# "Archive commands" (Shift-F3)

When the user presses Shift-F3 on a file (or on a group of selected files) then FAR carries out the following actions for each of the selected files:

### Regular panel

- opens the file, tries to read a maximum of 0x20000 bytes of data, closes the file;
- goes though the list of plugins, calling in turn the OpenFilePlugin function;
- calls the GetFindData function for the plugin that was first to return a value different from `INVALID_HANDLE_VALUE` and -2 from the OpenFilePlugin function (for the -2 value the search for the right plugin is stopped);
- calls the ProcessHostFile function with the OpMode parameter set to OPM_TOPLEVEL (if the plugin returned `TRUE` from the GetFindData function);
- calls the FreeFindData function so that the plugin can free the memory allocated by the GetFindData function;
- closes the plugin by calling the ClosePlugin function.

### Plugin panel

Carried out if the plugin filled the HostFile field of the OpenPluginInfo structure in a call to the GetOpenPluginInfo function:

- an array of PluginPanelItem structures is prepared;
- calls the ProcessHostFile function with the OpMode parameter set to 0;
- if ProcessHostFile returns `TRUE`, then HostFile is marked as modified (so that subsequently DeleteFiles or PutFiles can be called);
- frees the memory allocated for the PluginPanelItem structures array.