PLEASE HELP! .zip files purchased from our Store are unreadable.

Site URL: https://pawplepower.com

Please help! I have a persisting and urgent problem that's driving me crazy, and I've exhausted all my knowledge on how to fix it. On our Squarespace store, we're selling digital products. One of those products is a .zip file containing audiobook recordings. When the file is purchased, sent to the customer, and then downloaded, it's unopenable and gives the following error message: "Unable to expand [FILE NAME]…" "Error 1 - No such process."

I have no idea how to fix this. I've tried so many things: removing a dash in the file name, setting the enclosed folders to 'Read & Write', deleting and listing a brand-new product, etc. I should also mention that the other digital downloads that we sell (which contain .pngs, unlike this one which contains .mp3s), download and open perfectly without incident.

The compressed .zip file comes to 241mb, which is well within Squarespace's file limit. Here's the other thing though: when purchased and downloaded, the file size is not that size, but fluctuates between about 150 and 170 mb, which almost seems like something is stopping the download mid-way. I've tested it a million times on my end, and I've only ever had it properly download and open about two times, before not working again.

I'm appealing to the Squarespace community hoping that someone can help me; maybe you've had a similar experience and have found the fix. I'd be more than happy to buy you a coffee for your time, I just desperately need the help before we receive any new orders.

NOTE: I have no idea whether this is a Squarespace issue, or a localized computer issue. I'm also not sure if this is just an Apple problem. All the reported download problems have seemingly come from Apple users (including myself). This problem also persists on Desktop and Mobile.

Link to problem product: https://pawplepower.com/shop/p/powerfully-pawsitive-audiostorybooks

It seems apparent that at least one issue is the file is not fully downloading. If that is the case nothing you do client side it going to work if the file isn't getting there intact.

So where is the file failing to download? You say you have multiple people downloading the file experiencing issues. Are they geographically diverse? Not using the same network provider? If so I might be tempted to think the issue is happen somewhere closer to the source side. But then you say you have other files that are being downloaded just fine. If all your downloaders were on the same network provider, then I might be tempted to pursue that angle. I'm thinking if your business was highly local and so there might be a good chance you are all stuck on the same provider.

Are you able to take the file that you upload, to be download, and unzipped it? Does that work flawlessly? Just trying to make sure it's not being corrupted in some way before upload. Although you say you've gotten a few good downloads so not sure what to think there.

Now if the file makes it to the Mac intact, there can be other issues. Some of the following links touch on some of these issues. I don't know anything about some of the alternate apps mentioned for expanding ZIP files. Except the using the Terminal method which is completely safe using macOS's built-in command line zip utility.

https://recoverit.wondershare.com/file-repair/archive-utility-error-1.html#:~:text=Several factors can be said to be the,may just be a cause for error 1. (the wondershare folks want to sell you something so take what they say with a grain of salt)

https://www.digitbin.com/fix-unable-to-expand-zip-error-mac/

Let us know how it goes.

@creedon Thank you for the detailed reply! I'll lay out my answers below:

1 hour ago, creedon said:

You say you have multiple people downloading the file experiencing issues. Are they geographically diverse? Not using the same network provider?

Yes, they're geographically diverse. This is happening to multiple customers in different cities.

1 hour ago, creedon said:

Are you able to take the file that you upload, to be download, and unzipped it? Does that work flawlessly?

Yes, the .zip file itself opens perfectly fine before uploading. I even sent the file to a friend's computer and they were able to open it and view the content, so I assume it's not a permissions issue. It has to be getting corrupted somewhere in the upload/download process on Squarespace.

Also, here's the weird thing: I tried the unzip workaround via Terminal, but that doesn't work either. It's giving me a "permission denied" error, even though it's not a locked file. I've tried deleting and re-creating & re-uploading the file (with different names so it didn't get hung up on some cache issue), but the problem persists.

Thank you for the links. I'll take a look and see what they suggest. Cheers!

I just started having this issue today, too! I re-uploaded the files that were showing up as corrupt for my clients. All of my clients are geographically diverse. I've never had this problem before until today.

1 hour ago, jennahidingerphotography said:

I just started having this issue today, too! I re-uploaded the files that were showing up as corrupt for my clients. All of my clients are geographically diverse. I've never had this problem before until today.

Wow, interesting! Please see below:

I think I found a fix!! What I did is I removed all the spaces from my .zip file name and replaced them with underscores. For example, 'Travel the World.zip' would be renamed to 'Travel_the_World.zip'. I then uploaded this newly-named file to my Squarespace product. I purchased the file (with a 100% off discount code) to test it, and it downloaded and opened perfectly. I had a friend try, and it worked for them as well.

