Pick any kind of file via an Intent in Android

Question

I would like to start an intentchooser for apps which can return any kind of file

Currently I use (which I copied from the Android email source code for file attachment)

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
intent.setType("*/*");
Intent i = Intent.createChooser(intent, "File");
startActivityForResult(i, CHOOSE_FILE_REQUESTCODE);

But it only shows "Gallery" and "Music player" on my Galaxy S2. There is a file explorer on this device and I would like it to appear in the list. I would also like the camera app to show in the list, so that the user can shoot a picture and send it through my app. If I install Astro file manager it will respond to that intent, too. My customers are Galaxy SII owners only and I don't want to force them to install Astro file manager given that they already have a basic but sufficient file manager.

Any idea of how I could achieve this ? I am pretty sure that I already saw the default file manager appear in such a menu to pick a file, but I can't remember in which app.

You will need very different code to shoot a picture then to choose a file. I don't actually think most file explorers can *return* a file, but I might be wrong. — dtech, Jan 20 '12 at 18:00
can u specify what kind of files you need to be accessed primarily? — subrussn90, Jan 20 '12 at 18:02
@dtech : I dont expect the file explorer to return the file, I only need it's path. — ErGo_404, Jan 23 '12 at 08:13
@subrussn90 : I need to let the user pick any kind of file. It could be pdfs, .doc, .zip, ANY kind of file. — ErGo_404, Jan 23 '12 at 08:14
is it enough that you get the Uri of the specified file on the sd card??? — subrussn90, Jan 23 '12 at 18:49

user370305 · Accepted Answer · 2015-08-03T15:42:04.300

95

Not for camera but for other files..

In my device I have ES File Explorer installed and This simply thing works in my case..

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
intent.setType("file/*");
startActivityForResult(intent, PICKFILE_REQUEST_CODE);

edited Aug 03 '15 at 15:42

answered Jan 20 '12 at 18:21

user370305

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It does work with an external file explorer (such as ES File Explorer or Astro File Manager, but not with the Samsung file explorer. It seems odd that they did not implement the correct intent filters to respond to that action. – ErGo_404 Jan 23 '12 at 08:12
@Lukap - Use open source android file manager and integrate it with your application then you don't need any third party application. – user370305 Sep 27 '12 at 11:00
3

how can I get the selected file ? I guess it's the path, but how ? – Francisco Corrales Morales Nov 26 '14 at 17:31
1

@FranciscoCorralesMorales - in `onActivityResult()`- You can get `Uri` of the File. – user370305 Nov 26 '14 at 17:38
1

`PICKFILE_RESULT_CODE` should be `PICKFILE_REQUEST_CODE`. – Aron Lorincz Aug 03 '15 at 15:27
@user370305, how to select select docx, doc, rtf, pdf type – Reprator Apr 22 '16 at 10:26
the path is stored in `resultIntent.data.path` where `resultIntent` is the intent passed into `onActivityResult()` – Eric Nov 29 '16 at 06:19
On Samsung S4 with Android 5.0.1 doesn't show anything. Use @alireza answer which works even on Samsung devices. – vovahost Oct 07 '17 at 21:13
https://stackoverflow.com/a/59104787/3141844 + https://github.com/criss721/Android-FileSelector – Criss Nov 29 '19 at 13:40

score 56 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 23 '19 at 12:41

56

Samsung file explorer needs not only custom action (com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA), but also category part (Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT) and mime-type should be passed as extra.

Intent intent = new Intent("com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA");
intent.putExtra("CONTENT_TYPE", "*/*");
intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT);

You can also use this action for opening multiple files: com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA_MULTIPLE Anyway here is my solution which works on Samsung and other devices:

public void openFile(String mimeType) {

        Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
        intent.setType(mimeType);
        intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);

        // special intent for Samsung file manager
        Intent sIntent = new Intent("com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA");
         // if you want any file type, you can skip next line 
        sIntent.putExtra("CONTENT_TYPE", mimeType); 
        sIntent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT);

        Intent chooserIntent;
        if (getPackageManager().resolveActivity(sIntent, 0) != null){
            // it is device with Samsung file manager
            chooserIntent = Intent.createChooser(sIntent, "Open file");
            chooserIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_INITIAL_INTENTS, new Intent[] { intent});
        } else {
            chooserIntent = Intent.createChooser(intent, "Open file");
        }

        try {
            startActivityForResult(chooserIntent, CHOOSE_FILE_REQUESTCODE);
        } catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException ex) {
            Toast.makeText(getApplicationContext(), "No suitable File Manager was found.", Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
        }
    }

This solution works well for me, and maybe will be useful for someone else.

edited Jan 23 '19 at 12:41

flipm0de

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answered Jul 30 '13 at 14:30

Chupik

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It almost works for me, except the fact that sIntent, when launched, accepts no file of any type. I can browse through folders, but that's it. – Radu Nov 08 '13 at 11:24
The problem is that the intent needs to have mimeType: "file/*", while the Samsung sIntent needs " * / *" - without the spaces between * / * – Radu Nov 08 '13 at 11:30
where does the string `com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA` comes from ? which part of it is dynamic ? – Francisco Corrales Morales Nov 26 '14 at 17:09
Thanks, it's working for me on 4 of my different devices, so it's pretty much universal! – bendaf Apr 05 '16 at 11:14
1

What about the other 11k of Android devices. – Oliver Dixon May 21 '16 at 12:15
How to specify the starting location/uri for the file chooser? – Darush May 17 '17 at 10:53
1

