Is there a photo on your Android phone or tablet, and you need to get it onto yourPC. What method do you use? You might use a USB cable, rely on Bluetooth, or others.

Put simply, transferring files from Android to a Windows PC isn’t difficult (in fact, it’s just as simple as transferring data from Android to Mac OS X); there is a wealth of alternatives, each of which we’re going to outline for you below.

Transfer Files With A USB Cable

Equipped with just a phone and a PC? Got the original USB cable that was packed with your phone handy? (It’s always preferable to use the original to avoid any possible issues.)

This is transferring files from your Android device to your PC in its most basic form. Connecting your phone to your PC with a cable may not have the slickness of using an app over WiFi, but it’s certainly effective.

Note that if you’re connecting these devices for the first time, Windows will attempt to install the relevant drivers. This might include some dedicated data-syncing software, which can prove useful, although it might also be considered bloatware, so don’t install it if you don’t think you’ll use it.

PC To Android Via Bluetooth

Is your PC Bluetooth enabled? Perhaps you have a Bluetooth USB dongle, or your device has Bluetooth built in. Either way, sending data via Bluetooth from Android to Windows is an option. 

Begin by enabling Bluetooth on both devices, and then pairing with the Windows computer you aim to send your file to. With a connection established, use your chosen file browser in Android — or your Gallery app — to select the file you wish to transfer. Use the Android Share button to use Bluetooth to share the data, selecting your PC in the subsequent list. Meanwhile in Windows, find the Bluetooth icon in the System Tray, right-click and select Receive a file, and click Next to commence transfer.

Once the data has transferred, you should receive notice that the file transfer has completed successfully. The data will appear on your Windows computers in thePublic folder, although it’s worth mentioning that there seems to be some stability issues with this method across Android devices, so we wouldn’t advise relying on it.

Send Data To Windows From ES File Manager

If you’re using ES File Manager and have your Windows library folders shared on your local network then you should be able to easily copy the data you want to transfer from Android to Windows within this file manager.

After opening the app, tap the menu button in the top left corner (three horizontal lines) and expand Network. Tap LAN then Scan, which will be across the bottom of the display. A few moments later, your Windows computer should be displayed, labelled with its IP address on your network.

Tap to explore the folders, and use the contextual menu in ES File Explorer to paste the data into your preferred directory.

Copy To SD Card And Read From Your PC

A way of keeping it simple and not bothering with apps or wireless networking protocols is to copy the data to your phone’s microSD card. This is a particularly useful option if you don’t have a USB cable and the other options aren’t available, but you will need a microSD to SD card adapter.

This is essentially the modern interpretation of the old “save to floppy disk and copy to another computer” only with physically smaller devices and media.

Naturally this will only work if you have a suitable card reader for your SD card, but in the absence of other options it can be effective. Just make sure you put your microSD card back in your phone when you’re done! If your phone doesn’t have a microSD card slot, most modern Android devices support USB OTG, so you can use a USB storage device as long as you have an OTG cable or adaptor.