• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Can I organize pics into folders? How?

I have a zillion pics in my camera gallery. Many of which are private..:D. Is there a way to create folders or sections so that I can move or assign a pic to one or another folder? Maybe an app?
I would believe any file manager app should do. I use X-Plore.

But I think it'll probably be easier connecting the Note to the PC and setting up/organizing your collection via mass storage.
 
  • Like
Reactions: redman9
Upvote 0
I would believe any file manager app should do. I use X-Plore.

But I think it'll probably be easier connecting the Note to the PC and setting up/organizing your collection via mass storage.

I am looking for a way to organize my pics into folders and name them on my Galaxy Note phone. I did download this software to my phone but now I do not know how to work it to get it to do what I need it to do. I am a 70 year old grandma and need some very easy, non-technical instructions on how to do this. Is there any way you could help me or direct me to where I can read how to do this? I would be ever so thankful. Why the Note will not let you do this I don't know. It let me organize my apps into folders and name them...or rather shortcuts of the apps. When I tried to put the actual apps into folders, it would not let me name the folder which is crazy. Who wants a bunch of unnamed folders and how is that organizing them. So I just had to drag shortcuts of the apps and name the folders which makes me have to use so much more screen space than I should need to. Samsung needs to get smart and allow you to do apps, photos, etc. like Apple does and organize the actual things. I can find no way to organize pics into folders and name the folders. Any help you can give me would be so appreciated.
 
Upvote 0
Hi lgpars,

Sorry, are you trying to organize the folders on the home screen as well as rename them?

If so, just open the folder, then press and hold the title bar (the bar that has the name of the folder) and it will allow you to rename the folder.

If you are looking to organize the files within the Galaxy Note, then you will need a file management tool such as X-Plore. X-Plore has dual panes, so it can be a little confusing to use if you are not familiar with it. If you have the tool bar to the left of the screen, then you are using the right pane and vice versa.

Basically, how it works is:
  1. select a folder in the left pane
  2. select a folder in the right pane (this will set the source and target folders for whatever you plan to copy/move)
  3. click on the checkmarks on the files you plan to copy/move
  4. press the 'copy' or 'move' button on the tool bar (or alternatively, just press and hold for a pop-up menu)
  5. a pop-up window will show you where the files will go
  6. if you made a mistake, simply hit the box that shows the target folder
  7. choose the correct target folder
  8. repeat steps 3-5
  9. you're done.
Now to rename a folder/file, simply select the folder/file and press the 'Rename' button.

Now if you have a lot of photos and folders to play with, I really suggest using the computer to organize the collection as it will be much quicker and easier to do. But that's just me.

HTH.
 
Upvote 0
Hi lgpars,

Sorry, are you trying to organize the folders on the home screen as well as rename them?

If so, just open the folder, then press and hold the title bar (the bar that has the name of the folder) and it will allow you to rename the folder.

If you are looking to organize the files within the Galaxy Note, then you will need a file management tool such as X-Plore. X-Plore has dual panes, so it can be a little confusing to use if you are not familiar with it. If you have the tool bar to the left of the screen, then you are using the right pane and vice versa.

Basically, how it works is:
  1. select a folder in the left pane
  2. select a folder in the right pane (this will set the source and target folders for whatever you plan to copy/move)
  3. click on the checkmarks on the files you plan to copy/move
  4. press the 'copy' or 'move' button on the tool bar (or alternatively, just press and hold for a pop-up menu)
  5. a pop-up window will show you where the files will go
  6. if you made a mistake, simply hit the box that shows the target folder
  7. choose the correct target folder
  8. repeat steps 3-5
  9. you're done.
Now to rename a folder/file, simply select the folder/file and press the 'Rename' button.

Now if you have a lot of photos and folders to play with, I really suggest using the computer to organize the collection as it will be much quicker and easier to do. But that's just me.

HTH.



Thanks so much for answering. I am not trying to rename folders on my home page. Evidently when Brandsmart (where I bought my Galaxy Note) transferred my pictures to my Note from my iPhone they all were transferred to my external SD card that I put in. They all are just loose in the Saved Pictures and not organized in any way. I wanted to make folders and name them. I did download the X-Plore software and I do believe I managed to get a file made, named, and the specified pics into it (must have been luck) and it says it is on my external SD card where I sent it but I only see it in the X-Plore software but when I go to the files on the SD card it doesn't show up there. So does it just show up in X-Plore and not on the phone files and you have to view the pictures from there or what? I do not have the pics on my computer PC except they are in Kies Air when I bring it up. Is there some way to make folders with the pics in Kies Air? This is all too confusing to me. I don't know what all those files are in X-Plore except for the external SD card and the internal SD card or USB or whatever they call it.

