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This question refers to Android 11.

What is the difference between the following two permissions: "manage all files" and "access media only"? I could guess but I would like to know details and have some certainty.

Related: What exactly does the "access media only" permission allow for?

Is there some official android/google documentation about this? I haven't found it.

aehhhhmm
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    "Access media only" allows access to audio/video/pictures in standard directories. "Manage all files" allows access to all types of files in the whole external storage. – Irfan Latif Feb 20 '22 at 11:25
  • @IrfanLatif does that also include all internal storage? When I think of external storage I think of SD Card. – Jim Clark Feb 20 '22 at 13:40
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    @JimClark see What is /storage/emulated/0/? and Android's Storage Journey to understand the concept of internal and external storage on Android. – Irfan Latif Feb 20 '22 at 13:51
  • @IrfanLatif thanks for your comment. What do you mean by "standard directories"? Who determines which directories those are? – aehhhhmm Feb 20 '22 at 14:58
  • And one app that has media only permission enabled is Google sheets. Sheets works with the excel files stored locally on my device. In that case Sheets seems to not only have access to audio/video/pictures – aehhhhmm Feb 20 '22 at 15:00
  • @aehhhhmm Google Sheets might be using the internal storage, or the private external storage, or the Downloaded directory. Sorry I don't have time to investigate and write a detailed answer. Check the official documentation here, here and here if you can understand it. Or wait for someone to explain it for you :) – Irfan Latif Feb 20 '22 at 15:31

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