Microsoft Excel is the spreadsheet component to Microsoft's Office Suite. Since spreadsheets like Excel can often contain large amounts of data, it may become necessary to compress, or zip, those files. Zipping Excel files can also save disk space when archiving files that are seldom used. There are compression programs available as shareware or freeware such as Winrar and Winzip. Microsoft Windows, however, includes an easy to use zip utility as an integrated part of the operating system.
Step 1
Open "My Documents" in Microsoft Windows XP or earlier. If you are running Windows Vista, open "Documents." Both of these are usually found on the "Start" menu.
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Step 2
Navigate through the folders until you locate the Excel file you want to zip.
Step 3
Right-click on the file icon or name you want to zip and select "Send To" from the pop up menu that appears.
Step 4
Select "Compressed (zipped) folder" from the sub-menu. A new zipped file will be created in the same folder. It will keep the same file name, but with a ".zip" extension, as your Excel file. This is the default, but you can change it just like any other file name.
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