So relieved! I'm hoping this will continue to work, but this was the best success I've had so far… 

@jennahidingerphotography Please let me know if this fix solves it for you as well! I'm hoping it does. 🙂

I am having the same issue. I offer Digital files that are zipped/compressed and meet the 300mb limit almost all my files average 230mb. Since this pass weekend my customers have been receiving download error messages. I think it's an issue that Squarespace needs to fix. Because I'm able to open the ZIP file of the original on my computer. Once the file is uploaded to Squarespace the ZIP digital file is not able to be opened.

I've attached the message that I'm getting. I've tried on Safari and Google Chrome, had a friend try and the same error is happening.

@AlpacaHat @Webpixum If you haven't already done so, I recommend that you contact Squarespace Customer Care to report this issue. Squarespace employees don't routinely monitor this forum (see the guidelines - item 6) so it is important that you report issues to them via the support form (linked above).

I'm working with the Squarespace Customer Care team now, since yesterday and they are still helping me at this moment.

On 6/7/2022 at 10:09 AM, Webpixum said:

I am having the same issue. I offer Digital files that are zipped/compressed and meet the 300mb limit almost all my files average 230mb. Since this pass weekend my customers have been receiving download error messages. I think it's an issue that Squarespace needs to fix. Because I'm able to open the ZIP file of the original on my computer. Once the file is uploaded to Squarespace the ZIP digital file is not able to be opened.

I've attached the message that I'm getting. I've tried on Safari and Google Chrome, had a friend try and the same error is happening.

(Sorry, didn't realize there were additional replies to this thread until now!) Interesting. It does seem to be a Squarespace-wide problem. Please let me know if you find/did find a fix; I'd love to know in case I encounter the issue again on my end. Cheers!

On 6/7/2022 at 10:39 AM, Webpixum said:

I'm working with the Squarespace Customer Care team now, since yesterday and they are still helping me at this moment.

I'm also having this issue after launching a new digital product. I have customers getting error messages (attached). No response yet from Squarespace after messaging yesterday. Were they able to resolve for you? My zip file is under the limit so I can't see any reason why this is creating an issue.

Site URL: https://www.trivialicious.com.au

Hi all.

My website has been active for about 4 years, during that time all has been well. However, within the last 8 months, whenever someone downloads a digital product from my site, it is corrupted. This is a massive pain in the butt as I have to individually email an apology & Dropbox link to every single customer. 

I have tried speaking with The Squarespace team, however they insist its my fault & there's nothing they can do.

The files are in ZIP format. I use the correct technique for zipping the files, always have. The odd thing is that  downloads that were working prior to 8 months ago, no longer work now. Every single file is corrupt.

I've tried reuploading. No avail. I've tried different zipping methods (winzip). Nothing works. 

Any help on this at all would be appreciated, as I'm about to.jump the Squarespace ship & go with a platform where digital product upload/downloads are reliable.

TIA

Ben

I actually am also having this same problem, I know its not on my end since the zip files were uploaded without issue to my gumroad shop but on squarespace it freezes up while uploading. Im replying to let you know its still an issue for digital sellers like myself. 

57 minutes ago, MiriamDesign said:

I actually am also having this same problem

The previous issue was fixed. If you experiencing problems today, please contact Squarespace Customer Care directly using this contact form.

I had this problem starting back at the end of May. Customers started having download issues from a zip file. I took out spaces in the title of the zip and it seemed to have fixed the download. 

Paul mentioned it was fixed, but  I'm curious on everyone's experience. Did your downloads get back to normal? Did you have to do anything with your files? How was your experience with Squarespace Customer support?

@benebrius @SkylarRose @AlpacaHat @Webpixum @jennahidingerphotography

On 7/27/2022 at 8:03 AM, emarien said:

I had this problem starting back at the end of May. Customers started having download issues from a zip file. I took out spaces in the title of the zip and it seemed to have fixed the download. 

Paul mentioned it was fixed, but  I'm curious on everyone's experience. Did your downloads get back to normal? Did you have to do anything with your files? How was your experience with Squarespace Customer support?

@benebrius @SkylarRose @AlpacaHat @Webpixum @jennahidingerphotography

Hi there, I'm not sure about others, but I haven't experienced any reoccurring problems. With that said, I haven't updated my files since I took the spaces out of the .zip file title (which worked for me), but I will be updating and re-uploading the product files in the next few weeks, so I'm interested to see what will happen then.

If I experience anything, I'll let you know. Cheers!

This is also happening to me on my online digital product shop. Customers are getting errors since May, and I didn't upload any .zip, it is just a PDF! It is frustrating. 

58 minutes ago, AndreaNC9 said:

This is also happening to me

Please contact Squarespace Customer Care directly.