ZIP for Client Delivery

This tool is for the moment a project is finished and needs to leave your hands looking finished. It fits freelancers and agencies handing off design files, developers shipping source code alongside its documentation, photographers sending a final gallery with the raw set, and consultants packaging a report with supporting notes. Instead of a loose pile of files named export_final_v3, the recipient opens one archive with a clear name, one clearly named folder, and a README that says what the package is.

It offers six delivery types, and each one names the folder your files go in: Design Files, Website, Source, Documents, Photos, or Deliverables for a general delivery. Folders you add keep their own subfolders inside it, so a Final and a Source folder you prepared arrive exactly as you arranged them.

It does not transfer or host anything: you download one ZIP and send it through email, a shared drive or a client portal yourself. Nothing is kept after you close the tab.

The flow is short. Drop or select your files or folders (the tool warns above 200 MB in total), choose a delivery type, and optionally fill in project name, client name, a prepared-by contact, and notes. Two checkboxes control whether a README.txt and a MANIFEST.txt are included, both on by default. The archive filename defaults to client-project-delivery-YYYY-MM-DD.zip using today's date, and you can overwrite it. Click Create delivery ZIP and the file downloads.

The README.txt is plain text in a light Markdown style: a project heading, client, the delivery date, contact, the number and total size of files, a list of what sits at the top of the delivery folder, and your notes. The MANIFEST.txt lists every delivered file with its path and size and a total count, which gives the recipient a quick way to confirm nothing is missing. Compression is standard DEFLATE, so the result is a normal ZIP any operating system can open.

Two behaviours worth knowing: system files (.DS_Store, __MACOSX, ._ files, Thumbs.db, desktop.ini) and hidden files such as .env or .git are always left out, which keeps credentials and repository history out of a client's hands; and files that would land on the same path are numbered rather than overwriting each other. The tool does not read your files or sort them for you; deciding what belongs where is still yours.

The most common surprise is expecting automatic sorting. The tool keeps the arrangement you give it, so if you want Final and Source separated, put the files in folders with those names before dropping them in. Loose files you add sit at the top of the delivery folder.

The README and MANIFEST are plain text, so do not rely on rich formatting, clickable links, or images rendering. Project, client, contact, and notes are all optional, which means a blank field simply produces a thinner README; fill them in if you want the package to look complete. The date in both files and the default filename comes from your device, so double-check it reflects the day you intend to send.

Very large photo or video deliveries can be slow or run out of browser memory, so deliver them in parts; and the ZIP has no password, so use another tool for confidential contents.

Before sending, open the ZIP yourself and walk through it as the client would. Confirm the delivery folder holds the actual deliverables in the layout you intended, and that the file count and sizes in MANIFEST.txt match what you meant to include. Read the README.txt to check the project name, client name, date, contact, and notes are correct and free of placeholder text, and verify the archive filename is the one you want to appear in their inbox.

It is worth extracting the archive once in a separate location rather than only previewing it, since that is how the recipient will experience it and the surest way to catch a missing or misplaced file. Take a moment to confirm nothing private slipped in among the files, especially if you added a whole folder; hidden files are already left out, but ordinary files are not checked.

For contract documents or audited figures, check the contents yourself and keep a master copy; the tool packages and labels files, it does not validate them.