Database Info

GALLERY - Howto Prevent Indexing Certain Directories

I have a folder on my SD card that I don't want images to appear from. Is there a means to exclude certain directories?
Sent from my DROIDX using XDA Premium App

Put an empty file called .nomedia in the directory.

This one works well for me - makes the process easier:
https://market.android.com/details?id=com.studiokuma.nomedia

What kind of images don't you want to show up in your gallery?
The .nomedia method should work for you, if not you can always rename the folder with a "." at the beginning to make it hidden
Folder name examples:
.pr0n / .dontlookhere / .ignore

kyouko said:
What kind of images don't you want to show up in your gallery?
The .nomedia method should work for you, if not you can always rename the folder with a "." at the beginning to make it hidden
Folder name examples:
.pr0n / .dontlookhere / .ignore
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.nomedia works for me, as far as keeping stuff out of the gallery. Being all grown up in my computer usage, I choose to not let my computing devices hide stuff from me, so that .folder thingy doesn't work for me (and pictures in those .folders without a .nomedia file still seem to make their way into my gallery).
I do have a .stuff folder for my .porn though... Keeps it up near the top of the list...

how about the hideitpro app from the market? it's actually pretty cool. opens up as an audio manager, then you put in a password and there you have all the hidden files you want. not just pics...just an fyi

Install the app Just Pictures and ignore the folders you don't want to see.
The .nomedia "solution" prevents the album art to display in the media players.

I use the app QuickPic from the Market, and in the app you can choose which folders you want include and exclude. Pretty useful. You don't have the pretty 3-D effects from the default Gallery app but it's so much faster.

You can do the same thing with Fishbowl Gallery. You can set default albums, as well as hide albums. However, this still doesn't prevent someone from stumbling upon the default gallery app. The best solutions are either .nomedia, or do not have media on your phone that you do not want prying eyes to see. Alternatively, while cumbersome, you can use androzip or unrar pro to zip the material in question. Of course, by zipping your files, you can add the additional layer of security by encrypting it, if you're the paranoid sort.
Sent via Tapatalk on CM7.0.0-Vision Stable.

I remember this method. Any one know if the older file deletion ever got fixed with 2.2.1 or later?
If you don't know what I'm talking about here's a quick rundown.
You put the .nomedia file in a folder with pictures, upon reboot all those pictures are deleted. This had something to do with them already being scanned once and them being older than the .nomedia file so instead of ignoring them it deletes them. Something along those lines (anyone have the link to the original bug report from back in '08 or '09?).
Anyway, if it hasn't been fixed you've been warned, you stand a good chance of losing all media in those folders. So backup those files - but you knew that already
The easiest remedy to this is to remove the files, rename the folder to .whatever or insert the .nomedia file. Reboot. Then throw the files back onto the sdcard. That should eliminate any issues.

I've used the .nomedia solution awhile back to get icons, cover art, etc out of my gallery and it worked just fine... nothing was deleted (Droid X).
IIRC, I did have to clear the gallery app's cache to get it to "forget" about media that it had already found; on first lauch after clearing it's cache, expect it to be slow as it re-scans your device / sd card (..rebooting didn't work to clear the cach on my device... had to clear it via settings > application > manage apps..)

.nomedia file solution works
KCRic said:
I remember this method. Any one know if the older file deletion ever got fixed with 2.2.1 or later?
If you don't know what I'm talking about here's a quick rundown.
You put the .nomedia file in a folder with pictures, upon reboot all those pictures are deleted. This had something to do with them already being scanned once and them being older than the .nomedia file so instead of ignoring them it deletes them. Something along those lines (anyone have the link to the original bug report from back in '08 or '09?).
Anyway, if it hasn't been fixed you've been warned, you stand a good chance of losing all media in those folders. So backup those files - but you knew that already
The easiest remedy to this is to remove the files, rename the folder to .whatever or insert the file. Reboot. Then throw the files back onto the sdcard. That should eliminate any issues.
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The .nomedia file solution works fine for me on Android 2.3.3.
The issue you mentioned is therefore fixed (nothing file was deleted unexpectedly).
Reboot was also necessary so that the native photo gallery app does not display the icons/pics any longer for the folders where I added the .nomedia file.
Furthermore, this works also for the music files.
(I use also TapeMachine app, and wanted to avoid that the sounds I recorded are listed in the Music Player).

