How to move photos in the gallery on Xiaomi: all ways from A to Z

Xiaomi’s MIUI-enclosed smartphone gallery offers a lot of photo management tools, but it’s not always intuitive how to move photos between folders or change their order. If you’ve tried dragging your photo with your finger, like Google Photos, and it didn’t work out, don’t be surprised: it’s a different logic. In this article, we’ll look at all the available sorting methods, including hidden features and workarounds for older versions of MIUI.

The Xiaomi Gallery is closely integrated with Mi Cloud and local storage, which means that moving files can affect not only how they appear in the app, but also the physical location of the device, and we will look at secure methods that will not lead to data loss, and also explain how to avoid duplicate photos when transferring.

Important: the instructions are current for MIUI 12/13/14 and later, and if you have an older version (e.g. MIUI 11 on the Redmi Note 8 Pro), some features may not be available, for which case we will provide alternative solutions.

1. Manually moving photos in the Xiaomi gallery

The most obvious, but not always the most effective way is to try to drag a picture with your finger, which is different in MIUI than in other galleries. Here's how to do it right:

• 📌 Open the Gallery app and find the album you want (like Camera or Screenshots).
• 🔍 Press and hold the photo you want to move until the selection box appears.
• ✅ Tag other photos (if you need to move a few) and tap the icon “More”** (three dots in the upper right corner).
• 📁 Select "Move»** → specify the target folder (for example, a favorite or created album).

Important: if the target folder is on SD-The system can request confirmation of movement. MIUI Instead of moving, it creates a copy of the file, which we will discuss in the section on errors.

The Poco F4 and Xiaomi 12T models with MIUI 14 have a Smart Sort feature, which automatically groups photos by date and event, to turn it off and return manual control:

1. Open Gallery Settings → Album Management.
2. Turn off the option "Automatic grouping".
3. Restart the app.

2.Creating and Managing Albums in MIUI

Unlike the standard Android gallery, MIUI has two types of albums:

• 📂 System (Cameras, Screenshots, Downloaded) – they can not be deleted, but can be hidden.
• 📁 Custom – created manually and allow flexible photo management.

To make a new album:

1. Open the Gallery → tap on the icon “+” (or “Create” in some versions).

A critical feature of MIUI is that moving a photo to a custom album doesn't remove the originals from the DCIM/Camera folder. It just creates a "shortcut" (like Google Photos). To physically move the files, use the method from the next section.

3. Move the photo through the file manager

If you need to physically move photos (rather than create a shortcut in the album), use the built-in Files by Xiaomi, which works even on older versions of MIUI and ensures that files are not duplicated.

Instructions:

1. Open Files → Go to Internal Memory → DCIM → Camera (or another folder with a photo).
2. Click and hold the file → select other photos (if necessary).
3. Slip "Move"** (the arrow folder icon).
4. Select the target folder (e.g. Pictures/My album) → Move here.

Warning: If you move a photo from a folder DCIM They may disappear from the gallery to another location, so to avoid that, create a folder inside. DCIM (for example, DCIM/MyAlbum) and move over there. MIUI It'll scan it automatically.

On models with MIUI 14 (such as Xiaomi 13 Pro or Poco X5), the file manager supports dragging photos between folders in Double-panel view mode.

Files → ☰ (menu) → Settings → Insert "Dual-panel mode"

4. Automatic sorting with Mi Cloud

If you use Mi Cloud, photos can be sorted automatically by date, event, or person, and this method doesn’t physically move files, but makes navigation easier.

• ☁️ Enable synchronization: Settings → Xiaomi account → Mi Cloud → gallery.
• 🗓️ In the gallery, open the tab "Cloud"** - here the photos are already grouped by years and months.
• 👤 For sorting by person: open the photo → tap on the human icon → «Add to the album** (e.g. Family or Friends).

Limitation: The free Mi Cloud account only provides 5GB of space, and if you exceed the limit, no new photos will be synced to make room:

1. Open the Mi Cloud → Gallery → Recycle Bin and clean it.
2. Remove unnecessary albums or reduce the resolution of uploaded photos in the synchronization settings.

💡

If you need to move photos from Mi Cloud back to your device, highlight them in the cloud album → click Download** → select a folder to save (for example, DCIM/Cloud).

5.Using Google Photos to Manage Gallery

Many Xiaomi users are installing Google Photos as an alternative to the standard gallery, with the advantage of flexible sorting and backup, to move photos through Google Photos:

• 📲 Install the app from the Play Market and sign in to your Google account.

Important: Google Photos does not delete originals when added to albums (as does MIUI).

1. After creating an album in Google Photos, delete the originals from the DCIM folder through the file manager.
2. Or use the “Free Space” feature** in Google Photos settings (it deletes local copies if they are uploaded to the cloud).

Poco F3 and other MIUI devices for Poco can cause conflict between the two galleries to avoid duplicate photos in both apps:

Settings → Applications → Application Management → Gallery → Clear cache


Settings → Applications → Google Photos → Permissions → Disable “Storage” (if you do not need duplication)

6. Solving common problems

When moving photos to the Xiaomi gallery, users often encounter errors, and here are the most common ones and ways to fix them:

• ❌ Photos are duplicated when moving Reason: gallery creates a copy instead of moving Solution: use file manager (section 3) or delete originals manually after moving.
• ❌ The folder does not appear in the gallery Reason: the gallery does not scan user folders outside the gallery DCIM. Solution: Move the folder to DCIM Or add it manually through Gallery Settings. → Folder management.

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If the photos disappeared from the gallery after moving, but remained in the file manager, update the media base: open the Gallery → pull down for an update or restart the phone.

⚠️ Attention: on devices with MIUI 12.5 and below, when moving a photo through the file manager, the file creation date may be lost. To avoid this, use applications like Solid Explorer or FX File Managers that store metadata.

If none of the methods work, check:

• 🔧 Updates for the Gallery and MIUI (Settings → The phone. → Updating the system).
• 🛠️ Access rights: Settings → Annexes → gallery → Permits (should be included Warehouse and Chamber).
• 📱 Memory status: If the internal storage is 90 times full%+, The system can block operations with files.

7. Alternative applications for gallery management

If the standard MIUI gallery doesn’t suit you, consider third-party apps with advanced sorting features:

To install an alternative gallery:

1. Download the app from the Play Market (e.g. Simple Gallery).
2. Open it and give access to the storage.
3. In the settings of the new application, enable the option “Scan”. SD-map (if necessary).
4. To make it a default gallery: Settings → Apps → Default → Gallery.

Tip: Before switching to a third-party gallery, export albums from MIUI:

1. Open the standard gallery → select the album.
2. Click “More” → “Export” → save the photo to a new folder.

FAQ: Frequent questions about moving photos to Xiaomi