Also, do you know how to designate where a download goes on your phone. I think they make all the apps downloads go into that tiny memory file of 2+ gig of memory and my music and pictures are on my external SD card and hardly anything is on the rest of my memory of my phone. When the small section of gig is filled with apps, is that all they will let you get in apps or will the rest go to the other section of the phone. I don't understand why they won't let you tell it where you want the download to go. What's the use of having all that memory if you can't use it?
 
Upvote 0
I have my pics in the external SD as 'Pictures' (main folder) and grouped into appropriate subfolders. The Gallery app is able to pick these up and I'm able to view the pics. Not sure if this is what you are asking for?

In terms of apps being installed, they go directly into the internal SD memory of the phone. If you want it in the external SD card you have to go into app manager to do it. You can change the camera save location to the external or internal SD. The default location is set to the internal SD. If you are talking about files downloaded from the internet, the settings can be changed to a designated folder you want the downloads to go.

I use Opera Mobile only because it has a function similar to the 'save as' feature in Windows. I choose where I want my downloads to go the moment I need to download something. It is an invaluable tool for me.

I have a 16GB and 32GB microSD. So I have no problems with space. ;)
 
Upvote 0
I have my pics in the external SD as 'Pictures' (main folder) and grouped into appropriate subfolders. The Gallery app is able to pick these up and I'm able to view the pics. Not sure if this is what you are asking for?

In terms of apps being installed, they go directly into the internal SD memory of the phone. If you want it in the external SD card you have to go into app manager to do it. You can change the camera save location to the external or internal SD. The default location is set to the internal SD. If you are talking about files downloaded from the internet, the settings can be changed to a designated folder you want the downloads to go.

I use Opera Mobile only because it has a function similar to the 'save as' feature in Windows. I choose where I want my downloads to go the moment I need to download something. It is an invaluable tool for me.

I have a 16GB and 32GB microSD. So I have no problems with space. ;)



So can you tell me in simplified terms how you did the folders in your Pictures file and even how you made the Picture file folder. I can't find any instructions how to do it. I found out all i did was make a folder in X-Plore but no pictures went in the folder even tho I checked them and the folder is not showing up on my external SD card.
 
Upvote 0
Okay, I hope this will help explain how to do it (I'm going to use some visual aids) ;)

To create a new folder, simply do the following:
  1. Select the directory/folder you want the folder to be created in. Example: /sdcard/external_sd (sdcard)
  2. Press and hold the directory/folder to get a pop-up menu OR scroll the tool bar
  3. press the 'New folder' button.
  4. a window pop-up will display and ask what you want to name the folder (in this case it will be 'Pictures')
  5. Press OK button when you're done
  6. Repeat the above steps if you want to create subfolders (but this time highlight the 'Pictures' folder you recently created)
SC20120610-112829.png

SC20120610-112911.png


To move files into the folders you created, simply do the following:
  1. go to where the files/pics are
  2. check off the ones you want to move
  3. scroll the side tool bar until you find the 'move' button
  4. press the 'move' button
  5. a window pop-up will display to confirm the move (note: it will display a box showing you the target/destination folder)
  6. if it is correct, simply press the OK button
  7. if it is not correct, press the target/destination folder button and select the new target/destination (note: this will cancel the move function. You will need to go back to the pane you had checked the files off and select the 'Move' button again)
  8. you are done
SC20120610-113319.png

SC20120610-113356.png
 
  • Like
Reactions: cnlon
Upvote 0
Okay, I hope this will help explain how to do it (I'm going to use some visual aids) ;)

To create a new folder, simply do the following:
  1. Select the directory/folder you want the folder to be created in. Example: /sdcard/external_sd (sdcard)
  2. Press and hold the directory/folder to get a pop-up menu OR scroll the tool bar
  3. press the 'New folder' button.
  4. a window pop-up will display and ask what you want to name the folder (in this case it will be 'Pictures')
  5. Press OK button when you're done
  6. Repeat the above steps if you want to create subfolders (but this time highlight the 'Pictures' folder you recently created)


SC20120610-112829.png

SC20120610-112911.png


To move files into the folders you created, simply do the following:
  1. go to where the files/pics are
  2. check off the ones you want to move
  3. scroll the side tool bar until you find the 'move' button
  4. press the 'move' button
  5. a window pop-up will display to confirm the move (note: it will display a box showing you the target/destination folder)
  6. if it is correct, simply press the OK button
  7. if it is not correct, press the target/destination folder button and select the new target/destination (note: this will cancel the move function. You will need to go back to the pane you had checked the files off and select the 'Move' button again)
  8. you are done
SC20120610-113319.png

SC20120610-113356.png


When you say go to where the folders/pics are, do you mean into my Gallery on the Note which would be on my external SD card I assume or do you mean somewhere in the X-Plore software they should be showing up? I did get the first part done with making the folders but I do not know where to go from there. I know you must think I'm a complete idiot but I know nothing about doing this kind of stuff.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cnlon
Upvote 0
I know you must think I'm a complete idiot but I know nothing about doing this kind of stuff.
Nah. An idiot would a person not asking for help when they need it... ;)

Sorry, I thought the screen shots would have provided a good hint that X-plore is still being used to move the pics around into the folders you created.

