Photos in Gallery--Cannot locate the folders

[Lex Ward]

I just purchased an LG Sunset phone (L33L). The OS is Android Lollypop (5.0.1). I have been a PC user for over 20 years, but this is my first 'smart' phone, so I am trying to learn the features.

I am able to take photos, and place them in the Gallery, I have an SD card, and I want to move the photos to it. But I cannot find where these photos are stored! I have searched all the folders (I named one of the photos so I could do an exact search) and can find nothing.

When I open the Gallery, I can access the photos, and the drop down does not indicate that these are hidden files. There are Copy and Move options, but selecting one of these always produces the following type of message: "Selected file already in Album. Cannot Move".

So how do I determine where these photos are, so that I can move them to my SD card?

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide.

Harry

 

[nahoku]

The standardized name for the photo folder is the DCIM folder. There is a DCIM folder on both the internal phone memory, and the SD card. Depending on where the default save location is chosen in your camera settings, either on the internal or SD memory, the photos will be directed and saved in one of the DCIM folders, or sub folder. The phone can differentiate the location of the DCIM folder, but possibly not the name. This is probably why you're getting an error when trying to move/copy photos.

Think of the Gallery as a media "browser". There is actually no such folder named Gallery on the phone. The Gallery simply displays all the media files and photos that are located in the DCIM folders, or any such folder where media files are located.

Does your phone have a "file browser"... (similar in function to PC windows explorer)? If it does, and you go to the file browser, you should be able to find the DCIM folders on internal memory or SD and find all your photos. In the file browser, you should also be able to create folders, just like on the PC and move the photos where ever you want. Any folder you create (and name), will also show up in the Gallery.

If your phone doesn't have a file browser, install ES File Explorer. To me it's a little confusing until you get used to it, but think of it as Windows explorer and you'll get the hang of it.

Android pretty much follows the same kinds of rules that PC's do, so if you've been using a PC for a long time, you'll get used to Android pretty quickly.

 

[Lex Ward]

nahoku:

So that is how it all works! I have X-plore file manager. I found both DCIM folders. I also determined (see attachment) that the 'star' in the upper left gave me the second row as a dropdown menu, and on the left I could select SD (verses internal) and now my pictures are saved to DCIM->Camera on my SD card.

But I still have some questions and issues.
1. Can you tell me what each of the icons on the 2nd row dropdown at the top mean, other than the 'SD' one? (The 4 on the top row and the row at the bottom of the screen I have figured out).
2. Having placed some photos in DCIM->Camera on my SD card, I then went back to Gallery to view them. I have a choice of 'Albums', ;All files', etc. Selecting 'Albums' gives me 4 individual folders (Albums), 'Camera' and three of which I set up. If I select one of them, I see all the photos that are in that 'Album'. There is a dropdown (the 3 dots) so I tried selecting 'Move'. They were apparently moved, but never was I asked WHERE to move them. And If I selected any single photo, and chose 'Copy' from the dropdown, I was taken back to the Album page, with a message that said 'select Album to copy;. What is going on here, and how do I specify where to Copy or Move an individual photo?

I realize that I can do a 'drag & drop' in X-plore, but there must be a way to do this using Gallery, or something on the phone.

So I need a little bit more of your wisdom,

Harry

 

[nahoku]

So that is how it all works! I have X-plore file manager. I found both DCIM folders. I also determined (see attachment) that the 'star' in the upper left gave me the second row as a dropdown menu, and on the left I could select SD (verses internal) and now my pictures are saved to DCIM->Camera on my SD card.

That "star" represents how you get into "Settings". You'll see it in many places/apps in Android and... the three vertical dots (upper right hand corner in the photo), will give you a drop down menu that may include other options/settings. You'll also see it all over the place in Android.

1. Can you tell me what each of the icons on the 2nd row dropdown at the top mean, other than the 'SD' one? (The 4 on the top row and the row at the bottom of the screen I have figured out).

If you look on page 43 of your Manual you'll see what all those icons stand for. (Note: The link is for a direct pdf download of your manual.)

