If you have a stand-alone digital camera, you're probably used to plugging the camera into your Windows PC and having Windows show you thumbnails of the pictures stored in the camera's memory.  If you think your Pocket PC's digital camera makes it that easy, think again.

Different though it may be, getting photos off of your Pocket PC and onto your Windows PC isn't difficult, it's just a little more involved.  This tutorial will make you a photo transferring pro in a few short minutes!

 

Step 1: Locate the Photos on the Pocket PC

The first step in transferring photos from your Pocket PC to your Windows PC is actually locating where the pictures are stored in your Pocket PC's internal memory.  Every Pocket PC is different, but it's a safe bet that your Pocket PC's software stores photos you take in the \My Documents\My Pictures folder.  You can view the contents of this folder on your Pocket PC by opening File Explorer and navigating to My Device > My Documents > My Pictures:  

 

NOTE: If the pictures taken with your Pocket PC's digital camera are not stored in the \My Documents\My Pictures folder, contact your Pocket PC's manufacturer or consult your product literature to find the location of the image files.  Once you do, the remainder of the tutorial will still apply to you.

 

Step 2: Access the Files from a Windows PC

Once you've found the folder in which the photos are stored, it's time to transfer the desired files to your Windows PC.  Connect your Pocket PC to your laptop or desktop via the provided cable or cradle.  Allow ActiveSync or Windows Mobile Device Center to complete its synchronization process and use the Explore feature: 

 

Using Explore, navigate to the \My Documents\My Pictures folder.  Notice the same three files we saw in this folder using File Explorer in Step 1:  

 

Step 3: Copy the Files

Select the files you wish to copy to your Windows PC.  You can select all of the photos by clicking Edit > Select All or you can choose specific photos by holding down the CRTL key on your keyboard while clicking the files with your mouse.  Once you've chosen the desired image files, click Edit > Copy in the toolbar:

 

The image files are now ready to be transferred to your Windows PC. 

 

Step 4: Paste Away

Select the destination for the image files.  In this example, we wish to move all three files, PHOTO1.jpg, PHOTO2.jpg and PHOTO3.jpg to the folder C:\PPC Photos.  Simply navigate to the desired folder on your computer's hard drive and select Edit > Paste from the file menu.  The photo files are now copied to your Windows PC hard drive:

 

You may now upload your photos to a web site, attach them to e-mail, burn them to a disc or simply store them for safe keeping.  

This transfer method also works well for audio files, documents and more.  

NOTE: If you don't want a copy of the photo(s) to remain on your Pocket PC, use the Cut function rather than Copy.  There are several other ways of moving files from a Pocket PC to a Windows PC; these include the use of Bluetooth file transfer, WLAN and LAN transfers, flash memory card "mule-ing" and more.  This tutorial simply highlights a simple and strait forward way of transferring files. 

 

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