Once you're done all that moving and organizing, you can view the pics in the Gallery app.

HTH.
 
Upvote 0
Nah. An idiot would a person not asking for help when they need it... ;)

Sorry, I thought the screen shots would have provided a good hint that X-plore is still being used to move the pics around into the folders you created.

Once you're done all that moving and organizing, you can view the pics in the Gallery app.

HTH.


Thanks so much for your patience and your help. I'll let you know if I get this done. :D
 
Upvote 0
Nah. An idiot would a person not asking for help when they need it... ;)

Sorry, I thought the screen shots would have provided a good hint that X-plore is still being used to move the pics around into the folders you created.

Once you're done all that moving and organizing, you can view the pics in the Gallery app.

HTH.



I just tried to move some pics and I got them checked off and went to check the Move box on the scroll bar and there is no Move box. Under my Copy box it says Create Zip File and I don't think I want to do that. I accidentally did hit the Copy box and there it said Copy to and it had one of my files listed and under that was a grayed out check box and beside it were the words Move mode (delete source files). Could that have anything to do with moving my pics?? Could your software be older than mine or something. But surely it has a way to move these pics somewhere. HELP!!!!!!! I seem to have more problems.
 
Upvote 0
Nah. An idiot would a person not asking for help when they need it... ;)

Sorry, I thought the screen shots would have provided a good hint that X-plore is still being used to move the pics around into the folders you created.

Once you're done all that moving and organizing, you can view the pics in the Gallery app.

HTH.


Just wanted to let you know I DID IT!!!!! LOL. I found the Move button when I held down on the external SD card heading. it brought up a menu with Move on it so now all my pics are in folders with names on them. A BIG thanks and a God bless to YOU!! You are a gem.

Now if you could tell me how to delete two blank folders I made in the Applications section of my phone and also how to move apps into or out of the folders I made to organize my apps without them always hopping to my home pages I would be a happy camper. I did figure out how to make a folder and, while the folder is at the bottom of the apps, tap and hold the apps and drag them into the folder, save the folder, and then click on it and name it. However, I can find no way to insert new apps into the folders. The apps section will not let you do this like the home pages will. I did organize all my apps in folders (they are not the actual apps but shortcuts) on the home pages but thought I would delete all those and just organize the actual apps so I do not have duplicate stuff but so far all I've been able to do is make the folders in the app section and put apps into them. I noticed I missed one app that went in a specific folder but when I tried to tap and hold it and drag it into the folder it popped me to a home page to put a shortcut there. It will not let me put the actual app into the folder I made. Sometimes I wonder about these people that design this stuff.
 
Upvote 0
Good to hear. :)


This is actually very simple to do. When you are in the app section, simply press the 'menu' button and select 'edit'. Now you can move stray apps into the folders you organized. You can also delete the empty folders by tapping them when in edit mode. It will pop a window to confirm. I did this too. Makes it easier to navigate and find the apps you need. ;)

HTH.

Well, that was easy enough to do. I did get the blank folders deleted now. However, are you able to add new apps to a folder either when you download a new App or have one that is sitting in your Apps section that is not in a folder? I have tried and tried to do this. It may be some simple little thing but I cannot get it to do it. Say you have a Games folder and you buy a new game and you want to put it in the Games folder. How do you do that? Mine invariably moves to one of the home pages and you just have to end up deleting it on the home page. Of course, it is only a shortcut when you tap and hold an app and I guess that is why it moves to a home page. How do you get it to not be a shortcut and just be able to put it in the App Games folder?
 
Upvote 0
Just wanted to let you know I DID IT!!!!!
Good to hear. :)

Now if you could tell me how to delete two blank folders I made in the Applications section of my phone and also how to move apps into or out of the folders I made to organize my apps without them always hopping to my home pages I would be a happy camper.
This is actually very simple to do. When you are in the app section, simply press the 'menu' button and select 'edit'. Now you can move stray apps into the folders you organized. You can also delete the empty folders by tapping them when in edit mode. It will pop a window to confirm. I did this too. Makes it easier to navigate and find the apps you need. ;)

HTH.
 
