WinZip Backup Jobs

WinZip Backup jobs

A WinZip Pro or WinZip Enterprise license is required in order to use WinZip Backup features

WinZip Backup jobs automate the process of creating and updating Zip files. They are great for your repetitive zipping tasks, such as:

• Periodic data backups
• Periodic data archival
• Periodic packaging and transmission of reports, spreadsheets, etc.

WinZip jobs let you specify what files you want zipped, how you want them zipped, where the resulting Zip files should go, and more. Please see the various sections of this article below for more.

• Pre-configured Data Backup Jobs
• The Job Wizard
• Scheduling WinZip Backup jobs
• Save a copy to the Cloud
• Email Notification

Pre-configured Data Backup Jobs

To quickly zip important data, WinZip provides a set of pre-configured data backup jobs. These are found easily in the WinZip Backup tab and they will locate and Zip data files from any or all of these locations on your computer:

• Documents: Zips the contents of your Documents folder and all of its subfolders
• Documents Library: Zips the contents of your Documents Library including all subfolders
• E-mail: Zips your Microsoft Outlook email
• Desktop: Zips the contents of your Desktop, including folders you created there
• Favorites: Zips the contents of your Windows Favorites folder
• Pictures Library: Zips the contents of your Pictures Library including all subfolders
• Docs, E-mail, Favs, and Desktop: Combines the 4 non-library jobs into one convenient Zip file
• All Libraries: Zips the files and subfolders in all of your Libraries

The Job Wizard

The easy-to-use Job Wizard helps you to create and/or edit your own jobs. It guides you, in a few quick steps, through the process of specifying exactly how your backup job should work.

Using the Job Wizard you can specify:

• Which files and folders you want to zip, and how they should be compressed
• The Zip file name and its target folder (Zip file names can include variable components such as the date and time so that new Zip files won't overwrite existing Zip files)
• What, if any, file attributes and dates should be used to determine which files will be zipped, and whether existing Zip files should be replaced or updated (For those familiar with standard backup programs, these options combine to specify backup types such as Normal , Incremental , Differential , etc.)
• Whether to encrypt files when they are zipped
• What folder information should be stored in the Zip file
• If your files should have any conversions applied as they are zipped
• If the job will be scheduled to run automatically and, if so, when
• If the PC should shut down on completion of your scheduled job (WinZip 21.5 or later)
• Whether the Zip file created will be sent to a Cloud or FTP location
• Whether the Zip file and/or log file will be emailed after the job completes
• Whether created files should expire according to a schedule you set

Scheduling WinZip Backup jobs

You can schedule jobs to run:

• Daily: Your job runs at the time you choose and you specify how many days between runs (1 to 365)
• Weekly: Your job runs at the time you specify, on the day(s) of the week you specify and you choose the number of weeks between runs (1 to 52)
• Monthly: Your job runs on a specific day of the month or on a schedule such as the first Tuesday of each month or the second Saturdays of July and December

Scheduling jobs is easy with the WinZip Job Wizard. Just choose daily, weekly, or monthly; specify schedule details if applicable; type in your user name and password; and click OK. Since the Schedule Job dialog is a custom interface to the Windows Task Scheduler, your username and password will be required to save your scheduled job.

Note: The WinZip Job Wizard will prefill User name in a fashion similar to Computer name\user name. If the computer is a member of a domain, you will need to change the user name to be similar to Domain\user name.

Save a copy to the Cloud

If you need to save a copy of your backup to a cloud service, click the Save to button in step 6 of the Job Wizard. If you click the Save a copy to button, the Configure Saving to Cloud dialog will open. You can then check the box to Save the Zip file to a cloud service and click the button to select which service to use. If you are not currently logged in to the cloud service you select, you will be prompted to do so. You can also choose options to overwrite an existing Zip file, if one is in the chosen location, and/or to move the Zip file created on your local drive into the Recycle Bin after a copy of it has been uploaded.

In older WinZip versions, FTP was a separate service and so required its own configuration dialog. In the current version of WinZip and other recent versions, FTP is treated as another cloud service. The FTP sign in window that will open when you choose FTP for the Save to location does include most of the same distinctive settings as the earlier service.

Since FTP is provided with your other cloud services, you can use it outside of WinZip Jobs as well. For example, from an open Zip file you can click FileSave As and choose FTP from the listed cloud services if you wish. This is also an option you can choose while creating and saving a Zip file.

