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Forum Discussion
Specify download Android location
Are there any plans to allow the Android app to specify the storage location... like the cavernous SD card i have instead of the limited and non expandable internal storage that all apps compete for? ...
Walter
Dropbox Staff
Dropbox StaffHey there JCIII - how are you today?
From what I understand you must be referring to your Offline files (correct me if I got this wrong) since unlike the desktop application, our mobile app does not automatically store files locally on your device.
This is because we want to be mindful of resource constraints mobile devices face such as device storage or bandwidth limitations. Given this, the contents of your Dropbox will not take up space on your mobile device. It also means that you cannot preview files without a WiFi or data connection.
Moreover, currently it is not possible to save offline files to an SD card. By default, files marked to be available offline are stored in your device’s internal storage, and this cannot be changed.
However, I will be gladt to pass this feedback along to our dev team for you.
If there’s anything else I can help you with, please feel free to reach out to me. Thanks!
I came across this post, because I'm trying to find out if it's possible to specify a Dropbox folder as the default storage location for groups of files on my Android such as my photos. My end goal is to free up storage (both internally and on my SD card) by having all my photos and downloads in said Dropbox folder and that folder ONLY.
Not sure if that's what's being requested here. If not, I'd like to know if anyone else finds this idea useful or knows of a way to do it already.
Right, I appreciate the difference in auto storage between PC and mobile (especially with my 1TB Dropbox Storage). I understand the complexities with application storage location.
However, I do have many documents set to store locally because I travel a great deal and do not always have access to WiFi nor Cell signal.
Being able to specify the storage location for files I chose to make available offline would be tremendously helpful, and give me the ability to take documents I need with me while offline without having to get my PC out of the overhead...
- Walter
Thanks for the reply JCIII - much appreciated.
I hope this finds you well and thank you for this feedback!
We are always looking for user input when creating the next version of our mobile app and I will make sure your comments are passed along to our development team.
In the meantime, what you could do is this: Export the files you'd like to work on while offline (without internet access whatsoever) to your desired location (i.e. SD card), work on them using the 3rd party app you'd use anyway to edit them and then save them in your device until you get online again. Once you do, you'll just need to upload the updated file(s) to your Dropbox account anew.
I know it's not optimal yet I hope it helps to some extent. Should you have any more feedback, suggestions or even questions about Dropbox, feel free to reach out!
Until then, have a marvelous day ahead!
I've used the Export for some larger documents, but the # of files I keep, and the advantage of auto update when files (especially shared ones) change gets lost. And in the case of auto update, I end up with 2 versions of a file.
I appreciate the tip. However, hopefully the development team will decide to take on adding an option for location specification for offline storage and figure out how to access the SDCard from the Android OS; my video and music apps can, perhaps they can figure it out too.
Thanks for the answers.
