How Can I Make Android External Storage Files Visible in Windows File Explorer?

How to Make External Storage Files Visible in Windows File Explorer on Android

Introduction

This article addresses the challenge of writing files to external storage on Android in a way that makes them accessible from within the file explorer on a connected Windows PC. Despite the intended functionality, users often encounter difficulties in achieving this.

Solution

The issue stems from the fact that MediaStore, which is responsible for indexing and displaying files in file explorers, might not automatically discover newly created files. To resolve this, MediaScannerConnection must be utilized.

// Java
public void scanFile(Context ctxt, File f, String mimeType) {
    MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(ctxt, new String[] {f.getAbsolutePath()},
                  new String[] {mimeType}, null);
}

// Kotlin
fun scanFile(ctxt: Context, f: File, mimeType: String) {
  MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(ctxt, arrayOf(f.getAbsolutePath()), arrayOf(mimeType), null)
}

Upon writing data to disk, invoke scanFile() to notify MediaStore about the file's existence. This will subsequently make the file visible in Windows File Explorer.

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