How set URI for this intent can you please help me ? – PriyankaChauhan Jul 27 '17 at 06:03
How to pass the folderpath for this intent, so that FilePicker will open in specific folder directly? – Santyy Mar 27 '18 at 07:50
If you want to specify URI you should probably use ACTION_PICK instead of ACTION_GET_CONTENT https://stackoverflow.com/questions/17765265/difference-between-intent-action-get-content-and-intent-action-pick – Chupik Mar 27 '18 at 08:08
1

In case of Samsung Intent ("com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA") you can try to put String extra "FOLDERPATH" or "START_FOLDER" – Chupik Mar 27 '18 at 08:26
@Chupik intent.PutExtra("FOLDERPATH", path); works perfectly. Thank You – Santyy Mar 27 '18 at 09:00

score 45 · Answer 3 · answered Jun 25 '12 at 00:16

45

this work for me on galaxy note its show contacts, file managers installed on device, gallery, music player

private void openFile(Int  CODE) {
    Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
    i.setType("*/*");
    startActivityForResult(intent, CODE);
}

here get path in onActivityResult of activity.

protected void onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data) {
     String Fpath = data.getDataString();
    // do somthing...
    super.onActivityResult(requestCode, resultCode, data);

}

answered Jun 25 '12 at 00:16

alireza

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How to convert getting uri into util.File ? – Anand Savjani Aug 12 '15 at 13:36
Not sure about getting java.io.File, but can be opened with: http://developer.android.com/reference/android/content/ContentResolver.html#openInputStream(android.net.Uri) How to get simple name is here: http://stackoverflow.com/a/23270545/755313 – demaksee Sep 18 '15 at 16:53
3

how to pick a folder? – hornet2319 Oct 26 '15 at 14:29
I like this answer because the type setting allows you to select images as well. – Hashim Akhtar Mar 08 '21 at 16:23
in Kotlin use File(data.dataString) – Talha Akbar Aug 28 '21 at 11:36

Islam Khaled · Answer 4 · 2020-01-08T12:33:54.290

This gives me the best result:

    Intent intent;
    if (android.os.Build.MANUFACTURER.equalsIgnoreCase("samsung")) {
        intent = new Intent("com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA");
        intent.putExtra("CONTENT_TYPE", "*/*");
        intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_DEFAULT);
    } else {

        String[] mimeTypes =
                {"application/msword", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document", // .doc & .docx
                        "application/vnd.ms-powerpoint", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentation", // .ppt & .pptx
                        "application/vnd.ms-excel", "application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheet", // .xls & .xlsx
                        "text/plain",
                        "application/pdf",
                        "application/zip", "application/vnd.android.package-archive"};

        intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT); // or ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT
        intent.setType("*/*");
        intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_MIME_TYPES, mimeTypes);
        intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
        intent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_LOCAL_ONLY, true);
    }

See also org.openintents.action.PICK_FILE for a third option. http://www.openintents.org/action/org-openintents-action-pick-file/ Your code also assumes that everyone on a Samsung phone uses and (still) has the Samsung file manager. Using intent.resolveActivity with Samsung as a fallback would be more robust. — Marcus Wolschon, May 12 '20 at 07:04
Thank you. This was the only way I managed to allow users choose files from multiple types (in my case I only need pdf and txt). — ice_chrysler, Sep 05 '22 at 13:45

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jan 23 '12 at 10:41

1

Turns out the Samsung file explorer uses a custom action. This is why I could see the Samsung file explorer when looking for a file from the samsung apps, but not from mine.

The action is "com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA"

I created a custom Activity Picker which displays activities filtering both intents.

answered Jan 23 '12 at 10:41

ErGo_404

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Hi, can you explain this a bit more? For samsung galaxy phones I use Intent selectFile = new Intent( "com.sec.android.app.myfiles.PICK_DATA"); but it causes an error – steliosf Apr 30 '12 at 00:41
I'm not sure right now, but I can check it later. I think it's the Activity Not Found exception. Do you have any working solution? I almost tried everything and didn't manage to fix it – steliosf May 29 '12 at 20:21
This intent has worked for me on the Galaxy SII. Tried it on a GT-B5510 (Galaxy Y Pro) and it didn't work. I think it is just not reliable if you want to target all Samsung devices. I ended up integrating an open source file manager into my application, but it is a heavy solution for such a basic need. – ErGo_404 Jun 04 '12 at 07:38
How set URI for this intent can you please help me ? – PriyankaChauhan Jul 27 '17 at 06:04

score 0 · Answer 6 · answered Apr 03 '14 at 09:33

If you want to know this, it exists an open source library called aFileDialog that it is an small and easy to use which provides a file picker.

The difference with another file chooser's libraries for Android is that aFileDialog gives you the option to open the file chooser as a Dialog and as an Activity.

It also lets you to select folders, create files, filter files using regular expressions and show confirmation dialogs.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered May 15 '20 at 12:42

The other answers are not incorrect. However, now there are more options for opening files. For example, if you want the app to have long term, permanent acess to a file, you can use ACTION_OPEN_DOCUMENT instead. Refer to the official documentation: Open files using storage access framework. Also refer to this answer.

score 0 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 15 '23 at 11:50

ES File Explorer no longer exists on Google Play, as an alternative you can use FS File Explorer, this application allows the selection of any type of file. In time I made a library that facilitates communication with FS File Explorer: https://github.com/YounesHass/fs-selection

Pick any kind of file via an Intent in Android

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