Where are my Pictures??

[Christopher Weber]

Who created this environment?? Did no one test it to see if it was usable?
1. Take a picture
2. Open whatever tool the phone comes with to view them. See it's there... okay.
3. Create an email
4. Try to attach the picture...
Can you find it?? I can't.

There are all these different directories you have to search through, and MAYBE you will stumble across it.

Note that at step 2, you can SEE it but you are not allowed to know WHERE IT IS.

So, the attempt to make things simple for dummies actually makes things impossible to figure out.

At least in Windows, I know the directories, can control where stuff is stored, and have access to it.

When will Android allow that? After all, they are on what...? Version 11 by now?

I've put up with this nonsense since my Samsung G3. I've on phone #4 now, every one a different brand. So this isn't limited to whatever carrier I'm using.

 

[puppykickr]

First thing is, it seems that you are using the stock, standard apps that come with the device.

To be blunt, they suck.
They are terrible.

Personally, I am on the other boat, where computers are gigantic, heavy, cumbersome turds that are soon (hopefully) to be bypassed and gotten rid of by our phones- and I will rejoice when the last of these digital dinosaurs is placed into a museum somewhere.

Anyway, here is a whole collection of apps by a single developer.
I put them on every device I set up, both for myself and others.

They work best together, and the entire catalog is small enough to fit onto the cheapest of useable devices.
(I know this from personal experience- I like cheap devices.)

https://www.simplemobiletools.com/

I would suggest that you use the links to the apps via F-Droid.

As for the exact problems you mentioned, the immediate solution is for you to download Simple Gallery (Pro) and Simple File Manager (Pro).

Find the pic(s) in either app, and then share the item with whatever you want.

If you don't know how to do this, I can tell you or even nake a short video to demonstrate.

 

[puppykickr]

Also, often an e-mail attachment will only show as a paperclip, or down at the bottom of the message.

 

[Dannydet]

You are trying to compare different operating systems, which obviously they are not.
Get to learn your Android system.

 

[ocnbrze]

the easiest way i found to email a photo is to just take the picture, go into your gallery or google photos, select your photo, select the share icon(see image below), and then select your email app of your choice.

or in gmail you can attach a file and usually it will list your most recent files downloaded or photos taken.

i think most email clients are like this as well. it should not be that hard to find your photos on your phone. you should not really have to find the folder where your photos are kept.

 

[mikedt]

Who created this environment?? Did no one test it to see if it was usable?
1. Take a picture
2. Open whatever tool the phone comes with to view them. See it's there... okay.
3. Create an email
4. Try to attach the picture...
Can you find it?? I can't.

4. Tap Attach in the email app
5. Email app gives attachment options, tap Photos, browse and select pictures.

Well that's how it's always worked on my devices.

Maybe there's an issue in the whatever it is tool that came with you particular phone?

There are all these different directories you have to search through, and MAYBE you will stumble across it.

Note that at step 2, you can SEE it but you are not allowed to know WHERE IT IS.

So, the attempt to make things simple for dummies actually makes things impossible to figure out.

At least in Windows, I know the directories, can control where stuff is stored, and have access to it.

When will Android allow that? After all, they are on what...? Version 11 by now?

I've put up with this nonsense since my Samsung G3. I've on phone #4 now, every one a different brand. So this isn't limited to whatever carrier I'm using.

Can't really comment about about Windows, as I don't use that.

 

[Trom]

Who created this environment?? Did no one test it to see if it was usable?
1. Take a picture
2. Open whatever tool the phone comes with to view them. See it's there... okay.
3. Create an email
4. Try to attach the picture...
Can you find it?? I can't.

There are all these different directories you have to search through, and MAYBE you will stumble across it.

Note that at step 2, you can SEE it but you are not allowed to know WHERE IT IS.

So, the attempt to make things simple for dummies actually makes things impossible to figure out.

At least in Windows, I know the directories, can control where stuff is stored, and have access to it.

When will Android allow that? After all, they are on what...? Version 11 by now?

I've put up with this nonsense since my Samsung G3. I've on phone #4 now, every one a different brand. So this isn't limited to whatever carrier I'm using.

Just remember that android isn't iOS, meaning you can do whatever want with it, so learn to think outside of the stock box. If the stock camera app doesn't give you the opportunity to specify a save directory, get one that does. (your photos are probably in either the top level directories "camera", "DCIM", or "pictures") try open camera and simple gallery. Open camera allows you to specify the save directory, and simple gallery will group your photos by directory. I'm sure others will do the same but those are two high quality no ad apps.

 

[Hadron]

Photos you've taken should be in the DCIM folder of either your internal storage or external SD card, depending on how you have set up your phone. Browse with your preferred gallery app (you don't have to use the manufacturer's choice), select the picture, hit the share icon and select your email app as the thing you want to share using. Simple.

The key seems to be your statement that in Windows you know where things are. The filesystem is equally accessible on Android, and there are dozens of file browsers you can use for that, so it's just that you haven't yet learned how it works.

