Send GPX to a Garmin Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3

Fit a memory card to a Zumo XT2 or XT3. Your route file then stays in INVIA's On Device list after the Zumo restarts. You can open that route again, send it to someone else, or keep a backup, because the file is still there.

On the original Zumo XT the route file goes in the GPX folder at the top of internal storage, and it stays there. That model reads the route from the file every time you ride it, so nothing clears it away. Do not fit a memory card to a Zumo XT. That model has trouble finding waypoints on a card, so a card makes things worse rather than better.

A Zumo XT2 or XT3 handles the same file differently. On its next boot it moves the track from internal storage into its own database, then deletes the route file it read. That is why a route you sent yesterday still rides today but has gone missing from INVIA. Why the file goes away, and what a card changes.

After that boot on a Zumo XT2 or XT3:

• Your route file is not in the On Device list. INVIA has nothing left to list, because the file it wrote is the file the Zumo deleted.
• The route is on the Zumo XT2 or XT3 and it rides normally. The track went into the device's own track list before the file was removed, so nothing about riding it changes.
• Your waypoints are still listed. A Zumo XT2 or XT3 writes waypoints back out to a file of its own, so those keep appearing, and it never writes tracks back the same way.
• Send to a memory card instead. The route file survives the boot and the track still imports, which means the Zumo has the route and INVIA still has the file.

No Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3 appears as a drive on your computer, so there is no folder on your desktop to drag a file into. Connect the Zumo on INVIA's Device page in Chrome or Edge and press send, and the route file goes into the folder named GPX at the top of the storage you chose. The destination follows the storage you picked rather than the model you own, because INVIA asks the Zumo what storage it has instead of looking your model up in a list.

Send a route to a Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3#

1. Plug the Zumo into your computer with a USB data cable, because a charge-only cable powers the Zumo and never prompts for file transfer.
2. Wait about 20 seconds. A Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3 enters file transfer mode on its own, about 20 seconds after the cable goes in, and it does this even when powered off. Leave the cable in during that wait rather than pulling it and trying again. Tap Yes on the Zumo if the screen asks to enter file transfer.
3. **Open the Device tab in INVIA and press File transfer (MTP).** The card reads Finding your device… while it looks. Do not press USB drive, because there is no drive on a Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3 for it to find.
4. Pick the device once. The first time only, the card reads Almost there. Press Select my Garmin → and choose the Zumo in the browser's chooser, after which INVIA reconnects on its own.
5. Choose what to send. Press From INVIA for a saved route, ride or collection, or From computer to load a GPX file from your disk. INVIA draws it on the map first so you can check the line before it goes across.
6. Set the options and send. In the SEND TO DEVICE dialog, confirm the name, then pick Internal or SD Card if a memory card is fitted. Set Directional arrows to Off, Forward or Reverse. Press Send.
7. Wait for SENT before you unplug. INVIA re-reads the device after the send, so the route file appears in the On Device list and you can see it arrived. There is nothing to eject.

On a Zumo XT2 or XT3 you sent to Internal, that listing lasts until the next boot, so choose SD Card at step 6 when you want the file to still be there afterwards.

The folder, and what is not the folder#

That top-level GPX folder is the automotive layout, which a Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3 shares with the Tread family.

A memory card is not a different case, because INVIA looks at the top level of whichever storage you chose, internal or card, for a folder named GPX and writes the route file there. It does not write into a Garmin folder on the card. A card with no GPX folder at its top level stops the send, because INVIA reports that the GPX folder was not found on that storage. Create a folder named GPX at the top of the card before you send.

Two places are not the folder, and both are the usual reason a file lands somewhere a Zumo never looks:

• Inside a Garmin folder. Garmin handhelds keep their GPX folder one level deeper, inside the Garmin folder, so advice written for a handheld puts your file one level too deep on a Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3.
• Garmin/NewFiles. On the handhelds that have one it is an import inbox rather than a home, so the handheld imports what it finds there and then empties the folder, which leaves nothing behind. Put your route file in Internal Storage/GPX on a Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3.

The full model table.

No drive appears, and that is correct#

A Zumo XT has no mass storage mode to switch to. Its hidden diagnostics menu offers file transfer and USB Ethernet only, so no setting anywhere makes a drive letter or a Finder volume appear, and looking for one costs you time.

Accept the on-screen file transfer prompt, because declining it leaves you nothing connected and no drive mode to fall back on, which means INVIA cannot list the Zumo XT. If you already declined it, unplug the cable and start again at step 1.

Mac owners see this most clearly, since nothing at all shows in Finder, while the Zumo XT is connected and INVIA still reaches it. The long-standing advice to install Android File Transfer points at software Google no longer offers or maintains, so it cannot help you now. Chrome or Edge reaches the Zumo directly, which is why the path here is a browser rather than a file manager.

On Windows you have a manual option, because the Zumo appears in File Explorer as a portable device rather than a drive letter. Open it there and copy a GPX into Internal Storage/GPX yourself. Nothing built into macOS opens a file transfer device, which is why the browser path exists.

What lands on the Zumo#

INVIA sends the planned line as a track, so a Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3 draws exactly the line you planned rather than recalculating it and routing you another way. The route's own named waypoints travel with it as named via-points, which keeps them attached to the line instead of scattering into your saved places. What lands on the device and why.

Recorded rides come back the same way, so you can connect the Zumo XT, XT2 or XT3 and see every track on it listed, ready to save into your library. Importing from the device.