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A complete guide to moving your photos on Android or Samsung Galaxy
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Many Android phones and tablets allow you to expand your internal storage using an SD card. To free up space on your Android, you can move pictures and other files to the SD card using the My Files app on Samsung Galaxy, the Files by Google app, or a third-party file browser like Cx File Explorer. This wikiHow article teaches you simple ways to transfer photos to an SD card on your Android device.
Quick Steps
- Insert the SD card into your Android device and format it if needed.
- Open the Files app and tap Images .
- Tap and hold a photo, then select the ones you want to move.
- Tap â‹® and select Move to .
- Select a folder on the SD card and tap Move Here .
Steps
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Insert your SD card. Not all Android phones support an SD card expansion. If your Android supports an SD card, you will most likely find the SD card tray on the side of the phone. It may be the same tray that holds the SIM card . Use a paperclip or the SIM card removal tool that came with your phone and insert it into the tray that holds the SD card. Press down to eject the tray, insert the SD card, and reinsert the tray.
- On some older Android phones with removable batteries, the SD card slot may be below the battery.
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Format the SD card. You'll need to format the SD card to use it as storage for your device . If there is any data on the SD card, this will erase it. Back up any data you want to keep before continuing. To format the SD card: [1] X Research source
- Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon.
- Tap Battery and device care .
- Tap Storage .
- Tap the icon with three dots ( â‹® ) next to SD card and select Format .
- Tap Format in the pop-up window.
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Open the My Files app. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to open the Apps menu, tap the Samsung folder, then tap the My Files app.
- The My Files app is a stock app on most Samsung Galaxy phones running Android Nougat (7.0) and above.
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Tap Images . It's under the "Categories" header in the middle of the page. Doing so opens a list of photo albums on your Samsung Galaxy.
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Select photos to move. Tap and hold one photo to select it, then tap any other photos you want to move. You should see a checkmark appear to the left of each selected photo.
- You can also tap â‹® in the upper-right corner, tap Edit , and then tap each photo you want to move.
- If you want to select an entire album instead of a single photo, tap the folder in the upper-right corner, then tap and hold a folder to select it, followed by any other folders you want to move.
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Tap Move . It's at the bottom of the page in the lower-left corner. It has an icon that resembles a folder with an arrow pointing right.
- If you'd rather copy the photos onto the SD card (which will leave a copy of the photos on your Samsung Galaxy's internal storage), tap Copy at the bottom of the page instead.
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Tap the back arrow . It's the icon that resembles a bracket pointing left. It's in the upper-right corner. This takes you to the previous menu.
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Tap SD card . It's below the "Storage" header in the middle of the screen.
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Select a folder in the SD card. Typically, you'll tap DCIM and then tap Camera to select the default photo storage folder, but you can select any folder on your SD card.
- You can also tap Create folder to make your own folder.
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Tap Move here . It's in the lower-right corner. This moves the selected files to the folder you are currently in on your SD card.
- If you are copying files, tap Copy here instead.
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Insert your SD card. Not all Android phones support an SD card expansion. If your Android supports an SD card, you will most likely find the SD card tray on the side of the phone. It may be the same tray that holds the SIM card . Use a paperclip or the SIM card removal tool that came with your phone and insert it into the tray that holds the SD card. Press down to eject the tray, insert the SD card, and reinsert the tray.
- On some older Android phones with removable batteries, the SD card slot may be below the battery.
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Make sure your SD card is formatted. You'll need to format the SD card to use it as storage for your device . If there is any data on the SD card, this will erase it. Back up any data you want to keep before continuing. Use the following steps to format the SD card: [2] X Research source
- Swipe down from the top of the screen and tap the gear icon.
- Tap Storage .
- Tap the icon with three dots ( â‹® ) and select Storage settings .
- Tap Format > Format card .
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Open the Files by Google app. Its icon resembles a blue folder with red, yellow, and green pages in the middle.
- It may be in the Google folder.
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Tap Images . It's below the "Categories" header in the center of the page.
