How to Open the “Manage All Files” Permission Screen Using a Script

This article provides a solution to help users manually enable the “Manage All Files” permission on Android devices by using a script to open the appropriate system screen.

SOTI MobiControl

Android Enterprise

On Android 11+ devices, the MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE permission is classified as a special permission by Android. This means it cannot be granted silently using policies or scripts. Instead, it must be manually enabled by the user through the system settings.

When a device is enrolled in Work Managed mode, the permission settings may appear greyed out and show “Enabled by admin”, which prevents the user from modifying them manually.

Android versions 11 or higher

Work Managed (Android Enterprise) devices

Apps declare MANAGE_EXTERNAL_STORAGE in the manifest and target API level 30+

To prompt the user to enable the permission, you can use a Legacy script that triggers the specific system settings screen for this permission:

sendintent -a "intent:#Intent;action=android.settings.MANAGE_ALL_FILES_ACCESS_PERMISSION;end"

Once the script is executed, the device will automatically display the system screen where the permission Allow management of all files can be enabled. The user must then manually select the app and grant the permission by toggling the option.

After running the script, the device should display the system screen where the user can grant the “Allow management of all files” permission. Once enabled, the app will have access to all files on external storage. You can confirm this by checking that the permission appears as granted in the app’s settings and that its file access functionality works as expected.