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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Hiding Pics from the Gallery??

Hey guys:
I've got tons of comicbooks on my storage card that keeps showing up as individual folders in my picture gallery. I know I could drop a "no media" file in the main folder to stop it, but then my other apps wont read anything in that folder as well correct? Is their any way to exclude the comicbook folder from the gallery?
thanks

shaun0207 said:
Hey guys:
I've got tons of comicbooks on my storage card that keeps showing up as individual folders in my picture gallery. I know I could drop a "no media" file in the main folder to stop it, but then my other apps wont read anything in that folder as well correct? Is their any way to exclude the comicbook folder from the gallery?
thanks
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+1 ................

call me crazy, but I have a feeling the easiest solution is to create a .nomedia file and put it in the folder you want to hide.... ooooor I could be 100% wrong.

MitchRapp said:
call me crazy, but I have a feeling the easiest solution is to create a .nomedia file and put it in the folder you want to hide.... ooooor I could be 100% wrong.
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You are crazy ;-) does not work here.

This does not solve your problem, but may be an alternate solution. I use a gallery replacement called QuickPic. Inside of QuickPic you can choose which folders are hidden so you only see the ones you want.

HuckFinn said:
This does not solve your problem, but may be an alternate solution. I use a gallery replacement called QuickPic. Inside of QuickPic you can choose which folders are hidden so you only see the ones you want.
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I've heard of QuickPic. But I really like the stock Gallery. And if I put a no media file in that folder,, my comicbook reader apps wont see the files either right?

Actually, all you have to do is rename the folder or file and put a "." at the start of the name. So a folder called "my_pron" renamed ".my_pron" won't show up
It's probably worth noting that you should do the rename on your tab and not from your PC, I had problems with it not working when I did it via my PC, that's why I mention it. I used Astro File manager and it works just fine.

t.d.k said:
".my_pron"
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Giggity...

Kii Safe!
It's a program designed to be more along the lines of hiding naughty things, but it would allow you to move all your comics into a side gallery type section, plus once their there you can subdivide them into their own folders AGAIN so that you have individual comics in mini-galleries, with sorting by name or date possible to make for easy ordering.
https://market.android.com/details?...esult#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5raWkuc2FmZSJd
Noteworthy item is that with the EI22 update yesterday, my app got wiped with the rest of my phone, but upon re-installing it and going through new-startup steps it found the SD card data from my previous installation - yay SD card!

tigerknight said:
It's a program designed to be more along the lines of hiding naughty things, but it would allow you to move all your comics into a side gallery type section, plus once their there you can subdivide them into their own folders AGAIN so that you have individual comics in mini-galleries, with sorting by name or date possible to make for easy ordering.
https://market.android.com/details?...esult#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS5raWkuc2FmZSJd
Noteworthy item is that with the EI22 update yesterday, my app got wiped with the rest of my phone, but upon re-installing it and going through new-startup steps it found the SD card data from my previous installation - yay SD card!
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I have a app similar to this called Hide & Sneek. But I have to unhide pics everytime I need to use it. Will Keep safe allow me to hide the comics just from the Gallery , but let them be used in the Combook reader?

Quit trying to hide the pron from her and you won't have issues! Or just if ya get caught freak out and claim you must have a virus!
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium

hammer4203 said:
Quit trying to hide the pron from her and you won't have issues! Or just if ya get caught freak out and claim you must have a virus!
Sent from my ADR6400L using xda premium
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lol. Not worried bout the porn pics. But when I have to scroll through the gallery to find the folders my real pics are in, its kinda annoying. See the attached.

SketchBook/Gallery File Location Confusion

Last night, I was looking through my Gallery and saw a few things I'd drawn in SketchBook Pro. Not everything I'd drawn in SK was there, but some were. I figured they were copies or thumbnails or something and, because I like to keep my file systems clean, I deleted them from the Gallery.
Well, turns out they weren't copies or thumbnails, but MY DRAWINGS! Ugh!
So my question is, is there anything comparable to a recycle bin on this thing, where my drawings might still exist? A second question is, does the Gallery just gather all the image-type files and display them, no matter where they are?
Thanks in advance!

