You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

File compression / Zip error: Couldn’t communicate with a helper application

I have successfully used the Compress function on a number of files recently, but have encountered a problem doing it with two large ones. (One of these is a folder containing several files.) The process starts and seems to go smoothly for a some hours, but then failed with this Zip error message: "Couldn’t communicate with a helper application."


Help! Any suggestions on how to address this problem? The file is a little under 90GB in size.

iMac 27″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Sep 8, 2020 2:50 PM

Reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Sep 9, 2020 12:22 PM

Thank you for this. No problems with permissions.


I made a fourth attempt at the compress, without changing anything, and it just worked. So this problem is mysteriously solved.


Previously I had tried restarting the computer, with no effect.

2 replies

File compression / Zip error: Couldn’t communicate with a helper application

Welcome to Apple Support Community
A forum where Apple customers help each other with their products. Get started with your Apple Account.