Table of Contents

Moving files to an Android Device

There are many ways to get a file onto and Android device, but the simplest ones require they be on another Android first. Following are some easy ways to do it without another Android.

email it to yourself

If you are using the K-9 mail app and ES File Explorer, this is fairly simple.

  1. email the file to yourself
  2. Open K-9, find the message, and save the attachment. By default, K-9 places attachments in the root of the SD card, but I generally tell it to put all attachments in the Downloads folder on that card.

USB + OTC Cable

Use an OTC cable to plug a USB Thumbdrive into your Android. OTC cables plug into the power charging slot and, on most modern Androids, allow you to plug in most USB devices (mouse, keyboard, thumbdrive).

You can then use the USB drive with any file explorer.

Save it on your workstation

ES File Explorer can connect to workstations over SMB (Windows File Sharing) and FTP. Simply choose the LAN option, log into your workstation, copy the file, then paste it to your Android.

Use Owncloud or something similar

From your workstation, place the key on your OwnCloud account. Use the Owncloud client to download it.

The file will end up in your sdcard/owncloud/youraccount/ folder