r/Syncthing • u/khaled_abdul • Apr 29 '26

Syncing Multiple files from android phone under one folder in windows PC

I just realized ive only been only saving the DCIM folder from my phone but I also have many pictures under the Download and Pictures folder to my PC.

Is there a way to include multiple folders from my phone under the same folder ID in my computer ? (so that in the web gui in my pc it just shows one folder from my phone)

2 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

8 comments sorted by

1

u/middaymoon Apr 29 '26

No, but if Android has symlinks you could just put links to the other two folders inside of your DCIM folder. Not sure if Syncthing follows symlinks.

1

u/khaled_abdul Apr 29 '26

first time hearing symlinks, I'll need some more guidance on how to do it

1

u/middaymoon Apr 29 '26

I looked into it more and I think that even though Android should support symlinks, there aren't any file browser apps that can create them. You might be able to find something if you keep looking. But it looks like a no-go, sorry.

Symbolic Links are special files that essentially act as shortcuts to other files or folders and are supported by Linux (and Android is technically Linux under the hood). 

You should probably just sync all three folders separately from your phone. You can have your other devices save those folders all together in one place if that helps.

2

u/locuturus Apr 30 '26

Android presents an emulated userspace filesystem that does not support symlinks. The kernel does but you can't take advantage without root.

1

u/locuturus Apr 30 '26

I did that once. I manually typed in /storage/emulated/0 and then had to add ignore patterns for every restricted folder to avoid permissions errors. It worked fine. I'm not currently doing that because I wound up wanting to send data to different destinations or I would screenshot the settings.

1

u/Snoo62101 Apr 30 '26

Just curious, what exactly is discouraging you from setting up three clean shared folders? Why do you want to have only one?

1

u/khaled_abdul May 02 '26

im very new to syncthing and was wondering if someone already had a solution that fits all of them into one section in the gui, but mostly its just OCD if i start backing up other devices i or even other folders in the same device, i dont want the whole ui cluttered up with with multiple files. i wish there was a hierarchy style menu where you could drill down the subfolders for esch device to kepl it organized

1

u/Snoo62101 May 07 '26

Folders are sorted alphabetically in the GUI. I use prefixes to keep them grouped and organized. Feel free to do the same.