Windows 7 - Unable to edit files in ZIP folders

Windows 7 has this neat feature where I can navigate into a compressed (zip) file from Windows Explorer. The icon appears like a folder with a zipper through it & I can just navitage where I please.

However, I can't edit a file in the zip folder directly. I have to first copy it out of the zip, edit it, then copy back into the zip. What am I missing here? If I can overwrite a file why not just allow me to edit it?

thanks.
c

Zip is one of the several existing formats for "archive" files. These files are typically compressed to save space and simplify data transmission. Although Windows treats them as folders (a feature that I personally prefer to disable), they are not really folders. One can extract files from an archive or add files, but I've never heard of a possibility to edit files still in an archive. Maybe there is a third-party software that opens an archive, un-compress it (i.e. unzip) to some temporary folder, then allows you to edit files in this temporary folder and at the end puts the archive back together (i.e. zip the files from the temporary folder into a new archive of the same name). But I don't know any. Maybe someone else can suggest something.

You're missing nothing (it was the same in previous Windows incarnations).

The "compressed folder" is really a single file, it just looks like a folder and files. What I do is drag the file out to the Desktop, edit it there, then drag it back in. The advantage is that you are working on a separate copy of the file too.