[Zubersoft]

That file explorer was most likely granted access to the removable SD card by the manufacturer. If you try to install a different file manager off Google Play, it may not have access to the SD card. It certainly won't have write access, as no apps were given write access to removable SD cards with Android 4.4 except in application specific directories. So unfortunately, you will have to do as you described and split it into multiple steps.

Mike