2. Having placed some photos in DCIM->Camera on my SD card, I then went back to Gallery to view them. I have a choice of 'Albums', ;All files', etc. Selecting 'Albums' gives me 4 individual folders (Albums), 'Camera' and three of which I set up. If I select one of them, I see all the photos that are in that 'Album'. There is a dropdown (the 3 dots) so I tried selecting 'Move'. They were apparently moved, but never was I asked WHERE to move them. And If I selected any single photo, and chose 'Copy' from the dropdown, I was taken back to the Album page, with a message that said 'select Album to copy;. What is going on here, and how do I specify where to Copy or Move an individual photo?

I realize that I can do a 'drag & drop' in X-plore, but there must be a way to do this using Gallery, or something on the phone.

Ok... I don't know how the gallery is set up to work on your phone. Different manufactures do different things. That being said, on my Samsung Galaxy Note 4, (great phone, by the way! LOL!) I cannot copy or move an entire album while in the Gallery. There isn't even an option to do so in my dropdown menu (three dots). When I select an album, my dropdown menu options includes...
"Rename"
"Add to event"
"Slideshow".

If I open one of my Albums, and select a file, my dropdown menu gives me the options to...
"Copy to Album"
"Move to Album"
"Add to event"
"Slideshow"
"Details"

If I choose either copy or move, I am presented with a pop-up window with a list of all Albums where I can select a destination to copy or move the file to. When I click on one of the Albums, the file is copied or moved to it.

As stated, I don't know how LG has set up their gallery, but it makes sense that if you attempted to move an entire album, you should have been given a choice for a destination (think Windows). Are you certain the entire album moved somewhere... or did it in fact not move at all, and the move function just cleared itself because the function doesn't work like that? As far as how your copy function works for individual files, I think the message you're seeing is asking you which album you want to copy the file to... and they just used bad grammar with "select Album to copy" rather than a more clear "Copy to Album". I'm guessing here! Is the message listing all your Albums? Or, is the message just a link to where you can go to select an Album? Can you provide a screenshot of the "select Album to copy" message you're seeing?

Sorry for all the questions... it's tough when the phone isn't right in front of you!

EDIT... Oh yah... you should probably edit your attachment to remove your phone number. Spammers love that kind of thing!

 

[Lex Ward]

nahoku:

>>If you look on page 43 of your Manual you'll see what all those icons stand for. (Note: The link is for a direct pdf download of your manual.)<<

Do I really feel stupid on this one! I have that manual, and looked at pages 22-23, but did not search to see that pages 42+ covered it. I apologize.

>>As stated, I don't know how LG has set up their gallery.<<

I could not find any information on it, but since I should be doing more of my own work, instead of asking others, I did find that in the Gallery, I could open 'All Files'. If I then selected one, I could then choose Move or Copy. I then was asked to select the Album (which in reality is a file folder, since they have the file folder names) I wanted, and it works fine. I'll forget about the option of Copy an 'Album', since I can do that easier in X-plore.

>>you should probably edit your attachment to remove your phone number. Spammers love that kind of thing! <<

Done. Thanks. A sign of my old age and the era I come form, I guess.

Thanks so much for your help. I can now go forward on my own--at least for photos.


Harry

 

[nahoku]

Do I really feel stupid on this one! I have that manual, and looked at pages 22-23, but did not search to see that pages 42+ covered it. I apologize.

I can tell you just from the posts here that most people don't bother to read the manual. I'm one of them myself! I think it's because most people feel bright enough to figure things out on their own. However, the first thing I do when helping someone is to download their manual. I can't tell you how many different manuals I've read and trashed already over the years (not just on this forum). Hey, don't feel bad though, at least you read to pages 22 -23! LOL!


I'm glad you can do what you want now. As for your this... "A sign of my old age and the era I come form"... you're never to old to learn. I'm from an "ancient" era myself if being retired tells you anything!

Thanks so much for your help. I can now go forward on my own--at least for photos.

You're most welcome! Don't hesitate to create more posts for any further questions you have.

Aloha, Harry!