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Opening an archive

There are several ways to open an archive in Purrchiver. Use whichever fits the moment — they all land you in the same place: a Loaded session showing the archive’s contents.

1. Double-click in Finder

If Purrchiver is set as your default app for the archive format, just double-click. What happens next is governed by a three-way setting under Settings → General → “When I double-click an archive”: Open in Purrchiver to inspect it (the archive loads in a session window), Extract immediately to the parent folder, or Ask each time.

The easiest way to set defaults is Settings → File Types, where you can toggle Purrchiver on per format — or flip every type at once with Make Purrchiver the default for all. See Settings → File Types.

You can also set a single format from Finder:

  1. Right-click the archive file in Finder.
  2. Choose Get Info (⌘I).
  3. Expand Open with, pick Purrchiver, and click Change All….

Repeat once per format (one for .zip, one for .rar, etc.) — or just use the File Types tab to do them in bulk.

2. Drag onto the dock icon

Drag an archive onto the Purrchiver icon in the Dock — it opens in a new window. Dragging two or more archives at once routes them to Batch Extract instead of opening each in its own window.

3. Drop onto the Welcome window

When Purrchiver is showing the Welcome window, drop an archive anywhere on it — the archive opens in a session window. Dropping two or more archives at once routes them to Batch Extract, the same as dropping multiple onto the dock.

4. File menu → Open Archive…

Choose File → Open Archive… (or press ⌘O) to open the standard macOS file picker. Just like the drop target, you can pick anything and Purrchiver decides what to do — an archive opens, and any other file or folder starts a new archive.

5. Finder right-click → Services

Right-click an archive in Finder and look under the Services submenu (you may need to scroll), then choose Open in Purrchiver — smart dispatch that, for a single archive, honors your Settings → General → “When I double-click an archive” preference (Open in Purrchiver to inspect / Extract immediately to the parent folder / Ask each time). It also handles mixed Finder selections: multiple archives go into Batch Extract, and anything that isn’t an archive opens in a new Compress staging window.

If you don’t see the Services submenu, enable the items under System Settings → Keyboard → Keyboard Shortcuts → Services → Files and Folders.

The Services menu also offers Extract using Purrchiver and Compress using Purrchiver — see Finder integration for all three (and Extracting files / Creating a new archive for those workflows).

Opening a multi-part archive

For .partN.rar, .r00/.r01/…, .7z.001/.002, or any other split set — point Purrchiver at any one of the parts. It will scan the parent folder, find the rest of the set, sort them in order, and open them as a single archive. You don’t need to select them all.

See Multi-part archives for the full story.

Opening an encrypted archive

If the archive is password-protected, Purrchiver shows a password prompt before listing the contents:

Password prompt sheet shown when opening an encrypted archive

Passwords stay in memory for the open session only — Purrchiver doesn’t persist them between launches.

See Encrypted archives for password best practices.

What if Purrchiver doesn’t recognize the file?

Sometimes a file with an archive-shaped name isn’t actually an archive — it might be a Windows installer (.exe / .msi), a StuffIt file, or a corrupt download. Purrchiver detects each of these and gives you a specific message — Windows executables aren’t archives, StuffIt archives require The Unarchiver, etc. — instead of a generic “extraction failed”.

See Common errors for what each one means and what to do.

Friendly specific error for a non-archive file

Opening a disk image (.dmg)

Purrchiver opens and extracts .dmg files like any other archive — a clean, non-mounting HFS+ parse, no Finder mount required. If the disk image is AES-256-encrypted, Purrchiver prompts for the password before listing its contents, the same as any encrypted archive.

What Purrchiver doesn’t open

  • StuffIt (.sit / .sitx) — abandoned format. See StuffIt files for what to use instead.
  • Windows installers (.exe / .msi) — not archives in the relevant sense. Purrchiver recognizes both and offers to add them to a new archive (handy for emailing, since most mail services block raw .exe).
  • ACE / ARJ — proprietary and effectively unmaintained.

Format support has the complete read/write matrix.