Tech

How to transfer photos from your Android device to your Windows computer


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Jun Wan/ZDNET

You’ve probably taken thousands of photos on your Android phone over the years. Perhaps you are preparing to wipe your old phone to exchange it for a new one SamsungGalaxy Or just want to see your photos on the big screen instead of the little black plate in your hand. Nothing. You can transfer your photos to your Windows computer in a number of different ways.

  • You can plug your device into your PC via a USB cable and access your photos from your phone.
  • You can use the Windows Photos app to import photos from your phone.
  • By default, your photos are automatically saved to Google Photosfrom there you can download them to your PC.
  • If you tap OneDrive, you can automatically upload new photos from your phone to your OneDrive Pictures folder.
  • And you can use Microsoft’s Phone link app to transfer your photos.

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Each method works the same in Windows 10 and Windows 11. Let’s look at each method.

Plug your phone into your PC

The easiest way to transfer your photos is to copy them directly from your phone.

Also: How to turn an old Android phone into a security camera or a pet

  1. First, plug your phone into a USB port on your PC.
  2. On your phone, swipe down from the top of the screen until you see an option for your USB connection. It may tell you that it is currently charging your device via USB.
  3. Tap that setting and change it to File Transfer.
Screenshot of USB Options in Android.

Use USB to transfer files.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

4. Next, open File Explorer on your Windows PC and navigate to your Android device.

5. View the Internal Storage or Internal Shared Storage folder details to the DCIM subfolder and then open the Camera folder. You will see all the photos of the phone here.

6. Open another window in File Explorer to a local folder on your PC. You can then copy and paste or drag and drop photos from your phone to your computer.

Drag and drop photos.

Copy photos from phone to PC.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Also: How to transfer photos from iPhone to your Windows PC

Using the Windows Photos app

You can also import photos from your mobile phone using the Windows Photos app.

  1. Open the app on your PC. Click the Import button and select the option for From a connected device.
Sample baseball image in the Windows Photos app.

Import photos from your phone into the Windows Photos app.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

2. Select your Android phone and allow the app to generate all photos from the device.

3. Click the link for Destination changes to select a different folder to import photos.

4. Click the drop-down menu to Select and select the option for All items.

5. Check the box Delete original entries after import to delete photos from your phone.

6. When ready, click Import button.

Downloading sample images to PC for import.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Use Google Photos

First, make sure that the photos on your phone are being backed up and synced with Google Photos.

  1. Open the Photos app.
  2. Tap your profile icon and select Photo settings.
  3. Select Backup and Sync and confirm that the switch is on for Backup and Sync.
  4. Make sure you have enough space in your Google cloud storage to hold all your photos. You can also change the Upload Size to upload photos in a compressed format to save space.
Option to sync Google Photos on phone.

Sync photos with Google Photos.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

5. Browse and sign in Google Photos website on your computer. You will see the photos synced from your Android phone.

Also: 4 ways to take full page screenshots in Google Chrome

6. Now suppose you want to download all the photos to your PC. Select the first photo, hold down the Shift key, then select the last photo.

7. Click the three-dot icon in the upper right and select Download. Your photos are saved in the default Downloads folder as a ZIP file.

The Google Photos template is about to be downloaded.

Download photos from Google Photos.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Using Microsoft OneDrive

This is a useful option if you already use Microsoft OneDrive in Windows. Setting OneDrive app on your Android phone if you haven’t already done so.

  1. Open the app and sign in with your Microsoft account.
  2. Tap the Photos icon at the bottom.
  3. Tap the option for Upload camera and click Turn on button.
  4. Then turn on the switch for Upload camera.
Set up OneDrive with a sample photo on your Android phone.

Set up OneDrive on your Android phone.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

5. Once the photos have been synced, open the OneDrive folder on your computer and you’ll see all the photos.

Sample image on PC.

Screenshot of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

Use Microsoft phone link

Yet another option is to use Microsoft’s Phone Link, which allows you to view and retrieve photos and other items from your Android phone.

  1. Your first step is link and sync your Android phone with Windows.
  2. Once your phone is linked, select the option for Photos in the Link Phone app on your Windows PC. Then you will see all the photos from your phone.
  3. Right click on the photo you want to download and select Save as.

The downside to Phone Link is that there’s no way to select and download multiple photos to your PC in one shot. So this tool is more useful when downloading only a few photos at a time.

Sample photo in Phone Link app.

Access photos in the Phone Link app.

Screenshots of Lance Whitney/ZDNET

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