why is it when I copy a *.txt text file from another android or pc to the
android sd card I can edit the file with any text editor on android but
when I create that same file on android in the same sd card location
I can only edit that *.txt text file with the program that created it

mike <this@address.is.invalid> writes:
>why is it when I copy a *.txt text file from another android or pc to the
>android sd card I can edit the file with any text editor on android but
>when I create that same file on android in the same sd card location
>I can only edit that *.txt text file with the program that created it

As far as I know, it depends on the directory where the file
is located. You could do a test where a file copied from PC
and a file created on Android are in the same directory.

When I want to make sure that I can edit a file on an external
card with the editor E, and the package name of E is, for example,
"com.example.editor.e", I place the file under the directory

Android/data/com.example.editor.e/files

on the external SD card. However, this does not help much when one
wants to be able to edit that file using different editors!

On 27-04-2023 06:20 Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:

> As far as I know, it depends on the directory where the file
> is located. You could do a test where a file copied from PC
> and a file created on Android are in the same directory.
>
> When I want to make sure that I can edit a file on an external
> card with the editor E, and the package name of E is, for example,
> "com.example.editor.e", I place the file under the directory
>
> Android/data/com.example.editor.e/files
>
> on the external SD card. However, this does not help much when one
> wants to be able to edit that file using different editors!

it may be more confusing than that because I created an empty text file in
my file manager and put that empty text file on the sd card in a folder
called "text files" and then I tried to open it in android and it would
open and it would appear to allow me to add text, but it wouldn't save it

if I copy an empty text file from windows to that same folder on the sd
card, the text editor opens it and saves it

I don't know why that happens

On Sat, 29 Apr 2023 22:26:25 +0530, mike wrote:

> On 27-04-2023 06:20 Stefan Ram <ram@zedat.fu-berlin.de> wrote:
>
>> As far as I know, it depends on the directory where the file
>> is located. You could do a test where a file copied from PC
>> and a file created on Android are in the same directory.
>>
>> When I want to make sure that I can edit a file on an external
>> card with the editor E, and the package name of E is, for example,
>> "com.example.editor.e", I place the file under the directory
>>
>> Android/data/com.example.editor.e/files
>>
>> on the external SD card. However, this does not help much when one
>> wants to be able to edit that file using different editors!
>
> it may be more confusing than that because I created an empty text file in
> my file manager and put that empty text file on the sd card in a folder
> called "text files" and then I tried to open it in android and it would
> open and it would appear to allow me to add text, but it wouldn't save it
>
> if I copy an empty text file from windows to that same folder on the sd
> card, the text editor opens it and saves it
>
> I don't know why that happens

IDK the details, but pretty sure it's a security design to keep apps
from modifying each others' data and possibly creating vulnerabilities.

I guess files created outside of android don't have an owner app so they
have wide-open access.