Finding What You Need Quickly on the Galaxy Tab 3 Using the Samsung Link App
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Samsung has made it easy for you to find and view content files such as photos and videos stored on a variety of locations within one app: Samsung Link. You can use this pre-installed app to connect your Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 to your computer, another external device such as a smartphone or SD card, or to a web-based file storage service including Box, Dropbox, and Microsoft's OneDrive.
Before you can connect your Tab 3 to your computer, device, or online file sharing service, you need to set up the Samsung Link app on the Tab 3. Access the app by tapping on the Apps icon on the Home screen. Next, swipe to the second page of the Apps screen and then tap the Samsung Link icon on the page shown in Figure 1.
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Figure 1 Tap the Samsung Link icon in the second page of the Apps screen
Set Up the Samsung Link App
The first time you open the Samsung Link app, the introductory Samsung Link screen appears as shown in Figure 2. Continue the setup process by tapping the Get Started button at the bottom of the screen.
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Figure 2 View an introductory video about Samsung Link by tapping on the Introduction Video link
Now you see the Tutorial window shown in Figure 3 that shows you what the app does. If you don't want to see this Tutorial window again, tap the Do Not Show Again checkbox. Continue setting up the app by tapping the OK button.
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Figure 3 The Tutorial window gives you a brief pictorial description of what the app does
The Samsung Link screen appears and shows photos, music files, and other multimedia files stored on your Tab 3 as thumbnail images within the My Recent Content section page shown in Figure 4.
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Figure 4 Screen shots, photos, and videos within the My Recent Content page
In the Section bar above the thumbnail images, swipe from right to left to view the Devices and Storage section page. Before you can view the page, though, you'll see the Tutorial window on the screen as shown in Figure 5 so you can learn how to link your computer to the Samsung Link app from the Samsung website on your computer.
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Figure 5 The Tutorial window tells you how to link your computer to the app
If you want to learn how to link the app to another device, tap the device thumbnail image within the window. You can also view more devices by tapping the left and/or right arrow on the left and/or right side of the window, respectively.
Note that if you don't want this Tutorial window to appear every time you view the Devices and Storage section page in the future, tap the Do Not Show Again checkbox. When you finish viewing the tutorial, close the window by tapping the OK button.
Within the Registered Devices section page shown in Figure 6, the list of devices registered with the app appears in the Registered Devices section. Above the Registered Devices section, you can add a web-based file storage service by tapping the plus button within the Registered Storage section.
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Figure 6 Registered devices appear in the Registered Devices section
Register an Online File Storage Service
After you tap the plus button, the Register Storage window appears as shown in Figure 7 so you can select from one of the three file storage services in the list: Box, Dropbox, or OneDrive from Microsoft. If you use a different file storage service, you won't be able to use it with the Samsung Link app so you may want to consider obtaining a free account for one of these services for use with your Tab 3.
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Figure 7 Tap the Sign In button to the right of the storage service name in the window
I use the Dropbox file storage service, so I'll tap the Sign In button to the right of the Dropbox storage name within the Register Storage window. The Dropbox app opens on the screen shown in Figure 8 so you can sign into Dropbox and then link your Dropbox account with the Samsung Link app.
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Figure 8 Sign into Dropbox by typing your email address and password into the appropriate fields
After you type in your email address and password into the appropriate fields, tap the Sign In button. Now you see the permission screen shown in Figure 9 so you can continue connecting Dropbox to Samsung Link by tapping the Allow button.
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Figure 9 Tap the Allow button to finish registering Dropbox in the Samsung Link app
After you tap the Allow button, the Samsung Link screen reappears and you see Dropbox in the Registered Storage section shown in Figure 10. To the right of the Dropbox logo you see the Dropbox name as well as the amount of used storage in blue text followed by the total amount of your storage space in gray text.
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Figure 10 The registered Dropbox service appears within the Registered Storage section
View Your Files
Now that Dropbox is connected to Samsung Link, you can access your Dropbox files by tapping the Dropbox logo in the Registered Storage section. After you tap the logo, the Notification window appears as shown in Figure 11 and reminds you that within the app you can only see files within the Dropbox AllShare Play folder. Dropbox creates the AllShare Play folder automatically when you link Dropbox with the Samsung Link app.
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Figure 11 If you don't want to see the Notification window in the future, tap the Do Not Show Again checkbox
Therefore, if you need to view files in Dropbox that you can share with others, you may need to open the Dropbox app on the Tab 3 and then move the files you want to view in Samsung Link to the AllShare Play folder. Close the Notification window by tapping the OK button.
Now you see the Samsung Tutorial window again as shown in Figure 12 so you can learn how you can send and share your files with someone else. For example, you can share the file on another Dropbox folder you share with someone else. You can view more information about using the various features of the files and categories screen (which you'll see shortly) by tapping the left and/or right arrows at the left and/or right sides of the window, respectively.
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Figure 12 The Tutorial window shows you what the Send Content and Share Content icons do
If you don't want to see the Tutorial window any time you open the files and directories screen in the future, tap the Do Not Show Again checkbox. Close the window by tapping the OK button.
The Dropbox files and categories screen appears as shown in Figure 13 and displays four categories in a menu on the left side of the screen: Photos, Music, Video, and Files. The Samsung Link app reads the type of files you have in the AllShare Play folder within your Dropbox account and then categorizes those files in the Photos, Music, and Video categories. If a file doesn't fit into one of those three categories then you'll find it in the Files category.
By default, files in the Photos category appear on the screen. Files stored in the Photos section appear as thumbnail images on the right side of the screen. You can view the image on the entire screen by tapping the thumbnail image, and then return to the Dropbox screen by pressing the Back button.
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Figure 13 Thumbnail-sized images of photos appear on the right side of the screen
Share Files from Your Tab 3
If you want to return to the Samsung Link screen and view the files stored on your Tab 3, tap the Dropbox icon in the menu bar at the top of the screen (just below the Status Bar) as you saw in Figure 13. In the Devices and Storage area within the Samsung Link screen, swipe from left to right to view the files in the My Recent Content page shown in Figure 14. You can view a video, listen to a music file, or watch the video on the entire screen by tapping the thumbnail tile on the screen.
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Figure 14 Tap on a tile to view or listen to the multimedia file on the entire screen
If you want to share the photo with someone else through a social media website, as an e-mail message attachment, on a live chat service, or directly between devices, press the Menu button and then tap Share Via in the menu as shown in Figure 15.
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Figure 15 Share the photo by tapping Share Via in the menu
The Share Via window appears (see Figure 16) so you can choose how to share the photo with the other person or a group of people. For example, you can share the photo on your Google+ social media profile with everyone in your Google+ circles.
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Figure 16 Choose how you want to share the photo in the Share Via window
The next steps depend on the icon you tap in the Share Via window. If you want to share the file with your Google+ circles, you'll see a window that appears with the file attached (such as a photo) and the cursor blinking in the Write Something field so you can provide more information about the attached file before you post it on your profile. You can also share the file with another app on your Tab 3, such as with the Paper Artist app so you can modify a photo before you share it.
If you decide that you don't want to share the file with others, press the Back button to return to the picture, video, or music file on the screen. Return to the Samsung Link screen by pressing the Back button again.
With that, you know how to set up and use the basic functions of the Samsung Link app. I hope you enjoyed your tour so you can explore more of the app for yourself and make the app work best for you when you're sharing files with others.