If you’re the proud new owner of a Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 5, congratulations: your phone is among the few that has a display large enough to read PDFs and other documents. It also has the Samsung My Files app preinstalled.
Samsung My Files helps manage and find files stored on any Samsung device. This includes access to popular third-party cloud services like Samsung Cloud and Google Drive and files stored in your slotted SD card. So, with the Samsung My Files app, you don’t have to search every nook and cranny to get to those files. However, finding a specific file location may be tricky because the app aggregates everything together via categories. So, in this guide, we teach you how to use the Samsung My Files app to locate all your downloads.
First, you’ll need to enable a few Samsung My Files permissions
To access your files and folders, you need to activate the required permissions for your device. Below, we walk you through how to set the storage permissions for Samsung My Files. We’ve used a Samsung Galaxy S23 for this tutorial, but the steps are the same on all Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets that support My Files.
- Navigate to Settings.
- Tap Apps.
- Scroll down the list of apps and locate and tap My File.
- Select Permissions.
- Navigate to the Not Allowed section.
- Tap Music and Audio, and select Allow > Confirm.
Once you’ve turned on Music and Audio permissions, Photo and Video permissions will be enabled automatically. If the app is unused for a few months, it removes the required permissions by default.
You can view My Files from the Samsung App settings. This page lists the required and optional permissions for the app to function fully.
How to use Samsung My Files to find and use downloads
Once you’ve found your file, you may want to rename it. That way, you’ll always know what it is at first glance. But if you don’t remember the name off the top of your head and need to find out where that file is, use filters to narrow down the date and file type (such as document or image). We walk you through how to do this below.
- Open the Samsung My Files app. If you can’t locate the app within the App Drawer, search “My Files” on your device’s homepage.
- Tap Downloads
- Tap the magnifying glass icon.
- Type the file name and select any filter (including time and type). If you don’t know the file name, sort by time and file type.
- To review your file, tap the file name or image thumbnail.
Downloaded files show up at the top under Today. The file list (under Downloads) is sorted by date by default.
Most Samsung Galaxy phones and tablets come with Samsung My Files baked in, but if you can’t find the app, you can search for it in the Samsung Galaxy Store. You’ll also find the app on the Google Play store, and we’ve included a download link in the widget below.
Get the most out of your Samsung Galaxy phone or tablet
Having a single app that systematically groups files in one place is handy. But sometimes, it’s about more than finding your files while on the go. Navigating through your App Drawer while dealing with a congested list of preinstalled apps is still a headache. However, it doesn’t have to be this way. There are tips and tricks for Samsung Galaxy to level up your Android experience, including customizing and tweaking the UI to your liking and learning some nifty app swaps to replace your default software.
