I've been playing with several file managers, and I thought I give out what I learned. Here you go:
I tested 4 file managers. They rank in this order: 1. Pocket File Manager 2. Pocket Explorer 3. Files 4. Aerize
You can quit reading this if you already agree with me, or if you are a very busy person that just needs someone to tell you what to do. My ranking is not subjective. I can back it up. Keep reading if you care!
In 4th place, or more aptly named LAST place, Aerize is just junk. How on earth it made it in a shootout article against Pocket Explorer here on the WPCentral is a complete mystery to me. Don't waste your time.
In 3rd place, Files. This one can access all of the folders you see when you plug your phone into your computer. That's it, nothing special. It does have a couple of nice features. First, it shows thumbnail views of photos. Second, it has a nice "copy to" button or "move to" button function for moving files to other folders. And the coolest one, "share", which will put all of the selected files in an email attachement, or drop them into a folder on your OneDrive. It can share via any of your email accounts, text msg, One Drive, OneNote, Tap to Share, and the wierdest one: Pocket Explorer (which is my number 2 app choice). But photos you select (from your Photos folder) automatically get shared into, your Photos Folder. Wait, what? Yep, it automatically shares it to the same folder it came from. Odd. Although the sharing can push files to your Onedrive, you can't actually browse your OneDrive. Browsing is limited to just the basic folders that I mentioned. So, other than that nothing special here. You will find that these features are common in the No. 1 and No. 2 choices.
In 2nd Place, Pocket Explorer. The cool option on this one is, if you select several files, there is a "Properties" option that will tell you how many files you have currently selected and what the total size is. You can also change the layout from large thumbnails to small thumbnails to tiled really easily. That's nifty. As far as moving files around, there is a dedicated "Move to local folder", but you can simply use cut/copy and paste options. That seems cleaner to me anyway. The sharing does NOT include text message, which is an oversight in my opinion, and darn near made it fall behind Files in the ranking. But what saved it is browsing on your OneDrive. That's cool. The last thing that gave this an edge that none of the others have is pinning files or folders to the home screen. That's cool.
In first place, PFM. Pocket File Manager. This baby has everything all the previous apps have (except the cool pinning feature), plus it has not just OneDrive access and browsing, but it also has Dropbox, Googledrive, Yendex.disk, and Copy. I was able to do a copy/paste from a OneDrive folder to a Dropbox folder. How cool is that? It also has Bluetooth transfers, a file downloader (by url), sorting options, Add to Zip file (that's nifty, although buggy at times), and "virtual folders" which are not accessible through any other app besides PFM. Using the file downloader saves files to the virtual folder. So if you want them accessible to the Documents folder, you have to do a cut and paste (don't forget, you can paste them just about anywhere you want to VERY easily). And the last thing, it can act as an FTP server. I have NO idea how to get this thing to work or what purpose it has, but the software states that up to 10 people can be logged into it. Just like the number 2 choice, this one can't share to text. So I am planning on keeping #3 "Files" for the purpose of text sharing photos and videos. The review below says you can use PFM to set music as ringtones, but I haven't been able to figure that one out yet.
This hasn't been a complete coverage of HOW-TO type stuff, but just my quick rundown of comparisons. Add to this if you like.
Here are some screenshots in this review:
Pocket File Manager – The best file manager app for Windows Phone 8.1 - Windows Phone Latest
I tested 4 file managers. They rank in this order: 1. Pocket File Manager 2. Pocket Explorer 3. Files 4. Aerize
You can quit reading this if you already agree with me, or if you are a very busy person that just needs someone to tell you what to do. My ranking is not subjective. I can back it up. Keep reading if you care!
In 4th place, or more aptly named LAST place, Aerize is just junk. How on earth it made it in a shootout article against Pocket Explorer here on the WPCentral is a complete mystery to me. Don't waste your time.
In 3rd place, Files. This one can access all of the folders you see when you plug your phone into your computer. That's it, nothing special. It does have a couple of nice features. First, it shows thumbnail views of photos. Second, it has a nice "copy to" button or "move to" button function for moving files to other folders. And the coolest one, "share", which will put all of the selected files in an email attachement, or drop them into a folder on your OneDrive. It can share via any of your email accounts, text msg, One Drive, OneNote, Tap to Share, and the wierdest one: Pocket Explorer (which is my number 2 app choice). But photos you select (from your Photos folder) automatically get shared into, your Photos Folder. Wait, what? Yep, it automatically shares it to the same folder it came from. Odd. Although the sharing can push files to your Onedrive, you can't actually browse your OneDrive. Browsing is limited to just the basic folders that I mentioned. So, other than that nothing special here. You will find that these features are common in the No. 1 and No. 2 choices.
In 2nd Place, Pocket Explorer. The cool option on this one is, if you select several files, there is a "Properties" option that will tell you how many files you have currently selected and what the total size is. You can also change the layout from large thumbnails to small thumbnails to tiled really easily. That's nifty. As far as moving files around, there is a dedicated "Move to local folder", but you can simply use cut/copy and paste options. That seems cleaner to me anyway. The sharing does NOT include text message, which is an oversight in my opinion, and darn near made it fall behind Files in the ranking. But what saved it is browsing on your OneDrive. That's cool. The last thing that gave this an edge that none of the others have is pinning files or folders to the home screen. That's cool.
In first place, PFM. Pocket File Manager. This baby has everything all the previous apps have (except the cool pinning feature), plus it has not just OneDrive access and browsing, but it also has Dropbox, Googledrive, Yendex.disk, and Copy. I was able to do a copy/paste from a OneDrive folder to a Dropbox folder. How cool is that? It also has Bluetooth transfers, a file downloader (by url), sorting options, Add to Zip file (that's nifty, although buggy at times), and "virtual folders" which are not accessible through any other app besides PFM. Using the file downloader saves files to the virtual folder. So if you want them accessible to the Documents folder, you have to do a cut and paste (don't forget, you can paste them just about anywhere you want to VERY easily). And the last thing, it can act as an FTP server. I have NO idea how to get this thing to work or what purpose it has, but the software states that up to 10 people can be logged into it. Just like the number 2 choice, this one can't share to text. So I am planning on keeping #3 "Files" for the purpose of text sharing photos and videos. The review below says you can use PFM to set music as ringtones, but I haven't been able to figure that one out yet.
This hasn't been a complete coverage of HOW-TO type stuff, but just my quick rundown of comparisons. Add to this if you like.
Here are some screenshots in this review:
Pocket File Manager – The best file manager app for Windows Phone 8.1 - Windows Phone Latest
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