To watch the video about this:

https://youtu.be/arQ2IrYMVPM

You are using an app or doing something within an app on an Android phone and you wish to save some information. You use the save function, but have no idea where the information was saved or even the name it was saved as.

This is now typical of modern computing functionality. It would appear that those in charge don't want people to know anything about the file system of the devices they own. Hence with iPhones, iPads, tablets, an Android phones, the save option operates as describe as above, and perhaps there may be a function within the app to recall the saved file.

But sometimes this does not even exist. For example in Facebook you may have the option to save a photo or video, but nowhere will it show where it was saved to or even the filename used.

The solution comes in to parts.

The first is having a more detailed knowledge of the app that you are using.

The second is having an understanding of the file system that is used on the device you were using. Preferably an understanding of file systems in general.

On all computing devices information is stored via a file name. Additionally files can be stored within folders. Folders also have names.

Via what is called a hierarchical folder structure, it is possible to defined and determine where a file is stored.

Depending on the app, where it is stored and the name it is given may or may not be provided to you:

File name and where stored

Some apps are more of the old school and have a save and save as function which allow you to determine the name of the file used to save your data and where it's going to be saved to. In this case you are fully in control and can determine where you going to store the data and the name you're going to give to the saved data and hence where to retrieve it from in the future. An example of such an app is WPS office.

Where stored but no name

Some apps may have the facility to define, within the apps settings, where information is going to be stored. because you define the storage location you will know where to retrieve it from in the future. To determine if such a setting exists, you'll need to search through the settings functions. An example of such an app is autoboy blackbox, which I use as a car dash cam.

Name but not where

some other apps may tell you the name of the file that is being saved but will not tell you where it is saved. An example is a browser like Google Chrome, when you are saving something from a webpage. Yet another example maybe saving an attachment from an email app such as Gmail.

In both these examples the file is usually saved in the phones storage under a folder called downloads.

Nothing given

Last situation is where you are given the ability to save information but have no idea at all where it is been saved to or the filename that has been used.

However often these apps provide some functionality to retrieve the file within the app. Sometimes within the retrieve function when a file is selected, highlighted, there may be a function, to provide details of the file. Those details may show where the file is being stored. An example of such an app is be sound recorder.

Where this functionality is not provided, other than doing a Google search to find out where it is stored, it may be necessary to use a file manager and painstakingly search for where information has been stored.

To understand how the hierarchy file system works, you need to use a file manager. Later versions of Android have a built-in file manager that can be accessed via settings, storage.

However this file manager has less functionality than some of the file managers that can be downloaded from the Google Play store.

Most file managers have the ability to search groups of folders or entire storage locations for a specific or partial file name.

Apps that automatically generate filenames often do so based on the date and time that the file was created. For example the file:

2021_03_29_07_58_34.mp4

Is a video file,. MP4, that was created at 7:58 and 34 seconds on the 29th of March 2021. The file name is made up of the year month day hour minute second.

If you know when a file was created you can use that knowledge to search for the date part of the file.

The more you understand how the file management system works, the more likely you are able to determine where particular apps store information.