If I place a .nomedia file in a directory, does that exclude all of its subdirectories from the gallery, as well?

Yes, it does. I just placed a .nomedia file in my /Music folder on my extsdcard and all the pictures in my albums are gone after a reboot.
UPDATE: I just tied this on my tablet (running 4.4.2) and it did not need a reboot. Gallery adjusted automatically. It was a folder on the extsdcard - and since 4.4.x restricts access to the sdcard, it stands to reason it saw the file placed and adjust the library automatically.
NiveusLuna said:
If I place a .nomedia file in a directory, does that exclude all of its subdirectories from the gallery, as well?
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[Req] SD Card organizer?

Hey guys, I have a request for an app. I'm tired of having 5 different folders for music, 3 for pictures, and so on. Is there an app that can read a files extension, and then categorize it into an appropriate folder? For example, any files that have a .mp3 .ogg .wma etc. extension will be grouped into a folder called "music" any file with the extension .mp4 .m4a etc will be grouped into a videos folder, and then .jpg .png .gif and things like that into a pictures folder. I get music from amazon, from a music downloader, and from 3 of my web browsers, and they all save in different locations. It is very annoying and cluttered. Does this exist / can it be made?

BUMP.
I wanna know the same thing. very helpful if you switch roms a lot!!

Ahh u can move the files ur self its kinda hard u drag and drop but its ya
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk

dc13 said:
Ahh u can move the files ur self its kinda hard u drag and drop but its ya
Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk
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That is the exact opposite of what I wanted to know.
Sent from my LG Optimus V running Sense 3.0

App like this would be so useful.

Does this app exist? I need something like this badly
Sent from my LG Optimus V running Sense 3.0

Well, this can be easily done with a simple shell script which gets runs regularly by Tasker or similar app; heck, could be even an init script that runs on boot in case you do not mind the slowdown on boot...
However, note that some apps may not look at your single folder at all or need to be manually configured to look there. So, think about what you are doing.

dr.notor said:
Well, this can be easily done with a simple shell script which gets runs regularly by Tasker or similar app; heck, could be even an init script that runs on boot in case you do not mind the slowdown on boot...
However, note that some apps may not look at your single folder at all or need to be manually configured to look there. So, think about what you are doing.
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I don't know how to script. Also, I'm not necessarily talking about an application pushing the downloaded file into one folder, so much as an application (or script) pulling all downloaded files into their corresponding folder. Pulling, not pushing. Hope this clarifies. If someone were to clarify this, it would be an amazing tool to be able to utilize.

gerbetta33 said:
I don't know how to script. Also, I'm not necessarily talking about an application pushing the downloaded file into one folder, so much as an application (or script) pulling all downloaded files into their corresponding folder. Pulling, not pushing. Hope this clarifies. If someone were to clarify this, it would be an amazing tool to be able to utilize.
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For "pulling" something, you need some daemon running which will watch SD card and do something when a file of a certain type is created. That is exactly what stuff like gallery does (watch pictures/movies and create thumbnails for them). It is resource intensive and basically slows everything down.
Learn to use shell.
Code:
# busybox find /sdcard/* -iname "*.mp3" -type f -exec busybox mv -f {} /sdcard/Music \;
The above will move all MP3 files to Music folder on your SD (assuming the SD card is mounted on /sdcard). Use mv -n instead if you have files with the same name in different dirs, otherwise they will be overwritten.