Upvote 0
I have an issue with the note seperating pictures. I went in from the computer and made a PICTURES folder. This has 3 DIFFERENT stacks of pics how can I put them into one stack? It even has my camera pics in to seperate stacks. You can see it in the pic below. Sorry for the topless pic.:eek: Can anyone help, very frustrating......dont know how to hide the screen shot to not expose EVERYONE with the topless picture.
 
Upvote 0
:eek: Can anyone help, very frustrating......dont know how to hide the screen shot to not expose EVERYONE with the topless picture.

Hi cheekys00,

If you need to hide something, just deploy the hide tags <HIDE></HIDE> (replace the <> with []). Anything you put within these tags will be hidden. You can edit your post accordingly.

eg. <HIDE>I want to hide this sentence</HIDE>

Using actual tags will yield this:
I want to hide this sentence

Now regarding your folders, the 2 Camera folders reflect pictures residing both in the internal phone memory and external SD card. They are located in the DCIM folders on both phone and external SD. My guess would be that at one point your settings were set to save pictures taken in the phone memory and then later in the memory card. You can move them into a single folder, but whenever you use the camera, it will always put it into the Camera folder under DCIM on either internal phone or external SD. It will depend on the settings you have in the camera app.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cheekys00
Upvote 0
Hi cheekys00,

If you need to hide something, just deploy the hide tags <HIDE></HIDE> (replace the <> with []). Anything you put within these tags will be hidden. You can edit your post accordingly.

eg. <HIDE>I want to hide this sentence</HIDE>

Using actual tags will yield this:
I want to hide this sentence

Now regarding your folders, the 2 Camera folders reflect pictures residing both in the internal phone memory and external SD card. They are located in the DCIM folders on both phone and external SD. My guess would be that at one point your settings were set to save pictures taken in the phone memory and then later in the memory card. You can move them into a single folder, but whenever you use the camera, it will always put it into the Camera folder under DCIM on either internal phone or external SD. It will depend on the settings you have in the camera app.

Thank you VERY VERY much for the detailed info on both issues:) I really appreciate it, and will now try the deploy tags attempt!
 
Upvote 0
I see that my attempt at deploying the hash tags didnt work. I apolodise to everyone if you are offended by the topless pic.

Still makes no sense why my "non camera" pics are being kept in different stacks. I did make a folder and put them into one area, but it did'nt work. Dont understand how the camera pics a different either. I'm a tech/computer idiot. I build houses for a living, and I cant figure out this picture situation.
 
Upvote 0
I see that my attempt at deploying the hash tags didnt work. I apolodise to everyone if you are offended by the topless pic.

Delete the 'offending' image itself from your post. You have the image url hidden in your post already. Just modify it removing the URL tags and replacing them with IMG tags.

So when hiding an image the tags should look like:

<HIDE><IMG>the url of the image</IMG></HIDE>.
Again replace the <> with [].

HTH.

As for the gallery issue, I'm pretty sure it's reading ALL compatible image files from the internal and external memory and displaying them accordingly to whatever its programmed to do. Unfortunately, there's no simple setting to direct it to one folder.

I think when it reads the images, it also reads the directory it's in. So if you have a master directory 'Pictures', but have subdirectories like 'Pics', 'Stuff', etc. the gallery will auto populate the subdirectories and ignore the master directory. Therefore resulting in the multiple stacks.

This is just an assumption on my part. I don't use gallery much. If I have time, I'll experiment and see what can be done.
 
  • Like
Reactions: cheekys00
Upvote 0
Delete the 'offending' image itself from your post. You have the image url hidden in your post already. Just modify it removing the URL tags and replacing them with IMG tags.

So when hiding an image the tags should look like:

<HIDE><IMG>the url of the image</IMG></HIDE>.
Again replace the <> with [].

HTH.

As for the gallery issue, I'm pretty sure it's reading ALL compatible image files from the internal and external memory and displaying them accordingly to whatever its programmed to do. Unfortunately, there's no simple setting to direct it to one folder.

I think when it reads the images, it also reads the directory it's in. So if you have a master directory 'Pictures', but have subdirectories like 'Pics', 'Stuff', etc. the gallery will auto populate the subdirectories and ignore the master directory. Therefore resulting in the multiple stacks.

This is just an assumption on my part. I don't use gallery much. If I have time, I'll experiment and see what can be done.

THAT actually makes sense to this dolt of a mind I have.! Thank you once again.
 
Upvote 0

BEST TECH IN 2023

We've been tracking upcoming products and ranking the best tech since 2007. Thanks for trusting our opinion: we get rewarded through affiliate links that earn us a commission and we invite you to learn more about us.

Smartphones