STILL can't get my Dropbox photos to show up in my Android gallery

Hey there @yeetandco,

When you choose the option to "Save to device", the default location is within the Downloads folder on your device. The images you've already saved should be located there.

However, when you choose to "Save to device", you can change the location the images are saved to so they can be found in your camera roll. Can you try the following:

Select the images in Dropbox and choose "Save to device".
Navigate to "Internal storage" (it will either be the first option on the screen or you may need to tap the menu icon in the top left corner to see it).
Choose the folder "DCIM".
Choose the folder "Camera" and save the images within there.

If you run into any issues then please send a screenshot, excluding any personal info, if it's relevant ie. you can't see one of the locations or options mentioned.

Let me know how it goes - Thanks!

Hello,

Thank you for your reply. This did not solve my problem. I had mentioned in the OP that I tried to download the pictures to specific internal storage folders that already appear in my gallery. While these pictures show up in their file system folders, they do not show up in Gallery. And for the sake of instagram multiple picture uploads, I need them to be seen in Gallery to accomplish that.

I also have already resynced my Dropbox, reset/cleared Gallery cache and restarted my device.

Any other tips?

@Daphne

Hey @yeetandco,

That's strange indeed. :thinking:

When I tested this out on an android device here, saving the image into the DCIM -> Camera folder resulted in the image showing within the Gallery.

Can you let me know the OS version of your device? Also, what version of the Dropbox mobile app do you have installed?

Are you getting any errors when trying to export the photos or does the app show the action is completed?

Finally, are you seeing the exported images saved within your internal storage and just not within the Gallery, or you're not seeing the images at all there?

Let me know what you find - Thanks!

I have the latest version of both the OS and Dropbox

No errors, and it does in fact show in the app as complete.

This is also in fact represented in the phone's file system for each folder I export/save to (DCIM, Instagram, downloads, ect.), but still does not show up in the gallery.

@Daphne

Hey @yeetandco,

Since the images are exporting into your mobile's internal storage correctly, then I would suggest contacting the manufacturer of your device via the official Android support page here, for further assistance with this.

From what I know there could be a few reasons that this could occur such as the folder the images are exported to being a "nomedia" folder. However the manufacturer of your device will have a much better insight into this and should be able to assist with pinpointing the reason these images don't show in the Gallery.

Sorry that I can't be of much more help but I hope this can point you in the right direction.

Keep us posted - Thanks!

Khimari

Hi,

I run into the same problem I've tried various folders and the only fix that I have found (and maybe why it worked for the DB helper) is when I export a single image at a time.

However not a fun time when trying to get a bunch of photography across to my phone.

Is this maybe what's happening?

Cheers,

Thanks for joining us here @Khimari, I hope you're well today!

Can you let me know if when you're exporting multiple images, do they appear correctly in the selected location?

Do you get any error messages at all?

Would you mind just letting me know the OS version your mobile device is running and the version of the Dropbox mobile app that's installed?

Let me know what you find!

Khimari

Hi Daphne,

Maybe I had not tried enough.

I moved them in from internal storage in my Camera roll folder, to another internal storage folder. Neither of which worked.

I then moved them all to a folder on my SD card, and they all showed up in my gallery.

So I guess I'm just going to keep doing that so long as it works.

Sorry for messaging too early before I tried the rest haha.

No problem at all @Khimari, I'm just glad to hear it's working for you!

If there's anything else that I can help with, don't hesitate to give me a nudge here, I'd be more than happy to help.

Have a great day!

Themagicaloz

Is there any way to move photos from drop box straight to camera roll and have them show up? I know it automatically moves them to download folder...but even when I change it to camera roll or a folder I jave specifically made it says the have transferred but when I go to the folder it is empty. It does work for one photo at a time as mentioned above but that is pain stakingly slow. Surely this has been fixed by now? Jo

Thanks for joining us here @Themagicaloz!

Would you mind trying to export multiple images when you connect to a different WiFi network to see if there's any difference in the behaviour there?

Also, can you try doing this over cellular data too just to cover all possibilities?

Let me know how it goes!

This issue was never fixed. Still never found a solution and for my situation, I ended up buying a USB-c to USB A thumb drive and I transfer all my photos manually. Also why I ended up canceling my Dropbox subscription

os_oha

Hey, everyone struggling with the issue of batch-transfered files not showing up on your android device, after a night of struggling with the same problem, trying to move files around and testing options, I finally found the solution:

use google drive.

thanks, dropbox.

Dropbox for Android (v176.2.8, tested with number of Android smartphones v9++)

...has a nasty issue - when a number of photos is exported (save to device, any folder chosen - Downloads, DCIM root, DCIM camera, etc, guaranteed to have no NOMEDIA) these photos would never appear in any 'recent photos', not picked up by phone's gallery or visible in any photo selection dialog - effectively they bypass the file registration system on Android. The file manager would see those pictures with correct file names and in a correct (chosen) location, those pictures could be opened from the file manager or via desktop/USB connection file explorer but they would not be visible with any of standard image access tools.

