How to download pictures from galaxy phone to computer

The Samsung Galaxy S3 picture phone is generally outdated but the device remains functional as a quality camera and phone. In many cases, it is prudent to remove photos from older model phones to store them on a current computer or device where they remain accessible.

The older phone models are typically recycled or stashed in a drawer along with the photos they contain. Luckily, the Samsung Galaxy S3 is compatible with the common micro USB cable that can easily connect the phone to your computer.

If the micro USB port is non-functional, two other options exist for transferring photos to your computer. You can either share via a cloud account as an intermediary or use the phone’s share shot feature over a WIFI connection.

Galaxy S3 Photos to Computer

Connect the USB cable to your computer’s USB port. Most modern computers have one or more ports on the computer. Without one, an adapter can add a USB port to your computer although this is rarely needed.

Connect the micro USB end to your phone’s charging port while the phone is turned on. This immediately bridges the gap between your phone and computer. The connection on the phone will trigger a prompt. Choose to accept and share the phone’s content with the computer.

Open your control panel on the computer and you should see the phone. Click to access the phone’s files. Choose the media file to open all media. This includes songs and other downloads. You can copy and paste these to your computer’s hard-drive if desired as well.

Select the Camera file and choose DCIM. All photo and video files from your camera are stored under the DCIM file. Copy the entire folder or individual photos. Paste to the desired folder on your computer.

Saving to a Cloud

An easy option is saving your photos to a cloud account. Google Drive and Dropbox are both common cloud options and each has a free plan for minimal storage needs. You can setup an automatic backup to store all files on the cloud so they are never lost. This saves your files even when the phone is physically damaged or lost.

Without an auto backup, you must enter the photo album and share each photo to your cloud account. You can easily categorize photos into folders within your cloud while sharing to the account. This helps organize and date the photos into manageable groups.

After the photos are stored on the cloud account, you can either maintain the account or move them to your computer’s hard drive.

Share Shot Transfer

The share shot feature came standard on the Galaxy S3 model and it links to a computer for automatic sharing over WIFI. The feature is essentially a sync that backs up your photos automatically at home.

Connect to the same WIFI network as your computer. A password protected, home network is the best use of Share Shot. After connecting to the WIFI, you must enable WIFI Direct on the phone.

Access your menu, tap “Settings” then “More Settings” and lastly, “WIFI Direct.” The newly activated setting will search for other devices on the network. Select the computer you want to store the photos. This will create the connection but it does not share the photos just yet.

To setup S3 picture sharing between the connected devices, access your apps then open the camera. Tap the settings on the camera followed by “Shooting Mode.” Choose “Share Shot” to retrieve the connected devices. Confirm sharing between the phone and computer to finalize the process. Every photo taken will automatically share to your computer when the two devices are connected over the same WIFI network.