Is there a way to put shortcuts inside a folder?

[Rianimeita]

Is there way to have shortcuts (to files or folders) inside a certain folder of the phone (not in the homescreen)? That way there wouldn't be too much icons everywhere in the homescreen.

Does anybody know of an app or a method that can do this?

Thank you!

 

[Javier P]

Welcome to the forums. You can create shortcuts on your home screen for any file using a file explorer, like Solid, FX or Total Commander. After doing this you can drag it to an existing folder or create a new one.

 

[Rianimeita]

I actually tried, using ES File Explorer, and it seems that you can have the shortcut on the homescreen, but not put it in a folder once this is done. You can have it in a homescreen folder, but only within the homescreen. I was refering to a folder from the storage that you can access using a file explorer.
Is there a way to do this?
I hope I am being clear, I am not a native english speaker.

Thank you!

Greetings

 

[Javier P]

Not sure if I completely understand what you mean. Tell me if I'm wrong. You want to create a folder in your internal storage that includes shortcuts (redirects) for files that already exist on different folders but without moving them from that location?

With a file explorer you can create new folders, copy files in different folders or move them around, but, as far as I know you can't create redirects/shortcuts as you can on the home screen.

Why don't you create a folder on your homescreen that includes shortcuts for the individual files?

 

[nahoku]

Is there way to have shortcuts (to files or folders)

What kind of files? What folders?

This is actually not a problem on my Note 4 or Note 10.1 2014 tablet, both running Kitkat and using the stock "My Files" explorer that come on the devices.

For instance... I created a Doc folder on my SD card, and inside the folder are documents... pdf, word, excel, etc. If I long press on any of the documents to select them (they get checked), then go to Menu settings... there is an option to create a shortcut to the document on the homescreen. I can do that for any of the files in my Doc folder. I can also long press on the Doc folder itself, go to Menu, and there is also an option to create a shortcut to the Doc folder on the homescreen. If perhaps I want to add any file to the Doc folder on the homescreen, I simply create a shortcut to a file, like explained above, and simply hold/drag the shortcut into the Doc folder on the homescreen.

I'm not sure if this is what you want to do, but it is what I gather from your post.

EDIT... I had to edit my post because while I thought I remembered I could drag file shortcuts into a homescreen folder shortcut, it's not possible. However, if you create a new folder on the homescreen, you can drag file shortcuts into that folder.

 

[Rianimeita]

Thanks Javier P and nahoku. Yes, as you said, I am trying to have shortcuts inside folders of the storage (and not actually the homescreen)
Thanks for your help. I think I will resort to the other method you mentioned. I hope there will enventually be apps that can do this kind of task though.

Greetings

 

[nahoku]

That way there wouldn't be too much icons everywhere in the homescreen.

I guess this made me think you wanted a folder with shortcuts to files on the homescreen.

I must still be misunderstanding what exactly you want. Why would you need shortcuts on your storage? You would still need to use a file browser to get to them unless they existed on your homescreen.

Can you explain why you want these shortcuts, by an example of what you would do with them?

 

[Rianimeita]

Basically I want to use these shortcuts to classify the files I have in various ways. That makes navigation through stuff faster and more convenient.
I think it is kind of a basic feature, that PCs always have, so it would be cool to have that in Android too.
I hope you'll understand what I'm conveying..

Greetings

 

[nahoku]

Sorry, but I'm still confused, but it might just be the verbiage we're using.

On my phone and tablet, what I have are folder shortcuts on my homescreen. The corresponding folders in storage have files in them. For my Docs folder, I have word, pdf, power point, excel files in there. So my homescreen shortcut Docs folder is simply a way to get to these files so I can work on them. This is also what I do on my PC. All folders on my PC desktop are actually shortcuts to folders existing on other drives or partitions.

Is this basically what you want to do?

