With Windows Phone Link, you can do a lot more than just read and reply to text messages, make calls, or mirror your phone’s screen. Here are some of the best, lesser-known Phone Link tricks to boost your cross-device productivity.

1. Use Phone Link to delete photos from your phone

If you need to quickly delete a few individual pictures from your Android phone, Phone Link lets you do this right from your PC. By default, Phone Link only displays photos that are in the Camera roll And Screenshot folder on your Android device, so if you have moved or saved your photos to another folder, you will not be able to manage them through Phone Link.

To delete photos from your Android device, launch the Phone Link app on your PC and open the Photos Click above See photos and wait for the app to fill your screen with images from your device.

Go through your gallery and open the photo. Then click Delete Option in the upper right corner. Click Delete photo to confirm the action.

If you Delete click on the Settings icon in the upper right corner and select Features from the sidebar. Click Photos to expand it and select the Allow Phone Link to delete photos from my mobile device Option.

Currently, the app only allows you to delete one photo at a time. If you want to delete multiple photos, you’ll need to use your phone’s Gallery app.

2. Turn Do Not Disturb on/off on your phone

If you are annoyed by frequent notifications from your Android phone that disturb your concentration, you can turn on Do Not Disturb. (DND) on your phone directly from your PC using Phone Link.

To activate DND mode, click the Minus (-) icon in the top left corner of the Phone Link app. When you are ready to receive notifications and calls, click the button again to turn off DND.

In addition, Phone Link allows you to switch between different sound profiles (General, Silent or Vibrate). To change the sound profile, click on the Speakers icon in the upper left corner to turn on VibrateClick it again to activate it Silent mode.

3. Play sound to find your mobile device

Can’t remember where you put your phone? Phone Link has a handy sound playback feature that helps you find your phone using sound and vibration.

To play the sound, click on the Play sound (phone with speaker icon) in the upper left corner and then click Play sound. Your phone will vibrate and play the default alarm melody at full volume.

You can play the sound again after 20 seconds. To stop the sound, open the Link to Windows app on your phone and then tap Stop.

4. Turn off the phone screen when connected to your PC

For Phone Link’s screen mirroring feature to work, your phone must be unlocked. Ironically, this security feature can also raise privacy concerns. To address this, Phone Link offers the “Hide my phone screen” option to make your phone display blank while mirroring.

To do so, click on Settings (gear icon) in the upper right corner and then open the Features in the left pane. Scroll down and click Apps to expand it. Then check the Hide my phone screen while it is connected to my PC Option.

Your phone’s screen will turn off or go blank during mirroring. Swipe the screen or press the side button on your phone to exit the black screen.

5. Copy text from photos (OCR)

Phone Link also allows you to extract text from images on your Android phone. To copy text from images, open the Photos tab, then locate and open the photo you want to extract the text from. On the toolbar, click the text Option to detect all text in the image.

Click Copy entire text or Select entire text to copy everything to the clipboard. If you only need specific information, such as a phone number, drag the cursor to select only the text you want to copy, and then click Copy text.

6. Listen to audio on your PC or phone

When you access Android apps from Phone Link’s phone screen, you can choose whether the sound comes from your PC or your phone. This is especially useful if your audio device can only connect to one device at a time.

To change the audio streaming source, go to Phone Link > Settings > Featuresand then click on the Apps to expand it. Click on the Listen to audio from and select computer to hear the sound from your PC. If not, select Mobile device to resume audio playback on your phone.

7. Use Instant Hotspot

The Instant Hotspot feature in Phone Link lets you automatically turn on your PC and connect it to your phone’s hotspot without having to manually enable it every time. However, this feature is currently exclusive to Samsung devices running OneUI 4.1.1 or later.

To enable Instant Hotspot, go to Settings > Features > Additional settings. Turn on the Instant hotspot Switch (or click Set up Instant Hotspot) and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the process. You’ll need to allow Instant Hotspot access on your phone, so keep it handy.

To connect to the hotspot, make sure your phone is within range, then open the Wi-Fi network list on your PC, select your mobile hotspot and click Connect. The next time you want to connect, just open the Wi-Fi list and click Connect to automatically turn on and connect to your mobile phone’s hotspot.

8. Transfer files from PC to Android via Windows Share

A lesser-known feature of Phone Link is the ability to instantly share files between your PC and your Android phone. To send a file from your PC to your phone, right-click the file you want to send, then select share.

In the share Choose Telephone connection. If the Phone Link option is not available, click All Appsand then select Telephone connection. All shared files will be downloaded to the Downloads > Shared from my PC folder on your Android phone.

To send a file to your PC, select the files, tap the Three-point menuand then tap the share Choose Link to Windows Option from the list of apps. Select your computer device under My device to complete the transfer. All files received from your Android phone will be saved in C:\Users\Username\Downloads\Phone Link.

9. Enable cross-device copy and paste

This feature, as the name suggests, allows you to copy and paste text and images (max. 1 MB) between your Samsung or Surface Duo devices and a Windows PC. For example, you can copy a URL in your Android phone’s browser and it will be immediately available in your Windows PC’s clipboard and vice versa.

To enable cross-device copy and paste, go to Phone Link > Settings > Features > More settings. Activate the Cross-device copy and paste option. To test the feature, copy some text to your PC and open your phone’s clipboard to check if the text is available for pasting.

Although Phone Link offers several handy features, including the ability to use your Android phone as a webcam on Windows, compatibility is limited. Microsoft could broaden Phone Link’s appeal by expanding support to more Android devices. Currently, many of its useful features are exclusive to Samsung devices running OneUI and Microsoft’s Surface Duo line.