'others' in storage sense

[Pranjal mittal]

I am having trouble identifying and locating the 'others' items in storage sense, tried searching it through PC couldn't find it.. plz help

 

[gpobernardo]

What phone are you using?

The files categorized under "Others" in Storage Sense are files that the phone aren't recognizing at the moment the Storage Sense app was allowed to run. This means that even if the files are supposedly recognizable, if the phone didn't recognize them yet, they will be listed under "Others".

Proof: I transferred around 3GB of photos to my phone by directly inserting the SD Card to my PC, copying the photos to the SD Card and then inserting the SD Card to my phone. The photos didn't appear in the Photo Hub, and the Others storage increased by 3GB (Photos Storage didn't increase in size). I simply renamed the folders in which the photos were saved and they started to appear in the Photo Hub - the Others Storage decreased by 3GB while the Photos Storage increased by 3GB.

While the proof applies to phones with an SD Card, it could also apply to phones without an SD Card.

Hence, you may try to rename the folders in your phone, i.e. by using the Microsoft Files app or through your PC - just make sure you return them to the original name after. For example, rename Documents to Documentsasdf and then rename it back to Documents. This should force the phone to recognize all the files that it should be able to recognize.

If the others storage doesn't change after this method, then those files may not be visible through regular browsing methods (hidden). In this case, you may try simply connecting your phone to your PC and then allowing the Windows Phone app for desktop recognize your phone - then just let it run for around 15 minutes.

Let us know what happens.

 

[Pranjal mittal]

done that... my pc too does not show the files moreover the desktop app states it just as others no option of viewing or deleting it.....

 

[gpobernardo]

Have you tried using Storage Sense and then deleting the temporary files? This method also clears out some or most, if not all, of the space occupied by the "Others" category.

 

[Pranjal mittal]

yeah I got 973mb in temp files it clears just 20-30 MB at a time its gonna take a while....

 

[gpobernardo]

Do update us when Storage Sense is done taking "a while", the information may be useful to other users who may have the same issue.

In my case, I don't have anything in Temporary Files and Others in my L1020, but I do remember that deleting the temporary files also cleared out the "Others" category in the past.