But actually I'm sure the app you are using will let you see where it is, you just have to ask: select the image (tap or press on it) and look for 3 dots in the top right. That's a context-dependent menu symbol, and clicking on that will (depending on the app) either take you straight to the details or open a list of options, one of which will be "details" or "properties", and you will find the full file path in there.

The biggest problem with Android is usually not that it doesn't let you do something (that's iOS) but that it provides several different ways of doing it and you have to choose one that works for you. But as a rule tapping or tapping and holding on the thing you are interested in is a good way of finding out what options exist.

(My personal pet hate with mobile operating systems, both Android and iOS, is the increasing move to gesture interfaces. Because gestures have poor discoverability as there are no clues that they exist until you actually perform them. A user interface where you need to read instructions in order to figure out how to use it is what I call bad design.)

 

[dontpanicbobby]

DCIM on your Android Phone. Pictures or Downloads on Windows.

 

[Christopher Weber]

Yeah, no...
Using some other app like twitter, Facebook, etc. I try to SAVE an image. It gives me a little "toast" (Yes, I have written Android apps) telling me it saved it to "downloads"...

Good luck finding that... Go to your email app, or Google Drive, or "Photo Gallery" in order to do something with it and spend an hour trying to find out where "downloads" is so you can open/upload whatever it is.

Try is when you take a screen shot too. Same nightmare.

These factory apps usually suck. And the carrier blames the manufacturer. While the manufacturer blames the carrier.

One time I found a file manager as a SUBSCRIPTION. The OS should come with something that basic that as a tool. IOS and Windows does.

You know something is wrong when it's better to just the damn thing off, pull the SD card I have for extra storage, and stick it in my PC just to get whatever it is off.

It's not a matter of "learning Android"... It that this thing doesn't let you control even the most rudimentary things.

 

[ocnbrze]

i don't know what phone you have but all of my note series phones have been a breeze to download a picture or file from the web or apps such as facebook. i usually will find it in my download folder and most of the times it also pops up in google photo. i can even download the file on my phone and then hop on google photo on my pc and was able to download to the pc the same exact file that i downloaded on my phone.

its been pretty easy for me. not sure why you are having such a hard time of it.

 

[Trom]

Yeah, no...
Using some other app like twitter, Facebook, etc. I try to SAVE an image. It gives me a little "toast" (Yes, I have written Android apps) telling me it saved it to "downloads"...

Good luck finding that... Go to your email app, or Google Drive, or "Photo Gallery" in order to do something with it and spend an hour trying to find out where "downloads" is so you can open/upload whatever it is.

Try is when you take a screen shot too. Same nightmare.

These factory apps usually suck. And the carrier blames the manufacturer. While the manufacturer blames the carrier.

One time I found a file manager as a SUBSCRIPTION. The OS should come with something that basic that as a tool. IOS and Windows does.

You know something is wrong when it's better to just the damn thing off, pull the SD card I have for extra storage, and stick it in my PC just to get whatever it is off.

It's not a matter of "learning Android"... It that this thing doesn't let you control even the most rudimentary things.

There are a plethora of file managers out there, and as far as "controlling" the os, I ride this thing like a bike and know just where everything's at. You might try installing simple file manager, it's a freebie that doesn't try to get too cute with assuming the user's a moron, it displays the directory structure as is with typical file operations available.

 

[Christopher Weber]

Thanks for this reply.

i don't know what phone you have but all of my note series phones have been a breeze to download a picture or file from the web or apps such as facebook.

Yeah, simply saving it (from any app that let you save) isn't the problem... Except there is no setting to select WHERE it gets saved.

i usually will find it in my download folder and most of the times it also pops up in google photo.

That's my complaint in not being able to find it. Where IS the download folder? This thing has three folders that have "image" type names (picture, DCIM, camera, etc... )... and sometimes these folder names are redundantly in other folders. Look in the 'pictures' folder? Which one???

Knowing where something is should be a fundamental feature of the OS, as well as settings in apps, along with something to help you navigate to it. Even if there is no true file system.

I have PDFs that got stored in "download", "documents/Xodo", and another "documents" on the SD card - there might be others that I haven't found yet.
(I'd never had know that much, were it not for simplemobiletools that was recommended)
Every app had it's own idea where to download and store stuff, which I have NO control over. If I wanted to email one of those PDFs, I'd never be able to find it using the "attach" activity screen of the email app. Most of them don't show any structure to their listings.

Windows has a file explorer. Apple too... and from what I know, Apple requires they test the apps.
But in this case, there is no built in tool, and they let crappy apps take up the slack. So this environment looks like garbage.

its been pretty easy for me. not sure why you are having such a hard time of it.

My Kyocera on Verizon has had issues since I got it. And I complain (others have as well) and the carrier and manufacturer point fingers at each other, no one takes responsibility or ownership. Except to threaten me if I attempt to root the device and write my own.

 

[Christopher Weber]

There are a plethora of file managers out there, and as far as "controlling" the os, I ride this thing like a bike and know just where everything's at. You might try installing simple file manager, it's a freebie that doesn't try to get too cute with assuming the user's a moron, it displays the directory structure as is with typical file operations available.

