-click one in Explorer and choose *Extract here* or *Extract to folder…* (enable the Explorer entries in Settings). Everything 7-Zip reads is supported: ZIP, 7z, RAR and RAR5, tar and tar.gz/xz/bz2/zst, cab, iso, wim, and more, including split sets (`.001`, `.part1.rar`, `.z01`). **Where files go** is a setting: *Smart* makes a new folder named after the archive unless the archive already contains a single top-level folder; *Always a new folder*; or *Right where the archive is*. **Encrypted archives** are detected up front. The job pauses with "Password needed" and asks; a wrong password asks again instead of failing. **Protection.** An archive whose entries point outside the destination (`../`, absolute paths) is refused. So is one that expands more than 1000:1 into more than 1 GB (a zip-bomb pattern) unless you allow it in Settings, and so is one that contains symbolic links or junctions, for the same reason. ## Compressing (Smart compress) Drop files or a folder. With *Smart compress* on (the default), the app analyzes what you dropped and suggests a format: ![Smart compress: analysis, suggestion, presets, size limit and manifest](screenshots/03-smart-compress.png) - Photos, video, audio and already-packed files get **Store** mode in ZIP, since compression gains almost nothing and Store runs at disk speed. With a password it suggests 7z, because ZIP can't hide file names. - Documents, text, code and mail get **7z** at a higher level; expect several times smaller than ZIP. - Mixed content gets 7z Normal with solid blocks capped at 256 MB so a damaged block can't take the whole archive with it. Three presets: **Everyday** takes the suggestion with no manifest. **Archival** adds a manifest with SHA-256 of every file and a 4 GB size limit for large sets. **Custom** lets you set everything. **Size limit per archive** (1, 2, 4, 10, 20 or 50 GB) works two ways: - *Independent archives*: files are grouped so each archive stays under the limit and opens on its own. Folders are kept together when they fit. A single file larger than the limit becomes its own volume set automatically. - *Volumes of one archive*: `.001`, `.002`, … pieces. Every piece is needed to open it. **Manifest.** An 8-character ID links archives and a text file: ``` Album 2026_K7M3Q9XZ-01of03.zip Album 2026_K7M3Q9XZ-02of03.zip Album 2026_K7M3Q9XZ-03of03.zip Album 2026_K7M3Q9XZ.manifest.txt ``` The manifest lists every file, its size, date and which archive holds it, optionally with its SHA-256. A copy rides inside each archive, so losing the text file loses nothing. Choose *inside the archives only* to avoid a plain- text list of names beside an encrypted set. **Verify a manifest** later checks that every archive is present and intact and, when hashes are there, that every file is byte-for-byte what was archived. Pick the `.manifest.txt`, or any of the archives. A `.verify.txt` report lands beside them. Turn *Smart compress* off in the options panel to compress straight away with the format shown there. ## Mass extract Click *Mass extract a folder…*, drop three or more archives at once, or right-click a folder in Explorer and choose *Extract all archives in here…*. ![Mass extract: destination, collisions, nested archives, cleanup](screenshots/05-mass-extract.png) - **Where the contents go.** Each archive into its own folder next to it; everything merged into one folder; or contents next to each archive. - **If a file already exists** in the merge folder: keep both, skip, or overwrite. - **Archives found inside the extracted files.** Leave them; extract them too and keep the nested archive; or extract them too and send the nested archive to the Recycle Bin. Up to three levels deep. - **What happens to the source archives** once every archive succeeded: leave them where they are, move them into a ` - archival` folder inside the extracted location (the folder they were in, or the merge folder), or send them to the Recycle Bin. One failure keeps everything in place. - **One archive at a time** is on by default; they share a disk. A summary card at the top of the queue tracks the batch and offers *Cancel remaining*, then *Report* and *Open folder* when done. A `Mass-extract-report.txt` is written beside the archives or in the merge folder. ## Mass convert Click *Mass convert a folder…* or set the action to *Convert* and drop archives. Pick the target format, level, optional password for the new archives and split size. Each archive is unpacked to a temporary folder, repacked, integrity-tested, and only then is the original moved to the Recycle Bin (if you asked for that). RAR files convert to any format; RAR can be a target only when WinRAR is installed. ![Mass convert](screenshots/06-mass-convert.png) ## The Google Takeout tab The **Google Takeout** tab at the top of the window is a guided, four-step flow for the whole job: check the downloads, extract them, and organize the result into clean libraries. ![The Google Takeout tab](screenshots/08-takeout-tab.png) 1. **Select.** Drop the `takeout-…zip` parts or the folder they're in, or point at a folder you already extracted. Each export is listed with its part count and size; missing parts and browser re-downloads (`…-028 (1).zip`) are called out. Multi-set exports (`…-2-001.zip`) are grouped per set. 2. **Options.