I can't find my downloads on my phone

[Angel810]

Can anyone help me with what should be a very simple matter, please? I'm trying to download some audio tracks to my phone (Samsung Galaxy A14).

I hit the MP3 track and select 'Download'. A window appears and I select the SD card. I download it but can't find it anywhere once done. It tells me that it's already been downloaded. I search for it by name - nothing comes up. I repeat several times and it never works.

I try again, saving to this time to Internal Storage. It appears to work but, again, is nowhere to be found.

This is such an annoying waste of time. Please, can someone help me. It makes no sense. 

Thanks in advance 

[JAMES4578]

Which download source are you using, if not an app were you using an intermet site?   Anyway can the tracks not be located in My Files?

[Angel810]

Thanks but that's exactly the problem. The file I downloaded was definitely not in My Files > Downloads folder.  I was trying to download it to my SD card but, although it said the download was complete, it was nowhere to be found - even when I searched for the precise file name.

Eventually I had to download it to the internal storage, even though I didn't want to, and then I found it in Audio files. But even now, though I've located it, it still doesn't appear on a search which is really annoying. Do you have any idea why this should be?

Yes, I can tap on the "Download complete' notification but that just plays the file without showing me where it's located. So if I wanted to listen to the Audio file later on, once the notification had gone, it wouldn't help.

This keeps cropping up. I'm sure I'm not doing anything stupid - it should be easy to find a file especially if you search for it by it's exact name. Hope you can help with this. Many thanks.

[AndrewL · Accepted solution]

@Angel810: Are you using the search function in My Files to locate the files in question (the magnifying glass symbol at the top of the screen)? This should work, especially if they are present in your internal storage. If you locate one of the files, you can press and hold on the thumbnail > Tap the 3 dots in the bottom right > Details, and this will show the file path in My Files. This might help to locate any files that you're having trouble finding. 

[Angel810]

Thanks so much. That works and is completely the answer to my question! 

I feel a bit dumb because I was clearly searching in the wrong place. When you swipe diagonally across the phone and see a "search" field (which is what I was doing), what kind of search is that? Is that only for apps?

I'm so glad I asked on this forum. From now on things will be a lot easier! Thank you AndrewL, and everyone else who replied.

UPDATE

Out of interest, I searched for the file and clicked on the 3 dots to try and discover where it had been saved on the SD card. I did find it but strangely it wasn't in date order, even though I have the list set to date order (older dates are at the bottom of my list - my new file is near the top but with a few older dates above it!). This was adding to the confusion when I was originally searching around for my file. I really don't understand why the dates should be out of order but am just glad to have the info I have now as this will enable me to find all files, I hope. Tx again.