Custom sounds [for any rom]

Hey all, this is my first post here, but I've figured out a way to get custom sounds on ANY ROM imaginable. It requires ROOT access, which if you need assistance acquiring root, all you have to do is search here on XDA for it. If it's able to be rooted, it's been done, and there's step-by-step instructions on how to do it.
ANYWAYS, to get custom sounds, i.e. lock, touch, unlock, charge, etc, you need to download a root file explorer. The one I'll be using for this tutorial is Root Browser Lite. It's free, and useful for doing what we need to do.
First of all, I will tell you that I am in NO WAY, SHAPE, OR FORM responsible if you screw up your phone by not following these instructions to the "T."
After you install Root Browser, you'll navigate to system, media, audio, ui, and browse around for the files you want to change. For me, I'm using the Clones|Drones V4 ROM, which is absolutely fantastic. Once you find the sound file you want to change, simply find a clip online, I recommend .WAV or .MP3 format, you rename it to the EXACT file name of your original sound file, including the extension. Make a backup of your existing sound file elsewhere, preferably on your computer. Upload the NEW sound file to your sdcard/usb storage, then eject from your computer.
Here's where it gets interesting. Open up your file browser, navigate to sdcard. At the bottom, you should see your new sound file! Long press on it, select COPY, press the HOME icon IN THE FILE BROWSER, NOT YOUR PHONE, then navigate your way back to system, media, audio, ui.
Once you're back into the ui folder, delete your original file by long pressing and selecting delete. You will need to grant y our file explorer root access to continue. Towards the bottom of your screen, you should see a button labelled Paste Here. You're going to press that, reboot your phone, and voila! Custom sound heaven!
ENJOY!
If I've helped you in any way, feel free to buy me a beer or hit the thanks button. I look forward to any new guides I can post on here, and am up for suggestions!

Thread moved to Android Dev & Hacking

Glad to see that your first post is a very constructive and although quite known already (I still think its great), very helpful and could allow new modders a taste of the rooting world.
Kudos to you!
Sent from my DROID2 using xda premium

Hey, I do my best, and I'm wanting to eventually get into developing, but I'm taking baby steps first lol. Starting with minor tweaks is a good place to begin, IMO. Thanks for the compliment.
Sent from a long time ago, in a Galaxy far, far away.

[VZW][AUDIO/MOD] Power On/Off Sound Files

Sooooooo if you own the VZW G2...I KNOW YOU HATE THE POWER ON/OFF SOUNDS JUST AS MUCH AS I DO
Sooooooo I made a couple for my personal use but id thought id spread the wealth lol.
The PowerOn sound byte is the original PS1 system start up
Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/mu627jjddxo7bz8/PowerOn.ogg
The PowerOff sound byte is from Streets of Rage 2 Round Clear
Download: https://www.dropbox.com/s/dx9iak6d016ctsc/PowerOff.ogg
Instructions
I use Root Explorer but any file browsing app should work for you and follow this path
system/media/audio/ui
Look for PowerOn.ogg and PowerOff.ogg
Rename name them to PowerOn.bak and PowerOff.bak
(To have and to hold till death do you part....orrrrr you just so happen to need them later on and rename them back to the original...you choice)
Take you newly downloaded files and Copy/Paste them into the folder and PROFIT!!!!!!!!
It works immediately so feel free to restart the phone and enjoy
THIS HAS BEEN TESTED ON THE VZW VARIANT
FEEL FREE TO TEST ON A DIFFERENT VARIANT IF YOU WANT BUT I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR YOU NUKING YOUR PHONE​

Thanks. Worked for me.
Sent from my VS980 4G using Tapatalk 4

Finally worked, had to copy + rename and copy again (so I have .bak and .ogg files there)
PS1 sound brings back memories

So in theory if we just rename those files we wont have any sound... right?

Zei said:
Take you newly downloaded files and Copy/Paste them into the folder and PROFIT!!!!!!!!
It works immediately so feel free to restart the phone and enjoy
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Have any other sound files?

