How to add SHORTCUT to file in a custom home-screen folder

[jensigner]

Is it possible to add SHORTCUTS to files in folders added to a home-screen? I know how to create the custom home-screen folder.
For example, I have a ppt file on my added SD card in a few subfolders. Instead of having to navigate using My Files, I'd like to have a shortcut directly to that ppt file in a custom Folder I've created on a home-screen. How can I do this?

 

[jeffreii]

Is it possible to add SHORTCUTS to files in folders added to a home-screen? I know how to create the custom home-screen folder.
For example, I have a ppt file on my added SD card in a few subfolders. Instead of having to navigate using My Files, I'd like to have a shortcut directly to that ppt file in a custom Folder I've created on a home-screen. How can I do this?

I use ES File Explorer as my file browser...you can press and hold on any item/folder and then choose more...then choose "add to desktop" and you'll get a little icon that goes straight there.

I find the icons to be a bit ugly but with Nova Launcher you can edit them to whatever you want, thankfully!

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Thanks for that tip. I have the very same wish, which does not seem to be possible with Android 4.2.2, at least under TouchWiz. Can the icon that ES File Explorer adds be moved to a home-screen folder?

 

[jensigner]

Thanks for the response about ES File Explorer. I was hoping to find a way without adding an extra app. Under 4.2.2 I've found something that speeds up specific FOLDER access a bit:
- drag the "My Files" app from Apps to one of the home screens. Then with My Files app open, Menu and "Shortcut". Then type the name of the shortcut and navigate to the folder on the system SD or added SD and select it. This helps a bit if the original file is in a sub/sub folder. This shortcut only for folders and not files

- you can also do a filtered "Search" with My Files open if you know the file name (or a subset of it). This is quite fast on my S4 and searches both the OS SD and extra SD cards together.



-

 

[Dave-in-Decatur]

Love that Search tip! Very fast and effective. I discovered that, while you can't use wildcards like * and ?, you can search for .pdf or .docx, and it will find all files with that extension. .doc will find both .doc and .docx files.

I would consider the continuing inability to add shortcuts to specific files onto Home screens to be a weakness of Android.

 

[jensigner]

Yes that search in "My Files" has an automatic "pre" or "post" wild card effect .. very nice. Since I also have a huge number of audio files on my external SD card, it is very handy to find specific audio files without explicitly having to launch my favorite audio player and navigate through albums/artists etc. I am a strong believer in using every square bit of the native phone capability before adding extra apps.

 

[datawalla]

I use ES File Explorer as my file browser...you can press and hold on any item/folder and then choose more...then choose "add to desktop" and you'll get a little icon that goes straight there.

I find the icons to be a bit ugly but with Nova Launcher you can edit them to whatever you want, thankfully!

Thanks for the tip msnderstood! One quibble, though. I also use ES File Explorer and Nova Launcher, but when I just navigate to a file with ES File Explorer and long press on it, I don't get the "add to desktop" option. I have to use the search facility (even though I know where the file is located). If I let ES File Explorer find it through search and then long press on it from the results list, then and only then do I get the "add to desktop" option. Go figure...

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I717 using AC Forums mobile app

 

[Adamsberg]

After the long press on the file you've only marked the file
Then go the lower menu bar and choose 'More' ... and you'll get 'Add to destop'

 

[Joseph Tannenbaum]

Jeffreii,
Thank you. Great tip. Been using ES exploring for quite awhile, and never noticed this.

 

[dankueck]

If you can save the document on Google Drive, then you could add a shortcut directly to that document (but you'd have to be connected to the Internet via mobile data or WiFi, etc). For me, I wanted to add shortcuts directly to .pdf files on my home-screen (SG3). This works, I select the created Drive shortcut to the .pdf file and it opens up in Adobe Acrobat reader (or whatever it's called) on my phone.
If you have Google Drive installed/updated on your device, then there should be a Widget for adding a shortcut to a Drive document. That's how I did it.

 

[buckyd]

Thank You! Simple answer will make life much easier and more productive! Worked as advertised after 30 minutes of looking in the wrong places!

 

[ks2problema]

I find it beyond stunning that there is no way in the Android OS -- at version FOUR.x -- to put a shortcut to a folder on the desktop without installing an app to do it!

