How do I copy a file path on Android?

Last reviewed: October 7, 2026 · Markdown version

The vendors' help pages do not document a "copy path" button. We read the file-manager help from Google, Samsung and Xiaomi for this question — Google's starts and ends at a File info screen (View file information, Files by Google Help, read 7 October 2026) — and none of them describes copying a file's path to the clipboard. What they do show is where a file is, in each app's own wording; the full path that other software expects is built from that plus a prefix Android documents. Both halves are below, along with the reason a pasted path often does not work anyway.

Files by Google: the location is in File info

Google's steps: open the app, "Tap a category or a storage device", tap More next to the file (or press and hold it in grid view), then "Tap File info. You'll see details such as modified time and location of the file" (View file information, Files by Google Help, read 7 October 2026). That page says nothing about selecting or copying the location text; it is silent on it. Going by Google's instructions alone, the location is something you read and then type.

Samsung and Xiaomi

Samsung's My Files guide describes finding files by category, by location ("You can view all files that are saved in a particular location, for example on an SD card") and by search, and goes on to Analyse storage; it does not mention a file's path or any way to copy one (How to use Samsung My Files App, Samsung UK, read 7 October 2026). Xiaomi publishes locations, but in its file manager's notation rather than as system paths — browser downloads and email attachments, for example, are "file manager/Download" (Common storage paths for mobile phone system cache files, Xiaomi UK, read 7 October 2026). That page, too, says nothing about copying.

What the full path looks like

The prefix comes from Android's platform documentation. Its table of device paths gives /storage/emulated/{userId}, with /sdcard as the optional system path, for "Shared internal storage", and notes that "All values in the Path column are a user-specific sandboxed storage" (Test multiple users, Android Open Source Project, read 7 October 2026). Google's own developer instructions use the form in practice — adb push system_raw.gz /storage/emulated/0/Download/ (Dynamic System Updates (DSU), Android Developers, read 7 October 2026). In that form, a file your file manager lists in Download is /storage/emulated/0/Download/ followed by its exact name, extension included.

The {userId} part matters on a phone with more than one user: each has a different number, and the platform keeps them apart — an app "can only access storage for the user it was started as" (Traditional storage, Android Open Source Project, read 7 October 2026).

Why a pasted path often fails

A path is only useful to an app that may read that location. From Android 11, apps may open media in shared storage "using direct file paths", through "The File API" and "Native libraries, such as fopen()", but the same page says "apps can no longer access files in any other app's dedicated, app-specific directory within external storage" (Storage updates in Android 11, Android Developers, read 7 October 2026). A path into Android/data will fail even when typed perfectly. Scoped storage explains the wider rule.

Our view: if the goal is getting a file into another app, sharing it from the file manager is usually more reliable than copying its path. Paths earn their place for a computer connected over USB, or a tool that asks for one, and there the layout above is mapped folder by folder.