Ill try to add more to the OP. Ive been extra busy as of late so ill get to it when I can

Bump so I took OP's idea and expanded it to lock/unlock (the files are in the same location
system/media/audio/ui
Method involves Zedge to get MP3s (c/p to PC) then use VLC to convert to OGG files (c/p to the path above)
Best way to get audio track is to use Zedge, get whatever notification you want (get short one for unlock) then copy file(s) to PC and
open VLC ---> Media ---> Convert/Save ---> Add... (this should open popup) ---> Convert/Save (bottom right next to cancel); this opens new popup ---> under profile select 'Audio - Vorbis (OGG)' then select destination ----> ***MUST IMPORTANT PART*** Change the name to particle_lock or particle_unlock (if you use a different unlock animation then use that name respectively) ---> hit start then c/p to path above on your phone
I recommend changing the original sound files to file extension .bak (like OP recommended) so you can return to normal if something goes wrong etc. Oyeah, the lock sound lasts longer while the unlock is quite short so keep that in mind.
Sorry if I complicated simple thing but hope this helps someone, also all credit to Zei (OP) since this is just an extension of his wonderful MOD.

Android 11 and .nomedia file

I was about to post a question about this, but I just figured this out myself. My phone recently updated to Android 11. I have an SD-Card which has music on it - along with a lot of album art. Since the update, all these album art photos have been cluttering up my gallery. Every time I add a .nomedia file in here (which also was there before the update), it seems to get automatically deleted (no, not hidden). I tried copying a .nomedia file from elsewhere on the phone. I even tried popping out the SD-Card and adding the file via PC. As soon as Android touches it, it deletes the file again.
So, here is the issue. With Android 11, it is creating some default folders (I wish it wouldn't clutter up things with these empty folders that I never need or use). Those default folders include: Music, Pictures, Movies. These are created at the top level on the SD-Card and on internal storage. So, if you are also using one of those folders for something, it's going to auto delete the .nomedia file. In my case, I just moved my music into a Musics folder instead(and ensured it has a .nomedia file, of course.
Hopefully this will save someone else from wasting their time trying to figure out why this is happening!

pacaveli420 said:
I was about to post a question about this, but I just figured this out myself. My phone recently updated to Android 11. I have an SD-Card which has music on it - along with a lot of album art. Since the update, all these album art photos have been cluttering up my gallery. Every time I add a .nomedia file in here (which also was there before the update), it seems to get automatically deleted (no, not hidden). I tried copying a .nomedia file from elsewhere on the phone. I even tried popping out the SD-Card and adding the file via PC. As soon as Android touches it, it deletes the file again.
So, here is the issue. With Android 11, it is creating some default folders (I wish it wouldn't clutter up things with these empty folders that I never need or use). Those default folders include: Music, Pictures, Movies. These are created at the top level on the SD-Card and on internal storage. So, if you are also using one of those folders for something, it's going to auto delete the .nomedia file. In my case, I just moved my music into a Musics folder instead(and ensured it has a .nomedia file, of course.
Hopefully this will save someone else from wasting their time trying to figure out why this is happening!
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This makes no sense, please explain in more detail.

android1977 said:
This makes no sense, please explain in more detail.
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If you're storing your music files in any of the default folders, Android is going to auto delete your .nomedia file if you try to put one there. Ergo, the solution is you need to store your music in a folder named something else.

pacaveli420 said:
If you're storing your music files in any of the default folders, Android is going to auto delete your .nomedia file if you try to put one there. Ergo, the solution is you need to store your music in a folder named something else.
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Thanks that's what I did and got lucky, I was so desperate I signed up to XDA just to comment I gotta say XDA I love your site and been reading for a couple year's now, enjoy the information provided, thanks guy's for all your hard work

pacaveli420 said:
If you're storing your music files in any of the default folders, Android is going to auto delete your .nomedia file if you try to put one there. Ergo, the solution is you need to store your music in a folder named something else.
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Thank you for saving my media library! I've been tortured by this issue since using the new phone, finally!

hello, i just get Android 11 on my MI A3, and those folders ( music, pictures, movies )appears on my sd card, they are useless for me, is there a way to delete them?
before Android 11, i didn't have this problem because i choosed " use sd as external support " instead of "use sd as extended memory" when inserting the sd card, but now even if i make the same choice, the folders are there and i can't delete them.