loribuono said:
Last night, I was looking through my Gallery and saw a few things I'd drawn in SketchBook Pro. Not everything I'd drawn in SK was there, but some were. I figured they were copies or thumbnails or something and, because I like to keep my file systems clean, I deleted them from the Gallery.
Well, turns out they weren't copies or thumbnails, but MY DRAWINGS! Ugh!
So my question is, is there anything comparable to a recycle bin on this thing, where my drawings might still exist? A second question is, does the Gallery just gather all the image-type files and display them, no matter where they are?
Thanks in advance!
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Gallery does display all images on your tablet unless they are in a hidden folder. If you have images you do not want to be seen in Gallery you can rename the folder they are in by placing a . in front of the folder name. This will make Gallery see the folder as hidden and not access it. However this may also cause some other problems. Example I have a bunch of epub books with cover images with them and I did not want to have all those images showing in Gallery (there are a lot of them) so I made the folder hidden and it worked for Gallery, but I read the books in Cool Reader and all the sudden Cool Reader could not find the books either. I worked around this by creating special folder for my book I am currently reading.

create a .nomedia file and place it in the folder. it'll keep some apps from scanning the folders.

Filtering gallery folders

Hi guys,
I am having some issues with the Stock Gallery. I have bunch of assignments and homework on my sd card and gallery decides to add all the photos into the library...... i.e. I can't even find my photos and videos among the few thousands graphs and diagrams.. Is there a way for the app to only scan specific (e.g. media) folders? Thanks!

I am afraid that the answer is NO unless one of the dev-cracks here found a solution.
But meanwhile You could use any gallery-app with a hide function or - since You obviously just want to make them not to show in stock gallery: -simply use
Keep Safe

I see. Any cool gallery app that support include/exclude folders? Thank you!

salmonsushi said:
I see. Any cool gallery app that support include/exclude folders? Thank you!
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QuickPic is the best one out there and with that one you can hide folders, it's free so why don't you try it out.

dropping a ".nomedia" file in the directories you don't want seen in gallery doesn't work?
Hmm, looks like there is an app that will help with these. I have not tried it: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.studiokuma.nomedia&hl=en

You can add a . to the beginning of the folder name of any folder you do not want gallery to look at and the images will not be seen. Of course this may cause some other apps to not see the folder also.

Barsky said:
dropping a ".nomedia" file in the directories you don't want seen in gallery doesn't work?
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It seems not to, which is driving me nuts.
There is a few folders I would like to hide and putting a . at the start of the folder name does not work either.
EDIT:
It does actually work putting .nomedia file in folders for samsung's gallery. The media scanner seems super slow or something and not specifically updated by a reboot. I have an app called "Rescan Meda" that does not seem to get the media scanner's ass in gear.
It seems that the media scanner will still do recursive if there is not a .nomedia in each folder of the tree.
making the folder hidden by putting a . at the start of the foldername does not work tho.

Delete files .Thumbdata3 - 19xxxx (710MB!)

Inside the folder DCIM /.thumbnails there is a file .Thumbdata3 of 710MB!
I tried to delete it but it always returns the same size.
I also tried to delete all the photos from the DCIM folder but nothing has changed!
How is it that the file has a size so big?

MarkAndroid said:
Inside the folder DCIM /.thumbnails there is a file .Thumbdata3 of 710MB!
I tried to delete it but it always returns the same size.
I also tried to delete all the photos from the DCIM folder but nothing has changed!
How is it that the file has a size so big?
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That's probably the thumbnail data for your pictures. I'm assuming you have quite a few...?

I deleted all the images.
The folder .thumbnails no contains preview as I deleted everything.
There remains only the file to 711 MB

MarkAndroid said:
I deleted all the images.
The folder .thumbnails no contains preview as I deleted everything.
There remains only the file to 711 MB
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As the first reply already stated, this is a thumbnail file that is generated on the basis of all pictures on your device. Deleting all thumbnails doesn't really help, because the thumbnail cache will regenerate itself. If you want to diminish it in terms of size, you'll have to remove the actual pictures on your device (be it wallpapers, family pictures, Reddit downloads or porn). Only that will lessen the numbers of thumbnails generated and thus the size of this file.

As I said I deleted all the real pictures and not just the thumbnails!
When I open the gallery there is no picture or video!
I also raised the MicroSD to make sure there were no photographs or video to generate thumbnails.

