You might be wondering why. Well… It combines the easy and advanced into one sweet package. So if you want an app that will let you explore your device comprehensively, then this is the app for you. Unfortunately… Update 2019:
“Last April of 2019, the ES File Explorer was removed from the Google Play Store. It was reported that the company that owns ES File Explorer, DO Global, was committing ‘click fraud’ by clicking ads in users’ apps in the background without permission.”The ES File Explorer is also not available anymore on the developer’s site, DO Global.
How to use ES File Explorer for Android
The purpose of exploring articles is to introduce new users to an exceptionally great app. It also serves to remind veterans of some overlooked features of the app they love. This article will be exploring ES File Explorer is a thorough manner. In this article, you’ll learn about the following in ES File Explorer app for Android.
1. User-Interface
The interface of the app is traditionally mixed with new elements. The home screen might baffle you at first because you wouldn’t have seen so many folders on your Android device before. The app starts in the root of your internal memory which is also called an sd card for some reason. The actual SD card is called Sdcard on the app. This is not an isolated problem of ES File Explorer though, the folders are named like this by Android. In the above screenshot, you can see a lot of folders residing in my smartphone’s internal memory. Some even come with a little picture to let you know which app they belong to. This is a nice touch if you are in a hurry. Navigation is super easy thanks to the drop-down menu of the file explorer. Tap on the top right corner of the screen (the area which says sd card in the screenshot). And you will be able to see all the directories on your Android device. Here is an example of what to expect: From there you can instantly jump to the most visited folders on your device. As you can see the “0” is my internal memory. Only 26.25 GB is available for use as system files take a ton of space on Android. The ext sd card is an abbreviation of an external SD card, here I’m using a 64 GB one. Thankfully you can also change the view of the folders. If you are going to find and modify files and whatnot, it is better to get comfortable. For example, if I’m going to bulk move a lot of files, it is better to make the icons smaller. This way I can see relatively more items on one screen. Similarly, if I need to find a particular picture within the ES File Explorer, I would make the icons larger. This will resize the image thumbnails to a respectable size as well. Another great feature of ES File Explorer is Windows. Tap on the windows icon on the bottom right side of the screen and a dashboard will slide in from the right showing all the open windows. From there you can easily navigate to the open active windows. This is the best way to copy stuff from one folder to another.
2. Network and Downloads
While the ES File Explorer is a great file explorer, it does a lot more than just that. There is a great file downloader available for you to use. Simply select the downloader whenever you are downloading anything from the internet and it will download it for you. The app also comes with powerful networking features. Connecting to a network and sharing files is easy with ES File Explorer. This feature alone deserves a full-blown tutorial. There are also FTP, cloud and even Remote Manager features available. You can also stream media to an Android TV enabled device. This app also allows you to sign into multiple Dropbox accounts, something which is sorely missing from the official app.
3. Apps, Storage, and Hiding
ES File Explorer comes with a robust app detection and management system. This means you can share installed apps with other people in seconds. While this feature is not as advanced as dedicated file sender, it is still a good one to have in case of need. The app automatically generates an APK file to send which then installs on the receiving Android device. If you need a solid analysis of your storage space, ES File Explorer can also provide you with that. The app will take some time and then make a clean looking graph to tell you what is hogging most of the space. One interesting thing about ES File Explorer is the file hiding feature. It not only hides the file from ES File Explorer but also other apps as well. For example, there is an embarrassing photo of you riding a pony in a fare. You can’t delete it and you don’t want it showing up every time you open up the gallery app. You can either use a gallery app for Android or simply hide it by using ES File Explorer.
4. Music Player and Optimizer
This file explorer for Android comes with a basic music player too. While it is not as great as PowerAmp or other dedicated music players for Android, it is still a good feature to have just in case. You can also install an additional plugin to help optimize your device. The plugin will enable app killing, cache cleaning, and power optimizing features.
Alternative Apps for ES File Explorer
Cx File ExplorerFX File ExplorerX-plore File ManagerFile Manager
Final Thoughts
There is so much more to ES File Explorer that I can write at least 4 articles about it. This is the beauty of a well-crafted and utilitarian app on Android. This is a proper file explorer and deserves the number one spot in the file manager for the Android throne. I highly recommend that you get this free app on your Android device as soon as you can. What is your favorite thing about this explorer? Let’s discuss that in the comments below.