Sort of off topic but not really:
How do I stop it from creating these default folders? It's extremely annoying. I don't have my SD card structured that way and never have. I've deleted the default music, movies, etc folders numerous times now as they just clutter up the root directory and they keep reappearing. Is there a solution to this?

This seems to be a part of Android 11s default folder structure which no one ever bothered to do something about. I wouldn't be surprised if it's there for "security reasons" as well as a communist one. As in you only have the option to use these "secure" folders or else it won't show up in your apps at all.
This might be a way for Google to slowly faze out SDCards entirely while only giving you the option to use said folders for your "private" stuff akin to how IOS (kinda) works. In other words, they are doing it on purpose and no one ever bothered to read the fine print.
Obviously private music and other media collections is the root (see what I did there) cause of the problem. They don't want you to have those at all, And want you to use streaming services instead (tinfoil hat). Which is probably what these folders will probably end up being used for.
Netflix and Spotify allow you to store music on your device, but it's encrypted and will probably end up there at some point in Androids lifecycle. Obviously these files don't need .nomedia since the files are encrypted and will only show up in said app either way which makes the above meaningless.
Most of this is speculation obviously, but we've slowly been moving towards this trend if you look at how System apps were split into app and priv-app and so on. At some point in time only certain apps that has had the blessing of Google will be allowed to read anything off your storage. This happened with Chrome not to long ago where they blocked side-loaded extensions from running.
You will slowly see Android turning into IOS because they (Google) and big-tech in general wants 100% control of what you can and can't do. And everything based on AOSP or LOS is gonna follow suit because no one gives a flying fudge because that's too bothersome. The fragmentation of custom builds based on LOS/AOSP in general already shows that this has always been the case for the last 10 years. Linux in general is no different either as can be seen with wokeism. Except that was through decimation via woke people and not big-tech.

I was going crazy thinking this issue was specific to my samsung's stock rom. I started searching about this once I noticed it on LOS 18. Glad I'm not alone
I tend to be a little OCD about my folder structures but at this point I don't mind making a separate folder to avoid album arts in my gallery.

I believe I found a solution to this. It's been about a week or two with no further incident now. My solution was to delete the default folders from the root of the SD card because I don't use them, then create blank files that used those names. Haven't had a problem since.
I use the top level pictures folder because of a compatibility issue with programs that have small file path character limits that cause the program to hang. I don't use them anymore but I haven't had a reason to move it back where I had it previously and that would only make the default folder issue worse if I did. Or at least it would have until now with this discovery.
I do not use the movies and music folders, and if I move my pictures folder back where I had it I won't use that one either. Having them pop up on their own to clutter my root directory on both my SD card and my phone itself was very annoying. After deleting the movies and music folders off of the root of my SD card for the billionth time and getting rid of the empty default folders on my phone again, I created two blank files on my SD card root called Music and Movies. Ever since then the default folders haven't reappeared. On top of that, it hasn't created any ".thumbnails" folders all over the place like it always used to do either. That includes doing so on the internal phone storage. Creating those files on the SD card seems to have broken the whole process. I imagine the same would work vice versa for OP since it sounds like they use those default folders. Find an empty default folder on internal storage, delete it, create a file and name it the name of the folder you deleted (case sensitive), and that should disable the annoying default folder management process too. I can't vouch for that method, but I can vouch for it working when you do so on the SD card.

I just noticed this today on my tab s7+.
From what I can tell, the .nomedia file nolonger does anything on its own. However, if I add the .nomedia file to a folder, then rename the folder placing a . in front, of course it hides the entire folder. When I rename the folder again, removing the ., the .nomedia file now works. No matter how many times I rename the folder, the gallery does not see it until I remove the .nomedia file.

pool_shark said:
I just noticed this today on my tab s7+.
From what I can tell, the .nomedia file nolonger does anything on its own. However, if I add the .nomedia file to a folder, then rename the folder placing a . in front, of course it hides the entire folder. When I rename the folder again, removing the ., the .nomedia file now works. No matter how many times I rename the folder, the gallery does not see it until I remove the .nomedia file.
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thank you pool shark.. i tried what you did/suggested and it worked. thanks.