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Select photos to move. Tap and hold one photo to select it, then tap any other photos you want to move. You should see a checkmark appear to the left of each selected photo.
- You can sort your pictures by album by tapping an album name at the top of the page.
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Tap the icon with three dots â‹® . It's in the upper-right corner of the page. This displays a drop-down menu.
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Tap Move to . It's in the drop-down menu that appears when you tap the icon with three dots.
- If you'd rather copy the photos onto the SD card (which will leave a copy of the photos on your Android's hard drive), tap Copy to instead.
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Tap SD Card . It's the second tab at the top of the page.
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Tap a folder you want to move the pictures to. Typically, you'll tap DCIM and then tap Camera to select the default photo storage folder, but you can select any folder on your SD card.
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Tap Move here . It's the blue button at the bottom of the page. This moves the pictures to the folder in your SD card.
- If you are copying images, tap Copy here instead.
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Insert and format your Android's SD card. If you haven't already, make sure you've inserted the SD card and formatted it.
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Download the Cx File Explorer app. Cx File Explorer is a third-party file-browsing app. If you don't have My Files for Samsung or Files by Google, you can download this app from the Google Play Store . Use the following steps to do so:
- Open the Google Play Store and tap the search bar.
- Type Cx file explorer .
- Tap Cx File Explorer .
- Tap INSTALL .
- Tap Enable in the Google Play Store.
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Open Cx File Explorer. Tap Open in the Google Play Store, or tap the Cx File Explorer app icon in the Apps menu to open Cx File Explorer.
- You may have to scroll through a few introductory pages before proceeding.
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Tap the Library tab. It's the middle tab in the center of the page.
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Tap Images . It's the purple icon that has an image that resembles a picture.
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Select photos to move. Tap and hold one photo to select it. Then tap any other images you want to move to select them.
- To select all images here, tap and hold one image to select it, then tap the icon in the upper-right corner that resembles a square with a dotted line around the edge.
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Tap Move . It's the icon that resembles a pair of scissors at the bottom of the page.
- If you'd rather copy the images to your SD card, tap Copy in the bottom-left corner of the screen instead.
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Tap the back arrow . It's the arrow icon in the upper-left corner.
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Tap the Local tab. It's the first tab in the center of the page. This takes you to your phone's local storage.
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Select your SD card. Tap your SD card's name in the resulting menu.
- Depending on your Android, you may not have to select your SD card—it may open automatically.
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Select a folder. Tap the folder on your SD card into which you want to move the selected photos. Doing so will immediately move the photos onto the SD card.
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Tap Paste . It's the second button at the bottom of the page. It has an icon that resembles a clipboard. This moves or copies the photos to the folder in your SD card.
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Community Q&A
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QuestionHow do I get my pictures to go straight to my SD card after I take them?Community AnswerOpen up the camera application, go to settings in the corner and choose storage location. If you have an SD card installed, you should be able to choose between internal storage and the SD card.
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QuestionHow can I move my pictures from my phone to my SD card?Community AnswerYour phone should automatically put your photos on your SD card. However, if it doesn't, the easiest way is to connect your phone to your computer and then transfer the files over to your SD card.
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QuestionHow can I get photos from my SD card on my Alcatel Pop 4?Community AnswerIf you have an SD slot on the side of your phone, use a paper clip and put it in the hole and a tiny slot holder should pop out on the side of your phone. If there isn't an SD slot, you can get something from an electronics store that can transfer the data through a computer.
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Tips
- If the folder you're trying to move photos into has duplicate photos, you'll have to tap SKIP , REPLACE , or RENAME (or some similar option) when prompted.Thanks
- It's better to copy files to your SD card than move them since SD cards are fragile and can easily be corrupted.Thanks
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Reader Success Stories
- "I am trying to learn how to transfer files from the phone's device memory to the SD card I inserted, because my phone has no memory for heavy-duty things like photos. It helped by giving me the information on how this process is done. " ..." more
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