ZIP fie with no mac hidden files

[aicul]

Hello,

Does anyone know how to create a zip file without the hidden files that mac generates (for example .DS_Store)

I need this to send a clean zip of marketting material to customers that are ... unfortunately.. PC based.

Any ideas - that does not require use of a PC?

[simbalala]

BlueHarvest

You can set it to prevent saving .DS_Store files or use it to clean folders or disks after the fact. I use it to prevent saving .DS_Store files to Linux web servers.

[simbalala]

Another basic way is to open the folder in Terminal and do “ls -al”.

You’ll see all the . files, then you can just “rm” them.

But be aware that any folder within the archive like parent/child/subchild will show up as parent:child:subchild to your PC users.

To make it simple for myself I just upload to a Linux webserver and do the zipping there if it’s a complex file structure.

[aicul]

Thanks for your response Simbalala,

Although blueharvest seems to work, the fact that it is always active is a little painful because I don't want hidden files removed from all .zip files.

Your idea about the unix option seems better, I will work with it once I have done some further testing.

Thanks again

[Mikuro]

I recommend CleanArchiver, a free zip program that has an option to exclude .ds_store files (without deleting them from your system).

There's also ZipCleaner, which takes zip files created with the Finder and strips out .ds_store files and other Mac-specific data.

[simbalala]

Originally Posted by aicul

Thanks for your response Simbalala,

Although blueharvest seems to work, the fact that it is always active is a little painful because I don’t want hidden files removed from all .zip files.

BlueHarvest doesn’t remove .DS_Store unless you explicitly drag a folder or disk of some kind (memory cards included) into that prefs panel. In your case you drag the folder you wish to zip over the cleaner icon then zip it.

I got it the day it was announced because I was tired of having .DS_Store files cluttering up my hosted Linux web servers, that’s my primary use, it prevents them from being transferred and that’s why it needs to be constantly active. At the time nothing else was available but now I see from Mikuro’s post that some other options are available, ZipCleaner might be just what you need.

[simbalala]

I was posting somewhat complex zip files containing php code. Folders within folders.

PC users complained that they opened them and found the folder structure within the archive that should look like parent/child/subchild showing up as parent:child:subchild. So instead of a hierarchical structure they were just seeing many files at the top level with long, confusing filenames.

The Mac does not use / internally it uses a :, I understood what was going on but PC users were baffled and complaining. To get around the problem I starting zipping on my Linux webservers using ssh, upload the folder then zip it there.

Mikuro, do you know of a way which would solve this problem locally?

[Natobasso]

Get Parallels or Bootcamp?