A method and an electronic device for managing a file of a terminal by using thumbnails is disclosed. The method and electronic device include displaying thumbnails, each thumbnail representing at least one file stored in the electronic device, in response to a movement command, changing a display position of a selected first thumbnail to at least part of a display position of a second thumbnail, detecting whether a first storage route of a first file of the first thumbnail is identical to a second storage route of a second file of the second thumbnail, and when the first storage route is not identical to the second storage route, changing the first storage route to the second storage route for the first file.