Yeah, I was convinced to install SimpleMobileTools. I bought the file manager, it was cheap enough.
I thought the poster was just trying to promote his stuff. Still don't know if he is. But so far, it's a good app. It helped me discover a lot of stuff littered all over the device, from all those apps that don't let you decide where you want stuff stored.

 

[mikedt]

Yeah, no...
Using some other app like twitter, Facebook, etc. I try to SAVE an image. It gives me a little "toast" (Yes, I have written Android apps) telling me it saved it to "downloads"...

Well "downloads" is the /Downloads folder, either in internal storage. or an SD-card(if one is inserted in your phone).

Good luck finding that... Go to your email app, or Google Drive, or "Photo Gallery" in order to do something with it and spend an hour trying to find out where "downloads" is so you can open/upload whatever it is..

Try is when you take a screen shot too. Same nightmare.

Screenshots should save to a folder called /Screenshots. Well they do on all Android devices I've got here.

These factory apps usually suck. And the carrier blames the manufacturer. While the manufacturer blames the carrier.

One time I found a file manager as a SUBSCRIPTION. The OS should come with something that basic that as a tool. IOS and Windows does.

You said you have a Samsung device in your OP? On two Samsung phones I've got here, a Galaxy S7 and Galaxy Note20 Ultra, It'a actually called "File Manager", and it does exactly what it says on the tin. Your /Downloads, /Screenshots, /Pictures/ etc. should easily be browsable from the file manager on your phone.

No idea what this "SUBSCRIPTION" is. And the only thing I can find is "Payments & subscriptions", which is for the Google Account, and is nothing to do with file management.

 

[Trom]

Yeah, I was convinced to install SimpleMobileTools. I bought the file manager, it was cheap enough.
I thought the poster was just trying to promote his stuff. Still don't know if he is. But so far, it's a good app. It helped me discover a lot of stuff littered all over the device, from all those apps that don't let you decide where you want stuff stored.

It's good that you paid for the file manager you don't have to, and there are no ads, so it's good to let the guy know you like his stuff. There is a lot of stuff he puts out, I've found several useful and have paid the token amount, other stuff seems like he's just putting it out for a hobby and I suspect most people have no use for, calculator and clock come to mind. I have found file manager and gallery especially useful, two things that apply to this thread.

 

[Dannydet]

I think you should just use an iPhone, my friend, since you are having these issues...

 

[Hadron]

An iPhone really will hide the filesystem from you!

But every Android I've ever used came with a file manager. I usually install a different one that I prefer, but there was one pre-installed, so unless this is a very strange phone I'm not sure what's going on here.

 

[Trom]

An iPhone really will hide the filesystem from you!

But every Android I've ever used came with a file manager. I usually install a different one that I prefer, but there was one pre-installed, so unless this is a very strange phone I'm not sure what's going on here.

The file manager that came with my oneplus was horrible, it assumed that the user was an iphone user and just had categories like "pictures", "videos", and so on, you actually had to dig in the weeds to find an actual directory structure.

I'm not going to dig through this entire thread, but I wonder if the op has ever plugged the thing into his computer, where the android phone is just another hard drive as far as the computers os is concerned, and can be displayed on whatever file manager he uses there.

 

[puppykickr]

It's good that you paid for the file manager you don't have to, and there are no ads, so it's good to let the guy know you like his stuff. There is a lot of stuff he puts out, I've found several useful and have paid the token amount, other stuff seems like he's just putting it out for a hobby and I suspect most people have no use for, calculator and clock come to mind. I have found file manager and gallery especially useful, two things that apply to this thread.

Believe it or not, some people want those calculator and clock apps- because they have no internet access.

Many stock clock and calculator apps send Godknowswhat to Godknowswhere.

In my mind, there is absolutely no reason for either of these apps to do such a thing.

The same for Voice Recorder.

 

[Trom]

I use simple voice recorder, another nugget I paid for. The only time I ever use a telephone calculator is when I'm grocery shopping and having parenthesis available is a must

 

[puppykickr]

I use simple voice recorder, another nugget I paid for. The only time I ever use a telephone calculator is when I'm grocery shopping and having parenthesis available is a must

After I found how much I like the Gallery and the File Manager, I just decided to put every Simple Mobile Tools app onto my devices.

I do the same for any device that I set up for others.

This makes it much easier for me to troubleshoot issues, as I am using all of the same utility apps on my own devices.

There really is a beauty in simplicity that seems to be able to be had less and less.

 

[Hadron]

The file manager that came with my oneplus was horrible, it assumed that the user was an iphone user and just had categories like "pictures", "videos", and so on, you actually had to dig in the weeds to find an actual directory structure.

I'll be honest, I thought that Google's "Files" app was like that, that it only showed categories. It does actually have access to the directory structure, but that was invisible unless you scrolled down, and as it happened on my device the way their categories lined up with the bottom of the screen there was no visible indicator that there was anything to scroll down to. So I dismissed it as a typical POS Google app and never used it.

(Eventually I found that if you scrolled down and clicked "internal storage" there is a real file browser there. But it's still inferior to any of those I installed myself, so I still don't use it ).