How Do I Create a Hyperlink to a Zipped File?
A zipped file is an archive that normally contains multiple files in one, and it's compressed to take up less space than the individual files usually do. Zipped files are a convenient way to give multiple files to a person while keeping them organized and all together, and it's convenient for the person downloading to keep everything organized as well.
Creating hyperlinks to a zipped file is done the exact same way you'd create a hyperlink to a regular HTML file. Since the file is named with a .zip extension, the web browser software knows that it should download that file instead of trying to display it.
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Instructions
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Upload the zipped file to your web server, into whatever directory or folder you'd like it to be. You can upload the file using your website hosting control panel or any basic FTP client software.
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Save a copy of your web page to your hard drive--save just the page on which you want to create the link. You can save the file using your web browser, the web hosting control panel, or by downloading it with your FTP software.
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Open your web page HTML file with a basic text editor such as Windows Notepad, NoteTab or Notepad++.
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Select the location in your web page that you'd like to create the hyperlink. Remember that you are viewing the raw HTML code when it's open in a text editor, so you'll need to be sure you place your new hyperlink anywhere after the opening body tag (<BODY>), but before the closing body tag (</BODY>).
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Craft your hyperlink using the full HTML path to your zipped file, like this:
<a href="http://www.yourwebsite.com/folder/zipped.zip">Zipped File</a>
"yourwebsite.com" will of course by your own website domain name and extension.
"folder" will be the folder name into which you placed the zip file.
"zipped.zip" will be the actual name of the zipped file for which you are creating the hyperlink.
The words "Zipped File" will be the words that show as linked on your web page, and they can be whatever you'd like. "Click here to download this zipped file" for example, would be a nice descriptive phrase that tells people exactly what to do. -
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Save the changes to your web page file, then reload it onto your web server to make the changes live on your site.
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References
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