Being on-the-go often means that access to files on a desktop or even your laptop may not be immediate, continuous or last for extended periods. However, android phones are a modern-day 'solution', especially if you use these tips. If you plan on traveling, this post will guide you through our options; the first is for moving files between your PC and android or the second is for having a USB thumb drive (aka flash drive) with the full library of files from which you can import to your android. Needless to say, this second option also gives you external storage space for files you might receive on your phone while traveling. This might be necessary for freeing space on your android. However, there are many other benefits. Just imagine, you can even create basic text files on your phone, to then digitally print, physically print and share them during your travels.
What you need
You can easily transfer files to and from your android using USB technologies. The transfers can be done with your PC or even a thumb drive if you do not have a PC. In the latter case, your USB cable connection needs a female port called a USB on-the-go or OTG to house the thumb drive. The applicable OTG size is referred to as 'type C' for androids, version 6 onwards.
- android - thumb drive connection
- USB on-the-go or OTG, type C (to connect the android to one thumb drive) OR
- Type C hub adapter that features female USB ports / sockets that therefore offer the OTG facility (to connect the android to multiple thumb drives and other peripherals at once)
- android - PC connection
- A 'USB-C' cable, ie with one male USB end and a male type C phone end. Get this cable by unplugging it from your box charging device.
For android versions after version 10, using a USB connection alone will not work because, although File Explorer on your PC will recognize that the phone is plugged in by showing a folder for your phone (named something like moto e20 within the 'This PC' folder), you will see a note saying 'this folder is empty', when you go into your android's folder. Naturally, this is confusing because the folder is not truly empty. In order to access files on your phone from this folder on your PC, you must change the android's automatic settings. By default, it uses the USB port for charging only, even automatically switching to this default when you disconnect the cable after having used the file transfer setting. Consequently, you must always manually change this USB setting to allow the phone to do file transfers. However, once there is open access, you can easily transfer files either way, ie to and from either device.
- Use the USB-C (mentioned above) to physically connect android PC.
- Your PC
- Ensure your PC is turned on and awake.
- Your android
- Turn on and unlock your android phone.
- Select as follows:
- 'Android charging this device via USB' in the android's automatic notifications -- OR --
- Settings > Connected devices > USB
- Select 'Media device (MTP) file transfer'
- Your PC
- Open File Explorer, search for and click on your phone's folder (usually inside the 'This PC' folder)
- Click through the various folders into which your files go by default. Example(s)
- 'Downloads' folder for emails you downloaded from email accounts as PDFs / 'printed files'; PDFs you downloaded from within emails, etc
- 'DCIM' for JPG images
- 'DCIM' > 'Camera' for MP4 videos or JPG images you shot with your android's camera
- Use the USB-OTG (mentioned above) to physically connect the android and thumb drive.
- Your android
- Turn on and unlock your android phone. (Your android will automatically allow the 'media device (MTP) file transfer' protocol.)
- Select the following notification related to your USB thumb drive.
- 'USB drive', 'Kingston USB drive', 'Mass storage' and so on. (The customized name you give individual drives like 'John', 'Office' or 'Home' will not appear.)
- Select how to view the files. Androids usually offer options like 'Files by Google' or 'Files'.
- Option
- Click the 'File' app (by Google. This app is available as a default part of factory settings)
- (You should see folders like camera, screenshots, 'DCIM' for 'images', etc. Further down, you will also see downloads and so on)
- Option
- Click the 'Files' app by Google
- (You should see folders like downloads, images, audio and so on)
You need to convert emails, whether sent, received or even draft from their original (Gmail) platform into PDFs on your android phone.
- Access an email from your Android phone
- Print (from the top right menu marked by 3 dots)
- Click the 'save' icon or 'save as' (on the dropdown menu or an on-screen button)
- (The new PDF form of the email should appear in your 'Download' folder.)
Preparing text files (for transfer)
- Follow the steps (above) for making the PC - android connection
- Method 1: Work-around (that even works offline):
- Copy (from the app) and paste into a draft email
- Save it as a PDF (using the method above), which automatically sends the file to your android's 'downloads' folder.
- Method 2: Conventional.
- Once in 'File Explorer' and the folder for your phone, select as follows.
- Android > data
- Search for the folder that has integrated the name of the app (like 'ColorNote') you used (like this 'com.socialmobile.dictapps,notepad.color.note')
- (You may need to proceed in app-specific ways from this point. This might involve downloading additional apps.)
- Connecting the PC and android's storage
- Establish the origin and destination locations
- Copy and paste accordingly between these locations
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