How to share files with nearby devices on Windows 10

The Windows 10 April 2018 update is now live and is rolling out to all Windows 10 users as we speak. If you haven’t received the update yet, you might want to check out our neat trick to get the update installed on your PC instantly.

Among all the great features of the latest Windows 10 update, one of the most highlighting is the ability to share files with nearby devices. However, the feature isn’t as exciting as it sounds. Firstly, you can send & receive files between nearby PCs, no smartphones. Secondly, the files are sent over Bluetooth so it’s useful for sending small files such as documents and pictures only.

If nothing else, this should at least help people in office spaces share documents easily to nearby PCs. But we really hope Microsoft extends the service to smartphones and over WiFi in near future.

How to use nearby sharing on Windows

Go to Settings » System » Shared experiences.
Under Share across devices section, click on the drop-down menu and select Everyone nearby.
└ If you leave it to My devices only, you’ll only be able to share files with nearby PCs set up with your Microsoft account.
Right-click on the file you wish to share, then select Share from the context menu.
Your PC will now show names of PCs available nearby in the pop-up screen along with a handful lot of other options to share the file.
└ If you don’t see the PC name you want to share the file with, make sure Nearby sharing is enabled on the other PC and is set to Everyone nearby under Shared experiences setting.
Click on the PC name you want to share the file with.
└ A notification will be sent to the other PC to accept/save or decline your file sharing request. You’ll be able to see the progress for the same under Action center on your PC.