open_system_folder

Flutter plugin to open system folder in the File Manager.

Introduction

When you store user files in the file system, and you don't want to write custom UI to manage these files - you can just open a system default File Manager app and let user to look, copy, share or delete content there.

Android supported folders:

  • Download (less than Android 10)
  • Documents (Android 10+)

iOS supported folders:

as iOS doesn't have system folders, it always opens your app's documents folder.

Getting started

find pubspec.yaml in your project and add this line under dependencies::

import 'package:open_system_folder/open_system_folder.dart';

Android

setup

No additional setup required.

code example

// opens Documents folder in the Android's default file manager app
await openSystemFolder(systemFolder: SystemFolder.documents);

// opens Documents/Some/One folder in the Android's default file manager app
await openSystemFolder(systemFolder: SystemFolder.documents, subPath: 'Some/One');

iOS

setup

add UISupportsDocumentBrowser to your Info.plist file and set YES value to it - it allows your app's Documents folder to be discovered by Files app. Without this, you won't be able to see your app in the Documents folder in the Files app.

code example

// opens YourApp's folder in the Files app
await openSystemFolder(systemFolder: SystemFolder.documents);

// opens YourApp/Some/One folder in the the Files app
await openSystemFolder(systemFolder: SystemFolder.documents, subPath: 'Some/One');

tips how to create files in system folders

Download folder

Android: before accessing files, for SDK < 13 you should use https://pub.dev/packages/permission_handler before accessing file/folder. You also need to update your manifest with:

<application 
    ...
    android:requestLegacyExternalStorage="true"
  >

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.WRITE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE"/>

Download folder is assessible by /storage/emulated/0/Download/.

iOS: consider using getApplicationDocumentsDirectory from path_provider

Documents folder

TBD

Future plans

  1. Android has different system folders by versions. Looks like Download folder is stable, but Documents or any other possible folders (video, images, etc) could be missed. So I want to figure out what can be supported.
  2. TBD

Changelog

Please see the Changelog page to know what's recently changed.

Contributions

for bugs - please fill an issue. you can also fix/improve something yourself and create a pull request.

Libraries

open_system_folder