get my Anderoid phone to connect with my Windows 10/Chrome desktop? One of the things I would like to do is send a picture from my phone to the computer. Please bear in mind that I am computer friendly but waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay far from being an expert. Therefore, 'splain it as if I was your grandfather. Thank you.
lld
With my galaxy s10 android, I connect the phone to a USB port using a power cord. Use an OEM power cord, as the cheap ones don’t have the communications stuff.
This automatically opens a new Explorer file tree window for the android on the laptop… but with “block” that won’t allow me to see or do anything.
Next, I check the phone, and an alert asks if I want to allow the laptop to access the files on the phone.
I answer “yes” (or allow)
This gives the laptop permission to access the phone as if the phone was an external drive.
I then go to the laptop, to the Explorer file tree window for the phone, find DCIM, click that open. I find the photo files I want to transfer, select them, copy.
Then go to the laptop Explorer file tree window , find the folder I want, and paste the photos there.
Or, for just a couple photos, email them to yourself from your phone.
Open the email on you laptop, download the photos.
HTH
ralph
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Rainphakir gave one good solution… but not the one I prefer.
I have file-syncing software on my laptop, tablet, and phone. I use SyncThing, but you can also use Dropbox, OwnCloud, or any number of others (but I can’t give you any specifics on them because I’ve never used any of them).
This means that, on an ongoing basis, I don’t have to do ANYTHING to have the devices share certain stuff, other than repeat some setup work when I replace any of the three devices. Pictures are one of the things I share, and when I use my phone to take a picture it shows up on my laptop not long thereafter - automatically.
SyncThing is quite secure. It uses the internet only for a custom VPN connecting your devices (and I’m not sure it even does that if they happen to be on the same local network) - nothing goes out unencrypted. Devices have to be introduced to each other, which takes human approval on each device, and then individual shared folders get the same sort of treatment.
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Do you have email (ex. gmail) installed on your phone?
If so, email the picture to yourself. You can attach files (photos) to your emails on your phone, whether it’s gmail, yahoo email, or most any other email app.
Then open the email on your desktop computer and save it wherever you want on that machine.
You could also use Google photos or something similar to upload all your photos to “the cloud”
And then you could then access them from desktop or phone.
Other people have already covered the “plug in and use as an USB drive” - that’s probably what I do most often.
I use One Drive. Share the photo or whatever on the phone with One Drive, then open One Drive on the PC and move it where you want to keep it.
I would like to do is send a picture from my phone to the computer.
If that is all you are trying to do then Dropbox will do that with no effort once you set it up. I have a Samsung Galaxy and a Windows 10 desktop.
I installed the Dropbox app on the phone and set it up to automatically upload any photos that I took. Then I logged the desktop into my dropbox account and told it to download pictures that show up there. The pictures magically show up in the dropbox folder on my desktop. On the desktop, I periodically move the pictures out of the dropbox folder in put them into my photo folders. When I do that they are automatically deleted from the online dropbox, but not from the phone. That keeps me from running out of space in my dropbox.
You can also put other things in my dropbox in the cloud by putting them in the dropbox folder on the desktop and they are automatically uploaded.
The phone is also set up to only upload items to dropbox when the phone is on WiFi. It is quicker and won’t use tons of data that way.
It has worked seamlessly and behind the scene for years.
wolferd
I used to use Dropbox, having a free subscription from the purchase of a computer, but that ran out and switched to One Drive, since it is there from Microsoft without a need to get a subscription.
I don’t move things automatically since not every picture is worth saving. I just share them with One Drive when I know it is a keeper. Then I move it out of there soon after and delete it from the phone so that I don’t consume vast amounts of memory on the phone.
Thanks to all who responded. I’m getting closer–I can now go from my phone to my laptop, but still having trouble connecting to my desktop. Thanks again.
lld
This automatically opens a new Explorer file tree window for the android on the laptop… but with “block” that won’t allow me to see or do anything.
This may or may not happen automatically depending on how you have configured Windows (or previously told Windows what to do when it “sees” your phone device).
If it doesn’t open an Explorer window automatically, just open an Explorer window manually and on the left side, under “This PC” near the bottom you should see the name of your phone. Click on it.
Mike
Try wifi and bluetooth. Password protected, of course.
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