I've been on Android since 2.2 (and in fact still have a 2.3 phone that is excellent -- except for the fact that G keeps trying to sabotage it by shoving so much of their bloated code into it that it can't even accept new contacts). Take out all the internal-memory-hogging Google apps and updates, though, and the other -- well-written, efficient, THIRD PARTY apps work great. Funny how that works.

Anyhow, this thread has just underlined my growing unease with the backappsward way that Android has 'developed'...

I laughed as hard as anyone at Windows early mobile stuff, but, Apple-phobe that I am, I'm really thinking about what once would have been unthinkable.

I wonder how the Google Music app for Windows mobile is? It would be hard to imagine it being a bigger PITA than it is on my Nexus 7 tablet . What a bloated, non-expandable-memory-sucking POS that app is -- it just keeps sucking up storage for the 'my library' album art, even with NO downloads and caching turned completely off. I've seen it go up to 400 MB of storage before -- that's NO music, just album art. And NO way to turn it off. Messed up. Just utterly lame software design. To clear all that stuff, you have to dump all the app's storage. But as soon as you start using it again, it starts adding this stuff. It's SO stupid.

 

[EmilyEleanorTurnbull]

Is Nova Launcher the best way to customise a PDF icon on a home screen (as a shortcut to a file). I'm technically, pretty average so desperately need some advice!!
(ps thank you in advance for your help)

 

[Gary Glass]

I always try to discover ways to do things on my phone or computer by trial and error. I spent hour after hour, download after download, trying to get a pdf file to move onto my desktop. After finally wasting another day off, I decided to Google the answer...saw this thread....downloaded ES File Explorer and within one minute I solved this f**ken ridiculous simple problem!!!
Thank you so much for freeing up my next day off

 

[Roger Dodger3]

Are you saying you can create a file shortcut on your home screen that opens? It doesn't work for me. I created a shortcut to an email using ES but my S5 says "application not installed". It *does* open the file when I select it in the original folder, so clearly the shortcut is not treated the same way as the file. Why is that? (And, why does the primary Samsung key panel not have a question mark?!)

 

[Mike Mayhem]

awesome info ty!!!!

 

[lovemonkeysd]

I like using the native functions of the phone, too. Here's how I get to specific files from my home screen. I haven't been able to figure out how to get a link to a specific file, but I can get a folder on my home screen, and I just put the file in the folder. It makes it very quick to get to the file I want.

Apps
My Files
Device Storage
click the three vertical dots (menu)
- Create folder (name your folder)
-- The folder shows up in the list of device storage
Long press the folder to select it
click the three vertical dots (menu)
Add shortcut
- choose homescreen
-- now you have your folder on the home screen
My Files
find your file and long press to select
click the three vertical dots (menu)
Move
select your folder you created
Move Here
Now your file is in that folder on the home screen.

 

[The English German]

Is there a way to add a shortcut to the music or images Library to the home screen? I'm not talking about the folder where the files are stored, but the library that finds all files of that type. I want to be able to use the images library instead of my normal image gallery.

 

[gardengal4]

It's all in the music or album app that you use. I had a similar issue with links to photo albums. I had a bunch of shortcuts on a homescreen to various photo albums. I wanted to add a new album but I couldn't remember how I did it earlier. Gallery did not offer anything. ES Explorer only added a shortcut back to Es Explorer. After reading this thread, it hit me that its the app that you want to open the link that has to add the link. I use QuickPic for my gallery app. I went to my QuickPic albums and selected the album and then the menu (vertical ...) buttons had a "Link to Desktop" choice. Voila!

 

[mrssteelerhall]

I like using the native functions of the phone, too. Here's how I get to specific files from my home screen. I haven't been able to figure out how to get a link to a specific file, but I can get a folder on my home screen, and I just put the file in the folder. It makes it very quick to get to the file I want.

Apps
My Files
Device Storage
click the three vertical dots (menu)
- Create folder (name your folder)
-- The folder shows up in the list of device storage
Long press the folder to select it
click the three vertical dots (menu)
Add shortcut
- choose homescreen
-- now you have your folder on the home screen
My Files
find your file and long press to select
click the three vertical dots (menu)
Move
select your folder you created
Move Here
Now your file is in that folder on the home screen.

Thanks for the above tip. Much better than installing yet another app!!