Yes, I see what you mean. I have two, each about 600 Mb, one from 08/07/2012 and one from 19/10/2012. These appear to be the Thumbnail files from the media players.. So until you clear the librarycache from those, they'll keep reappearing.

I also had two files, then deleting all reappeared only one from 711MB!
You have lots of photos and videos?

MarkAndroid said:
I also had two files, then deleting all reappeared only one from 711MB!
You have lots of photos and videos?
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Click to collapse
About 40gb internal, and another 40ish on SD's.

We are different!
My internal memory 45GB free!
MicroSD removed

Yes, quite obviously, you are different. Won't get you a Nobel Prize.
Did you clear the media player's data yet? I have device pretty chock full with all kinds of graphics and videos, and on the MicroSD, the thumbnails file is only slightly less than 12 MB.
ShadowLea probably has a lot more.....errrmmm...shadowy material than me, so I dare not compare us directly.
It seems likely though that you just had a lot of material to be indexed previously, and those caches are never emptied, neither are they touched upon a reinstall. You'll need to empty them by hand yourself.

Yes, obviously we're different. :cyclops:
MartyHulskemper said:
ShadowLea probably has a lot more.....errrmmm...shadowy material than me, so I dare not compare us directly.
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Well... I'm not paying for my Eweka payserver in the spirit of charity.

MartyHulskemper said:
Yes, quite obviously, you are different. Won't get you a Nobel Prize.
Did you clear the media player's data yet? I have device pretty chock full with all kinds of graphics and videos, and on the MicroSD, the thumbnails file is only slightly less than 12 MB.
ShadowLea probably has a lot more.....errrmmm...shadowy material than me, so I dare not compare us directly.
It seems likely though that you just had a lot of material to be indexed previously, and those caches are never emptied, neither are they touched upon a reinstall. You'll need to empty them by hand yourself.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How can I manually clear the cache?

Usually through the settings in the apps themselves.

OK. So what application should I see? Gallery app or all photos and videos app? (Example QuickPic, Mxplayer)

All of them.

MarkAndroid said:
Inside the folder DCIM /.thumbnails there is a file .Thumbdata3 of 710MB!
I tried to delete it but it always returns the same size.
I also tried to delete all the photos from the DCIM folder but nothing has changed!
How is it that the file has a size so big?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I had the same problem...my files was 1.6GB. I believe it has to do with thumbnails database off all pictues that have been on your phone or gallery, and even if you delete it, they keep track of the all and then recreates the thumbnails file.
My solution was to create a empty folder with the exact same name of the file, in the same location (after deleting the big file first)...did not need to change permissions or anything, just an plain empty folder with the same name replacing the file. I´ve rebooted several times/took lots of pictures and seems to prevent the file to re-create. Has worked so far.
Hope that helps

It seems to work!
Since I created two folders with the name of the file .thumbdata are no longer created the two large files and does not create even the thumbnails!
THANKS

MarkAndroid said:
It seems to work!
Since I created two folders with the name of the file .thumbdata are no longer created the two large files and does not create even the thumbnails!
THANKS
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Any abnormalities with your device since? Like opening the camera app, taking photos, accessing Gallery, and FCs?

I noticed this type of behavior back with my Motorola DROID. I realized that when I performed Factory resets it would not delete these files off of the SDCard, an I had 4 or 5 of them (when I was trying every ROM under the sun before CM7 was released).
I finally figured out that just deleting them would allow the apps to recreate what they needed - but yeah, some photos that I had moved to a 'hidden' location still had thumbnails showing. I finally figured out what ShadowLea is saying - you have to clear the cache components of the applications themselves and then let them rebuild. From there it is a piece of cake.

solved for Galaxy S3
Hello,
I had the same problem on my Samsung S3. The file was allways created with 1,74 GB and growed. when i deleted it by hand it was created a few minutes later again.
Here the solution that worked for me
1) copy file name
2) delte the file
3) create a folder with the filename (not a file!) *
4) take away all possible permissions for this folder (with total commander for andriod for example)
After that my camera and my picture viewer still works fine. the only "problem" i have is that i dont see a preview of my old pictures in the down left corner of the camera app.
*I also tried to create a file with the name and took the permissions from it but it was overwriten by the camera anyway.
cheers!