1. Method 1: automatic transfer

The easiest way to retrieve photos and videos from your smartphone.

Connect your smartphone to your computer

Connect your phone to a USB port on your PC using your phone’s charger (unplug the cable from the power plug to keep only the USB cable).

Take a look at your phone right away, as it will likely ask you what you want to do: “charge my phone”, “transfer photos and videos” and “transfer files”. On the phone, then select “transfer photos and videos”. Some smartphones will instead display “Allow file transfer to your device”, click to confirm.

Import photos

To start importing photos and videos, go to Windows File Explorer, click on “This PC” in the left sidebar menu, and locate your smartphone:

Right-click / “Import photos and videos”:

The search for photos and videos starts:

Once all files have been found on the phone, click on “Import new items now”, then on “Import”. The next time you perform an import, Windows will only download new items, very useful to avoid duplicates on your PC!

The transfer of items begins. If you want to empty your phone at the same time, meaning keep only the photos on your PC, check the box “Erase after import”:

At the end of the transfer, the imported photos and videos will be available in the folder “import date + the import name you defined above”, this folder being located in “Pictures”:

Keep original folders to make sorting easier

If you want to keep the original folders in order to maintain some classification of your photos, before starting the import click on “More options” and select “Original file name (keep folders)”. Photos and videos will be sorted by source: internal smartphone memory, SD card, application folders (Facebook, WhatsApp…), Downloads, DCIM/Camera folder (photos taken with the smartphone camera)…

Let’s see this in pictures. During import setup, click on “More options”:

Then select “Original file name (keep folders)” – note the other renaming options available, which can also be very useful, such as adding the date to imported file names.

Display photos

To view the transferred photos and videos in order to start sorting them, go to File Explorer then to the “Pictures” folder. The imported photos and videos will be available in a folder in the following format “import date + chosen import name”.

2. Method 2: manual transfer

Using the manual method, you can transfer only the photos and videos you are interested in.

1. Locate where photos are stored on your smartphone

Before transferring all your photos, you need to find where your phone stores them. Indeed, your smartphone can save them in internal memory or on a Micro SD card (if your phone has one). To find where your photos are stored, it’s very simple.

Open the “Camera” app on your phone, then open the “Settings” menu (represented by a gear icon on Samsung for example), and look for the “Photo storage” submenu. It will indicate whether your photos are stored in the phone’s internal memory or directly on the SD card. If you do not see such a setting, go to the “Settings” app, then “Storage”. You should see a submenu dedicated to photo and video storage taken by the camera: internal memory or Micro SD card.

If photos are stored in your phone’s internal memory, take the opportunity to change the setting: this will free up internal memory, which is necessary for installing new apps and Android updates (your phone’s operating system). If you do not have a Micro SD card, you can easily find one in supermarkets or online. Choose a 64GB or 128GB card, sold between €10 and €20 (a bit more in stores).

Your photos are stored either in the internal memory of your smartphone or on the Micro SD card. It’s up to you to find out!

1. Connect your smartphone to your computer

Now that you know where your photos are stored on your phone, you can retrieve them. Plug your phone into your computer using the Micro USB cable provided with your smartphone (usually, you just use the cable from your charger, made of 2 parts: the cable and the power adapter. Unplug the adapter and you now have a “USB – Micro USB cable” needed for transfer.

Once the phone and your computer are connected, your phone will likely ask if you want to transfer files or charge the battery. Confirm the first option offered.

2. Display photos from smartphone on PC

On your computer, open File Explorer (also called “This PC”, accessible via the shortcut on the desktop or the yellow folder on the taskbar). In File Explorer, click on “This PC”. You should now see your phone. Double-click on it and go to the “Camera” folder then the “DCIM” folder.

If photos are stored on the micro-SD card, go through the “Card” folder. If photos are stored in internal memory, go through the “Phone” folder (to know where your photos are stored, refer to the first paragraph of the tutorial). Here is the full path of the folder where your photos and videos are stored:

Target: Phone/Card/DCIM/Camera or Phone/Phone/DCIM/Camera depending on whether your photos are stored on the SD card or in internal memory.

Note: Feel free to open both locations to check for photos and videos both on the phone AND on the Micro SD card (this will be the case if you added a Micro SD card after purchasing your smartphone and later configured it to store photos on the memory card).

3. Select photos to transfer

Now select the photos you want to transfer to your computer. You can move all photos, a selection of photos, or a range of photos. Here are the associated actions:

Ctrl + A: select all photos
Ctrl + Click: select some photos
Shift + Click: select a range of photos (while holding Shift, click the first and last photo of the range)

Once selected, cut them by right-clicking and choosing “Cut”. You can also use Ctrl + X. This will transfer your photos to your computer.

If you do not want to move your photos but only copy them, select “Copy” or use Ctrl + C.

Use Ctrl + mouse click to select only the desired photos.

4. Transfer photos to your computer

Before moving your photos, immediately create a dedicated folder on your computer. Go to the “Pictures” folder in File Explorer. Then create a subfolder. Right-click in the window and select “New folder”. Rename it with a name that makes sense to you, such as “Phone Photos”, “Smartphone Photos”, “Samsung Photos”…

Then paste the previously selected photos to start the transfer. In the new folder, right-click and select “Paste”, or use Ctrl + V. Wait a few moments, and all your photos are now on your computer!

Now is the time to sort your files by deleting photos and videos you do not want to keep (using the “Delete” key or right-click → “Delete”). You can also adjust photo display (thumbnail size) using Ctrl + mouse wheel. Learn more about changing photo display.

To quickly view photos in full screen and scroll through them easily using the mouse wheel, I recommend using IrfanView, available for free download. Once the image is open, press Enter to view it full screen. I mention this software because Windows Photo Viewer is very slow to load… once you try it, you won’t go back!

Going further

I hope you now know how to easily move or copy your photos from your smartphone to your computer. If you were not able to complete the process, you can try using the file transfer software provided by your smartphone manufacturer, such as Samsung Kies for Samsung phones or Huawei HiSuite for Huawei phones.

The created folder will be placed in the same location you are currently in: Desktop, Documents, etc.
Please note that Windows automatically assigns a name to the created ZIP archive (it usually uses the name of the file you right-clicked on when creating the compressed file).

To change the name of the compressed file, right-click on it and choose Rename.