How to get the (absolute) path to the Download folder? - dart

Question

In a Flutter project, how to get the (absolute) path to the Download folder in my Android device?
My Download folder is next those one: Alarms, Android, data, DCIM, Documents, Movies, Music, Notifications, Pictures, ...
Device: GALAXY S8+ SM-G955F. Android 8.0. Not Rooted. Flutter beta v0.5.1. Dart 2.0.0-dev.58.0. Windows 10
File manager showing my Download folder
Using this package path_provider I got those 3 paths:
/data/user/0/com.exemple.fonzo/cache
/data/user/0/com.exemple.fonzo/app_flutter
/storage/emulated/0
I cannot find or access those 3 folders from Solid-Explorer file manager on my un-rooted device GALAXY S8+ SM-G955F. Android 8.0. I just want to find the absolute path to a folder (like Download) that:
I can access with my Android file manager app.
I can write files in this folder from my flutter project.

Answer 1

I personaly use this method :
path_provider: 2.0.9
Future<String?> getDownloadPath() async {
Directory? directory;
try {
if (Platform.isIOS) {
directory = await getApplicationDocumentsDirectory();
} else {
directory = Directory('/storage/emulated/0/Download');
// Put file in global download folder, if for an unknown reason it didn't exist, we fallback
// ignore: avoid_slow_async_io
if (!await directory.exists()) directory = await getExternalStorageDirectory();
}
} catch (err, stack) {
print("Cannot get download folder path");
}
return directory?.path;
}
Output :
On IOS it create a folder with the name of your app and put the file inside it. Users can easily find the folder, it's intuitive.
On Android, I test if the default download folder exist (it work most of the time), else I put inside the external storage directory (in this case, it's hard for the user to manually find the file...).
For IOS : (Mentioned by #Wai Yan)
Maybe add the follwing key in your plist.info to better see your app in document folder (https://stackoverflow.com/a/74457977/10088439).
UISupportsDocumentBrowser

Answer 2

I used this library to get public download directory in Android
ext_storage
import 'package:ext_storage/ext_storage.dart';
Future<String> _getPathToDownload() async {
return ExtStorage.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(
ExtStorage.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS);
}
final String path = await _getPathToDownload();
print(path);

Answer 3

You could use the downloads_path_provider package. You will have add <uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_EXTERNAL_STORAGE" /> to your AndroidManifest.xml. Also if you plan to write into that folder and want your application to work for android version > 6 you must ask the user for writing permission. You could do that with https://pub.dev/packages/permission_handler.
await PermissionHandler().requestPermissions([PermissionGroup.storage]);

Answer 4

Change the function getApplicationDocumentsDirectory() to getExternalStorageDirectory() it should show the external directory for the app.

Answer 5

You should use native feature.
At time, to access phone directory is provided by path_provider package .
With it, you can acceess: temporary directory, app directory, external storage.
Doc: https://pub.dartlang.org/packages/path_provider

Answer 6

In Flutter
https://pub.dev/packages/ext_storage
Installation
Add ext_storage as a dipendency in your project pubspeck.yaml.
dependencies:
ext_storage:
Usage
First, you write import ext_storage package.
import 'package:ext_storage/ext_storage.dart';
void dirpath() async {
var path = await ExtStorage.getExternalStoragePublicDirectory(ExtStorage.DIRECTORY_DOWNLOADS);
}

Answer 7

I simplified it without plugins
I used this code and it's working like a charm
Directory dir = Directory('/storage/emulated/0/Download');

Answer 8

Using path provider package, you should be able to do this:
import 'package:path_provider/path_provider.dart';
import 'package:path/path.dart' as p;
String? downloadDirectory;
if (Platform.isAndroid) {
final externalStorageFolder = await getExternalStorageDirectory();
if (externalStorageFolder != null) {
downloadDirectory = p.join(externalStorageFolder.path, "Downloads");
}
} else {
final downloadFolder = await getDownloadsDirectory();
if (downloadFolder != null) {
downloadDirectory = downloadFolder.path;
}
}