This is clearly a bug that must be fixed.

Is there a workaround to fix this?

p.s. when I save a single photo (Export -> Save to Device) it would be visible in gallery app and in all photo/image selector dialog.

It does not work when there is a selection of photos is saved

Obviously, it is boring and really stupid to click and save every single photo individually, especially when you have few dozens to save...

Hi there @dmg_2020, thanks for reaching out to us about this.

I'd be more than happy to help look into this with you, I'll just need a bit more info. For example:

Are you not able to see bulk exports consistently or is it only for a short period of time?
Do you experience the same behavior after you reboot your device as well?
Does this happen when you download files from your mobile's browser?

Keep me posted!

It is much simpler than that.

It does not depend on any timing, I just select let me say 10 images (jpeg files with standard .jpg extension) click 'export' -> 'save to device' -> choose folder ...

the download process would start and the images WOULD BE saved in selected folder

but those images WOULD NOT be available in standard LG gallery app, Samsung gallery app or even in Google's Photo App, they would never be available in any of 'open file/image selection dialogs'.

Effectively, the saved images behave like they were stored in NOMEDIA-tagged folder while they are saved in a regular folder.

If I will save those 10 images one by one using the same 'export' -> 'save to device' -> the same folder - they would appear in all galleries and selection dialogs.

The devices I use are kept in a good condition, all updates applied, rebooted, plenty of available storage.

I haven't tried web interface, just the native Android app - but thanks for the idea, the browser might behave differently.

Thanks for the detailed reply, @dmg_2020!

I'd be happy to create a ticket for you so that we have a more in-depth look on this together.

Before that though, could you try downloading from the web and let me know what you see?

Thanks again!

Hello!

I've tried to use the browser (Chrome, up to date version, Android) but it saves multiple selection as a single .zip file - so it works differently than App that saves files individually.

Thanks for trying that out for me, @dmg_2020.

I've sent you a ticket to the email address connected to your Community profile, so please check your inbox and we'll take it from there.

Looking forward to hearing back from you!

Hello, Lusil!

I can see your email and a link to zendesk but my correct username and password are not accepted -

thank you!

No worries, @dmg_2020. :slight_smile: I just saw your reply and have made sure to get back to you.

Surge92

I'm having a similar problem. My downloaded Dropbox photos used to automatically show up in my Downloads gallery album. Ever since my phone upgraded to Android 10 a few days ago, however, they no longer show, even though they're downloading. The files show in the Download directory, but I have to C+P them to another album in my gallery and then move them to the Downloads album for them to show. To add to the mystery, when I try to move the photos to the Downloads album, I get a prompt telling me the photo is already in the album (even though I can't see it) and asking me if I want to replace it. Only once the "invisible" file has been replaced can I move the downloaded photo to that album. If anyone has any solutions, I'm all ears.

TBartley

Just coming to confirm this is still an issue and it has been for over a year.

Dropbox people who try and help here it's not a complex issue on our side.

If we single export a photo it's fine but if we batch export they don't show up in the gallery.

So for me this is an issue because when I go to post a photo to Instagram it's not available.

I've been having to individually export each photo for a few years to get around this now but it's the only problem I have with Dropbox, it's very time consuming and I don't understand why the people from Dropbox never seem to understand the issue when it's bought up here. It's nothing to do with wifi or celluar or index folders or anything. It's as simple as single export works and and batch save to device doesnt.

I'm on a OnePlus 6T running the newest version of Android but I've had this issue for at least 2 years across all versions of android.

Hey everyone, thanks for all your updates here!

I'm sorry to hear you're having issues with this, I'd like to look into it further with you and pass along all the info you've provided to the right place.

I've reached out to the email linked with your profile here @TBartley so if you'd like to, please check your inbox when you have a moment.

For anyone else also having this issue, please create a ticket here and let me know the ticket number (eg. #1234567) so that I can follow up with you there.

Thank you!

harleyandy

I am having the same problem and it is UNBELIEVABLY frustrating. I have followed all the steps as outlined in this thread and it still doesn't work. Like everyone, I want to upload multiple images which is only possible via the image folder on a mobile device. Open Dropbox, select the files and then Save to device. This just does nothing. Try and Save again and the device says that do you want to overwrite the images; but they aren't there! Then maybe, one image magically appears in the images folder, but the rest are nowhere to be seen. Refreshing the device doesn't help and they cannot be found anywhere on the device. I am using a Samsung S9.

harleyandy

PS. This may be a version issue but the following steps -

Navigate to "Internal storage" (it will either be the first option on the screen or you may need to tap the menu icon in the top left corner to see it).
Choose the folder "DCIM".
Choose the folder "Camera" and save the images within there.

Do not exist as an option.