** Extraction: damage check first, resume, collision policy, Recycle-Bin the parts when done. Organizing: where the library goes and what to do per service. 3. **Run.** A rail shows Check → Extract → Organize with live progress. Cancel is one click; nothing half-done is left behind. 4. **Done.** A summary, and buttons to open the library and the report. **What organizing does** - **Google Photos** become `Library/Photos/YYYY/MM/…`. Each photo's date is read from Google's JSON sidecar and applied to the file's modified time. JPEGs that carry no EXIF date get the taken time written into EXIF, so the date survives copying. The same photo repeated across albums is kept once (by content hash); album membership is written to `Photos/Albums.txt`. Sidecars move to `Photos/_json`, stay where they are, or go to the Recycle Bin, your choice. Files without a sidecar land in `Photos/Undated`. - **Drive, Mail, Contacts, Calendar, YouTube and everything else** move into `Library//…`, merged across all parts, with the tree intact. Any service can be excluded. - Files are moved, not copied, when the library is on the same drive, so even a 300 GB export organizes in minutes. Nothing is deleted outright: duplicates and unwanted sidecars go to the Recycle Bin. - A `Takeout-organize-report.txt` in the library lists the counts: media placed, dated, EXIF written, duplicates removed, sidecars without media (their photo is in a part you don't have yet). The organizer also understands the mess a browser leaves: several per-part folders each holding a `Takeout/`, next to a half-merged one. Point it at the parent and all of them are gathered. ## The Google Takeout dialog (quick merge) The older *Google Takeout…* button on the Archives tab merges parts without organizing. Takeout splits an export into numbered parts, `takeout--001.zip`, `-002.zip`, …, that all share one `Takeout/` folder. Click *Google Takeout…* and pick your downloads folder, or drop the parts. ![Google Takeout: exports found, missing parts, merge options](screenshots/04-takeout.png) The dialog lists each export it found with its part count and size, and flags missing part numbers. Then: 1. Every part is integrity-checked **before** anything is written, so a bad download is found now, not hours in. The message names the part to re-download. 2. Free disk space is checked for the whole export. 3. Parts are extracted one at a time into one folder, in order. Options: skip / overwrite / keep-both on collisions; remove the `Takeout/` wrapper; move Google Photos JSON sidecars into `_json` folders (leave this off if you'll run a metadata tool on the photos); Recycle-Bin the parts when the whole export succeeded. Interrupted runs resume: parts already extracted into that folder are skipped. A `Takeout-import-report.txt` lands in the folder. ## Settings ![Settings](screenshots/07-settings.png) - **Jobs at the same time.** Default 2. Use 1 when source and destination are the same spinning disk. - **Extract into / If a file already exists.** Defaults for plain extraction. - **Temporary folder.** Conversions and hash verification stage files here. Pick a drive with room for the biggest archive you convert. - **Test every archive after creating or converting it.** On by default. Doubles the time of a huge archival job; the price of knowing. - **Allow extreme compression ratios / archives that contain links.** The two safety guards you can switch off. - **Keep the PC awake while jobs run.** On by default. - **Close button hides to the tray.** Otherwise closing while jobs run asks: keep running in the background, cancel and quit, or stay. - **Explorer right-click menu.** Adds *Add to archive*, *Extract here*, *Extract to folder…*, *Convert archive…* and *Extract all archives in here…*. On Windows 11 they sit under "Show more options". - **Update automatically** from GitHub Releases. - **Updates section.** Shows the installed version, a *Check for updates now* button with live status, and *Restart to update* once a new version has downloaded. Updates are fetched over HTTPS and checked against the release's SHA-512. ## About Version, the 7-Zip engine version and path, whether WinRAR was found for RAR creation, links to the site, user guide, releases, changelog and issue tracker, and the licence notes for the bundled components. ## Command line The Explorer entries run these; you can too: ``` "Unpacker V2.exe" --compress "Unpacker V2.exe" --extract-here "Unpacker V2.exe" --extract-to "Unpacker V2.exe" --extract-all "Unpacker V2.exe" --convert "Unpacker V2.exe" --test ``` ## Things to know - Passwords are visible on the 7-Zip or WinRAR command line while a job runs, like every archiver built on them. They never appear in the window's job list. - Inputs inside OneDrive, Google Drive, Dropbox or iCloud folders trigger a warning: cloud-only placeholder files download as they are read. Mark the folder "Always keep on this device" first. - Cancelling removes any half-written archive. In a chunked pack, chunks that already verified are kept. - RAR creation needs WinRAR; only rar.exe can write the format and its licence forbids bundling it.