Self-Extracting File Options

Note  Self-extracting files are executable (.exe) files. Many e-mail programs (including Outlook with the Outlook E-mail Security Update installed) block .exe attachments because they are vectors for e-mail worms and viruses. Send .exe attachments with extreme caution and realize that the recipient of your message might not be able to open the attachment.

Important  If you have set ZipOut to Block harmful attachments you may find that the option to Always create self-extracting file is not available. This is because .exe files are on the default list of blocked file types. If you wish to send self-extracting files while the Block harmful attachments box is checked, you must open the Block Extensions... dialog box and delete .exe files from the list.

Always create self-extracting file

Check the Always create self-extracting file box to always create a self-extracting executable instead of a .zip file attachment. Self-extracting executables do not require the recipient of your message to have ZipOut or another unzip utility program such as WinZip to open or extract the attachments to your message. However, the self-extraction function adds approximately 91 KB to the compressed file size. To avoid increasing the net size of the message attachments, the following conditions will apply whenever you direct ZipOut to create a self-extractor:

• Attachments will always be combined into one self-extracting file. Separate self-extracting files would each carry 91 KB of overhead, a condition that bloats rather than shrinks the overall message size.
• If the total size of compressed items in the .zip file plus 91 KB is more than the total size of the original attachments, a  self-extracting file will not be created for the message. In this case, the attachments will be sent in their original, uncompressed format.
• When the total size of the compressed items plus 91 KB is less than the total size of the original attachments, a 32-bit self-extracting file containing the original message attachments in compressed form will be added to the message.