Android: How to open a specific folder via Intent and show its content in a file browser?

Question

I thought this would be easy but as it turns out unfortunately it's not.

What I have:

I have a folder called "myFolder" on my external storage (not sd card because it's a Nexus 4, but that should not be the problem). The folder contains some *.csv files.

What I want:

I want to write a method which does the following: Show a variety of apps (file browsers) from which I can pick one (see picture). After I click on it, the selected file browser should start and show me the content of "myFolder". No more no less.

My question:

How exactly do I do that? I think I came quite close with the following code, but no matter what I do - and I'm certain that there must be something I didn't get right yet - it always opens only the main folder from the external storage.

public void openFolder()
{
File file = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory(),
    "myFolder");

Log.d("path", file.toString());

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
intent.setDataAndType(Uri.fromFile(file), "*/*");
startActivity(intent);
}

Tengdin

Try this one covers almost every file extension – Bacardi

Hi man! Please take a look here #50073138 and help to resolve similiar issue. Thank you! – Personalty

Android hasn't standardized this feature. Only some file managers support it - see this highly relevant GitHub issue. – Cullender

Answer 1

I finally got it working. This way only a few apps are shown by the chooser (Google Drive, Dropbox, Root Explorer, and Solid Explorer). It's working fine with the two explorers but not with Google Drive and Dropbox (I guess because they cannot access the external storage). The other MIME type like "*/*" is also possible.

public void openFolder(){
    Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
    Uri uri = Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath()
         +  File.separator + "myFolder" + File.separator);
    intent.setDataAndType(uri, "text/csv");
    startActivity(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Open folder"));
}

Tengdin

Some apps like OI file manager work with this Intent but Android's default file manager does not work this method. – Sutton

This is just working for DropBox for me. Can you please give modified code for opening Folders in SDcard. – Coming

@SureshSharma Which file browser do you want to use for opening folders on your SD-card? – Tengdin

This is working fine but in saumsung phone it not redirecting to specific folder – Baculiform

getExternalStorageDirectory() has been deprecated. Any new solution? – Sindee

In my android studio, it shows error in startActivity Expected 3 arguments but found 1 – Overdevelop

getExternalStorageDirectory() has been deprecated. Any new solution? ... Use getExternalFilesDir(null) – Fennessy

Answer 2

This should help you:

Uri selectedUri = Uri.parse(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() + "/myFolder/");
Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(selectedUri, "resource/folder");

if (intent.resolveActivityInfo(getPackageManager(), 0) != null)
{
    startActivity(intent);
}
else
{
    // if you reach this place, it means there is no any file 
    // explorer app installed on your device
}

Please, be sure that you have any file explorer app installed on your device.

EDIT: added a shantanu's recommendation from the comment.

LIBRARIES: You can also have a look at the following libraries https://android-arsenal.com/tag/35 if the current solution doesn't help you.

Trimeter

User this code to avoid crash when no application installed. Intent chooser = Intent.createChooser(intent, title); // Verify the intent will resolve to at least one activity if (intent.resolveActivity(getPackageManager()) != null) { startActivity(chooser); } – Holofernes

@shantanu, thank you for your recommendation, I added a similar method to check existence of an intent. – Trimeter

Have you tried on a device without sd card? In my case on several devices it this approach can not handle intent, as like there are no file browsers, but there are few of them. – Cadre

This has to be marked as the answer... The trick is to install a file explorer.. Es file explorer worked for me but not OI file manager... – Pisano

I'm not sure if this is an API change; but, Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory() returns a File, while android.net.Uri.parse expects a string. I resolved this by using Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath() as the argument. (This assumes you want the base directory of external storage as your starting point.) – Gradation

Hey dude, this only works on devices with ES file explorer installed because mime 'resource/folder' is not a standard mime type. – Wino

This indeed only appears to work with ES File Explorer. Let me know if there is a solution that works with other explorer Apps. – Accipiter

That works with other file explorer apps though, not just ES, so I guess that's more or less been standardized by third-party app developers. – Riviera

Answer 3

Here is my answer

private fun openFolder() {
    val location = "/storage/emulated/0/Download/";
    val intent = Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW)
    val myDir: Uri = FileProvider.getUriForFile(context, context.applicationContext.packageName + ".provider", File(location))
    intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_GRANT_READ_URI_PERMISSION
    intent.flags = Intent.FLAG_ACTIVITY_NEW_TASK
    if (Build.VERSION.SDK_INT >= Build.VERSION_CODES.KITKAT)
        intent.setDataAndType(myDir,  DocumentsContract.Document.MIME_TYPE_DIR)
    else  intent.setDataAndType(myDir,  "*/*")

    if (intent.resolveActivityInfo(context.packageManager, 0) != null)
    {
        context.startActivity(intent)
    }
    else
    {
        // if you reach this place, it means there is no any file
        // explorer app installed on your device
        CustomToast.toastIt(context,context.getString(R.string.there_is_no_file_explorer_app_present_text))
    }
}

Here why I used FileProvider - android.os.FileUriExposedException: file:///storage/emulated/0/test.txt exposed beyond app through Intent.getData()

