Why Aren't My Android App's Files Showing Up in Windows File Explorer?

Accessing Files on External Storage from Windows

Android provides a unified way to access files on external storage, making them visible in both app and system file explorers. However, if your app's files are not appearing in Windows after writing them to external storage, it may indicate an issue with your implementation.

Current Implementation

You have implemented file writing to the Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS directory, which should normally be visible in Windows. However, the issue lies in MediaStore's indexing.

MediaStore Indexing

MediaStore is responsible for indexing files on external storage and presenting them in system file explorers and gallery apps. If a newly created file is not yet discovered by MediaStore, it will not be visible.

Proposed Solution

To make your app's files visible in Windows, you need to notify MediaStore about them using MediaScannerConnection and its scanFile() method. This function instructs MediaStore to index the specified file and update its records accordingly.

Code Snippets

In Java:

public void scanFile(Context ctxt, File f, String mimeType) {
    MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(ctxt, new String[] {f.getAbsolutePath()},
                  new String[] {mimeType}, null);
}

In Kotlin:

fun scanFile(ctxt: Context, f: File, mimeType: String) {
  MediaScannerConnection.scanFile(ctxt, arrayOf(f.getAbsolutePath()), arrayOf(mimeType), null)
}

By calling scanFile() after writing your data to disk, you will trigger MediaStore to index your file and make it visible in both Windows and on-device file explorers.

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