Email Notification

You can send the Zip files created by WinZip Backup jobs to an email recipient as files or as a cloud link. You can also configure your backup job to send you a notification when it has finished. To do this, click Email in step 6 of the Job Wizard, select your desired notifications, specify the email account information, choose from the list of options, and WinZip does the rest. Whenever your job runs, the Job Wizard will email the resulting Zip and/or log file automatically.

If you click the Email button in Job Wizard before you have configured an email account (in WinZip), the Set Up EMail Account dialog will display first. The Email tab in the WinZip Options dialog can be used at any time to add an email account or make changes to ones you have previously configured.

If you have any questions about this information, please submit a Technical Support ticket.

WinZip Backups and the Job Wizard

WinZip Pro and WinZip Enterprise feature

Beginning with WinZip 26.0, additional applets for enabling quickly performing specific operations have been added. One of these, the WinZip Simple Secure Backup , enables backing up a smaller set of specific files. This section of help regards the Advanced Secure Backup features in WinZip.

WinZip Backups and the Job Wizard

What are WinZip jobs?

Data backup consists of copying or archiving files for the purpose of being able to restore them in case of data loss. Data loss can occur from many sources ranging from computer viruses to hardware failures to file corruption and so on. If you're a business, you may have lost critical financial, customer, and company data. If the data resides on a personal computer, you could lose financial data and other key files, pictures, music, etc. that would be hard to replace.

WinZip® jobs found on the Backup tab automate the process of creating and updating Zip files. They are great for your repetitive zipping tasks, such as:

• Periodic data backups
• Periodic data archival
• Periodic packaging and transmission of reports, spreadsheets, etc.

WinZip jobs let you specify what files you want zipped, how you want them zipped, and where the resulting Zip files should go. If you want to fully automate the process, you can even specify when you want them to run.

You can create your own jobs using the WinZip Job Wizard, or you can use pre-configured jobs, included with WinZip Pro and WinZip Enterprise, to quickly zip common items such as Documents, the Desktop, or your Windows Mail or Outlook email.

The Job Wizard

The easy-to-use Job Wizard helps you to create your own jobs to archive your files. It guides you, in a few quick steps, through the process of specifying exactly how your job should work.

Using the Job Wizard you can specify:

• Which files and folders you want to zip, and how they should be compressed.
• What the Zip file should be named and where it should go. Zip file names can include variable components such as the date and time so that new Zip files won't overwrite existing Zip files.
• How you want file attributes and dates to be used when evaluating which files should be zipped, and whether existing Zip files should be replaced or updated. (For those familiar with standard backup programs, these options combine to specify backup types such as "normal", "incremental", "differential", etc.)
• Whether you want to encrypt files when they are zipped.
• What folder information should be stored in the Zip file.
• Whether the job should be scheduled to run automatically and, if so, when.
• Whether the Zip file created by the job should be saved to a cloud or FTP location, emailed, and/or shared via social media or instant messaging.

The Job Wizard allows you to set many other options, yet it is very easy to use. For example, the only thing that it requires you to specify is which files you want to zip; the Wizard will supply reasonable values for all the remaining settings.

Where can I learn more?

• Learn about creating and modifying WinZip jobs using the WinZip Job Wizard
• Learn about running WinZip jobs
• Learn about the predefined backups included with WinZip
• Read about security considerations of WinZip jobs
• Read more about Data Backup Strategies
• Read about Restoring Data Backups

Important notes

• WinZip jobs are intended for data backup and archival only. WinZip's job feature is not designed or intended for use as a full system backup utility. For example, WinZip jobs may not be able to zip files that are currently in use, including Windows system files. For system backups you should use tools specifically designed for that purpose.
• Please read and understand thesecurity considerations of WinZip jobs before you create or run any jobs.
• Although WinZip jobs are very powerful, and are suitable for most users, advanced users and system administrators should consider using the WinZip Command Line Support Add-On for their most exacting needs. WinZip jobs can perform most tasks efficiently, but cannot, for example, select files for zipping based on their dates. If you find that the Job Wizard does not provide all of the options you need for a particular task, try the Command Line Support Add-On. The add-on is free for registered WinZip users and is available from the WinZip web site.

Compiled from the official WinZip Knowledge Base (https://kb.winzip.com/)