I tested on this device
Devices: Samsung SM-G950F (dreamltexx), Os API Level: 28

Incompatible

Do I need to setup the file provider in manifest then? – Riviera

No idea how you got this working, getUriForFiles throws out-of-bounds exception when passing a folder as explained there: #54386433 – Riviera

You may have thought it worked because you specified the download folder. Thing is it won't work when specifying other folders. – Riviera

Answer 4

Intent chooser = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
Uri uri = Uri.parse(Environment.getDownloadCacheDirectory().getPath().toString());
chooser.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);
chooser.setDataAndType(uri, "*/*");
// startActivity(chooser);
try {
startActivityForResult(chooser, SELECT_FILE);
}
catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException ex)
{
Toast.makeText(this, "Please install a File Manager.",
Toast.LENGTH_SHORT).show();
}

In code above, if setDataAndType is "*/*" a builtin file browser is opened to pick any file, if I set "text/plain" Dropbox is opened. I have Dropbox, Google Drive installed. If I uninstall Dropbox only "*/*" works to open file browser. This is Android 4.4.2. I can download contents from Dropbox and for Google Drive, by getContentResolver().openInputStream(data.getData()).

Candlelight

Answer 5

Thread is old but I needed this kind of feature in my application and I found a way to do it so I decided to post it if it can help anyone in my situation.

As our device fleet is composed only by Samsung Galaxy Tab 2, I just had to find the file explorer's package name, give the right path and I succeed open my file explorer where I wanted to. I wish I could use Intent.CATEGORY_APP_FILES but it is only available in API 29.

  Intent intent = context.getPackageManager().getLaunchIntentForPackage("com.sec.android.app.myfiles");
  Uri uri = Uri.parse(rootPath);
  if (intent != null) {
      intent.setData(uri);
      startActivity(intent);
  }

As I said, it was easy for me because our clients have the same device but it may help others to find a workaround for their own situation.

Gaius

Answer 6

this code will work with OI File Manager :

        File root = new File(Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory().getPath()
+ "/myFolder/");
        Uri uri = Uri.fromFile(root);

        Intent intent = new Intent();
        intent.setAction(android.content.Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
        intent.setData(uri);
        startActivityForResult(intent, 1);

you can get OI File manager here : http://www.openintents.org/en/filemanager

Stopover

I had to replace Uri.fromFile(...) with Uri.parse(...) - as shown in OP's question and the accepted answer. – Threnody

Answer 7

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW);
intent.setDataAndType(uri, DocumentsContract.Document.MIME_TYPE_DIR);
startActivity(intent);

Will open files app home screen

Peag

This doesn't even open the application selector from a notification. It just doesn't do anything. – Bawdyhouse

It would open this "No items" in recent whatever URI you send. – Crosshead

Answer 8

Today, you should be representing a folder using its content: URI as obtained from the Storage Access Framework, and opening it should be as simple as:

Intent i = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_VIEW, uri);
startActivity(i);

Lacagnia

How to specify the uri? I tried val filePath = Uri.parse(Environment.DIRECTORY_DOCUMENTS + "/myFolder/") doesn't work. – Sindee

@SamChen as obtained from the Storage Access Framework are the keywords here. This does not work with file: URIs. – Lacagnia

Answer 9

Intent intent = new Intent(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);

intent.setType("text/csv");

intent.addCategory(Intent.CATEGORY_OPENABLE);

try {
      startActivityForResult(Intent.createChooser(intent, "Select a File to Upload"), 0);

} catch (android.content.ActivityNotFoundException ex) {
  ex.printStackTrace();
}

then you just need to add the response

public void  onActivityResult(int requestCode, int resultCode, Intent data){

switch (requestCode) {
  case 0: {
     //what you want to do
    //file = new File(uri.getPath());
  }
}
}

Chunky

Answer 10

You seem close.

I would try to set the URI like this :

String folderPath = Environment.getExternalStorageDirectory()+"/pathTo/folder";

Intent intent = new Intent();  
intent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_GET_CONTENT);
Uri myUri = Uri.parse(folderPath);
intent.setDataAndType(myUri , "file/*");   
startActivity(intent);

But it's not so different from what you have tried. Tell us if it changes anything ?

Also make sure the targeted folder exists, and have a look on the resulting Uri object before to send it to the intent, it may not be what we are expected.

Johnsonjohnsonese

No, unfortunately this does NOT work. Same result as with my code above. – Tengdin

what's in the 'myUri' object before to send it to the intent ? – Johnsonjohnsonese

What do you mean by "what is in the URI"? Do you mean sth like uri.toString()? – Tengdin

Hi! Please take a look at the similar question #50073138 – Personalty

Answer 11

File temp = File.createTempFile("preview", ".png" );
String fullfileName= temp.getAbsolutePath();
final String fileName = Uri.parse(fullfileName)
                    .getLastPathSegment();
final String filePath = fullfileName.
                     substring(0,fullfileName.lastIndexOf(File.separator));
Log.d("filePath", "filePath: " + filePath);

fullfileName:

/mnt/sdcard/Download_Manager_Farsi/preview.png

filePath:

/mnt/sdcard/Download_Manager_Farsi

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