 

[Rianimeita]

I want these kind of files you are talking about (the shortcuts you have on your homescreen or your pc desktop), but on the storage, and not on the homescreen.
I think part of it not being totally clear is also because I'm not fluent in english
XD

 

[nahoku]

I don't know of a way to get shortcuts in storage. I don't think it's possible. The best you can do is create a new folder and copy the entire folder contents to the new folder (like Javier P stated). This of course won't be shortcuts because the new files are simply copies of the originals.

It's not your english causing confusion as I can understand you fine. It's the "intent" of why you need to create shortcuts in storage memory and how you're going to use them that's confusing.

 

[Rianimeita]

The best you can do is create a new folder and copy the entire folder contents to the new folder (like Javier P stated). This of course won't be shortcuts because the new files are simply copies of the originals.

Yes, I thought about that method, but it's kind of silly to make copies, and they can take up too much space. I think I will use the method of shortcuts in one folder of the homescreen.

It's not your english causing confusion as I can understand you fine. It's the "intent" of why you need to create shortcuts in storage memory and how you're going to use them that's confusing.

Yes, I know it's a bit of a special thing. But I think it still makes sense.


Greetings

 

[nahoku]

Yes, I know it's a bit of a special thing. But I think it still makes sense.

I'm still trying to make sense of it all.

1) If you have these shortcuts in storage, then you still have to use a file explorer to get to the shortcut folder in storage, open the folder, and then click on the shortcuts to open the files they point to.

2) If you have to do #1 just to open a file, then why not just open the original folder in storage and then open the original file?

3) Why would you need the shortcuts in storage? Seems like a lot more work just to open a file.

On PC's, shortcuts placed on the desktop, or in folders on the desktop, are used so you don't need to open the drive or partition in Windows Explorer to access a particular file. I would guess this is what you'd want to do while working in Android too. And as stated in previous posts, this is possible, so there's really no difference in how file management works on Android or PC's... as far as this goes anyways.

 

[Rianimeita]

The thing is I want to create shortcuts instead of making copies, because I want to create different criteria of classification of the files I have. That is what I would like to have. Basically different ways of displaying and classifying files, depending on what you are doing or want to look for.

 

[nahoku]

I still don't understand it, but I hope you can find a way to do what you want to do. Good luck!

 

[DenverRalphy]

What you're looking for is the ability to create a symlink (Symbolic Link). Unfortunately, unless you root your device and use the Root Explorer app, then you're out of luck. The ability to create symlinks requires root access due to the nature of Android's filesystem security which prevents apps from accessing another app's proprietary files.

 

[Rianimeita]

Thanks for explaining this to me DenverRalphy!

Greetings

 

[Peter Cook2]

Can i add to this. The problem I think is this. I have birdspotting apps on my home page and shortcuts to webpages for spotting sites and blogs. App you can combine into folders then you can add more apps but is there a way i can tidy up the shortcuts into the folders too?

 

[Aristarchus81]

I believe what the OP is trying to solve is to create a shortcut (say a Chrome browser shortcut to a specific web page) and then drag that shortcut off of the desktop into the App Drawer, where the OP may have organized their apps by folder. Turns out, that's exactly what I want to do. Where is the App Drawer located on my device and can I drag the shortcut into one of those folders. Love me a clean home screen. Thanks!

 

[B. Diddy]

I believe what the OP is trying to solve is to create a shortcut (say a Chrome browser shortcut to a specific web page) and then drag that shortcut off of the desktop into the App Drawer, where the OP may have organized their apps by folder. Turns out, that's exactly what I want to do. Where is the App Drawer located on my device and can I drag the shortcut into one of those folders. Love me a clean home screen. Thanks!

Welcome to Android Central! This would depend on the device you have and if the launcher supports this. The typical launcher does not support adding shortcuts to the App Drawer.

On most current Android devices, you can get to your App Drawer by swiping up from the bottom of the screen (if using gesture navigation). If you're not using gestures, then there should be an App Drawer button in the bottom favorites tray (which looks like a grid of dots in a circle or square).