Develop Bugs

Excluding Folders from Gallery

I've tried the .nomedia method but that doesn't seem to work in ICS. Does anyone know how to prevent a folder from being shown in the Gallery app?
Thanks.

I'd be interested in a solution to this too, don't really want all my album art and images from games etc cluttering the gallery.
Either a method to exclude certain folders or one to only include certain ones would do.

Tried .nomedia as well for my icons folder... doesn't seem to work.

This is driving me nuts. I tried the .nomedia thing too before I found this post. This is such an oversight for the gallery app.. it's pulling all of the downloaded icons/images from my mail app..

i was having issues with gallery not displaying thumbs & even wouldn't open some files. i ended up looking for an alternative and found this:
QuickPic
it is working well and you can specify folders to include/exclude.

Thanks - just downloaded this as well. Should work until someone can find a fix to the .nomedia thing..
Does anyone know what the Scrapbook Photos folder is? I think it may have come from picasa or G+.. but mine is empty and cannot be deleted in the regular gallery.

after putting the .nomedia, try rebooting, or downloading "sdrescan" from the market (free). the android media scanner indexes your files, but its often slow and doesn't update unless the camera puts something there. chances are it just hadn't known there was a .nomedia sucks, they'll probably have a fix eventually

cancerouspete said:
after putting the .nomedia, try rebooting, or downloading "sdrescan" from the market (free). the android media scanner indexes your files, but its often slow and doesn't update unless the camera puts something there. chances are it just hadn't known there was a .nomedia sucks, they'll probably have a fix eventually
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Unfortunately it seems that there are certain folders where .nomedia will never work. So far I've found this with the downloads folder. No amount of rescanning or rebooting will stop images in the downloads folder appearing in the gallery.
I found that creating a subfolder with a dot in front of it (ie, .stuff) inside the download folder, moving the images into this folder, then rescanning will work.

you guys are honestly just unlucky. .nomedia works perfect for me. i even have a .nomedia file in my music folder and it works.

neok44 said:
you guys are honestly just unlucky. .nomedia works perfect for me. i even have a .nomedia file in my music folder and it works.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Which application did you use ?
Cheers~

The .nomedia method works for me too in the Gallery app.

no media does not work for me and its extremely frustrating...bump.

sluflyer06 said:
no media does not work for me and its extremely frustrating...bump.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
After trying many solutions , finally this one is working for me : https://market.android.com/details?id=com.theronrogers.vaultyfree&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50aGVyb25yb2dlcnMudmF1bHR5ZnJlZSJd
Good luck !
Cheers~

tossero said:
After trying many solutions , finally this one is working for me : https://market.android.com/details?id=com.theronrogers.vaultyfree&feature=search_result#?t=W251bGwsMSwxLDEsImNvbS50aGVyb25yb2dlcnMudmF1bHR5ZnJlZSJd
Good luck !
Cheers~
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
It looked to me like Vaulty physically moves the selected files to a folder and renames them so they're 'protected' because when i tried it out (it did work) but the location where the files were was not empty in root explorer.

voxigenboy said:
i was having issues with gallery not displaying thumbs & even wouldn't open some files. i ended up looking for an alternative and found this:
QuickPic
it is working well and you can specify folders to include/exclude.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Been using this for a bit now. Seems to work really well.
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

I second QuickPic. I used to use it on my HTC Magic because it was too slow for the 3D galley and I've used it ever since. Very efficient, fast, and allows you to zoom in to 100%.

Why don't you guys just put a dot in front of whatever filer its in? So like if the folder was "Pix" then make it ".Pix"....

nomedia is working for me too

It seems that Gallery mostly respects hidden (.foldername) folders and the .nomedia flag, but some process is alerting the Gallery to new folders and files as they are created, and that process does NOT respect hidden folders or .nomedia.
If you believe your problem is solved with the nomedia app, I suggest you move a photo into your hidden and/or .nomedia-ed folder and see if Gallery does not show it afterwards.
The only workaround that I have found is to Force Stop the system app called "Media Storage", clear it's cache and reboot. When media storage runs again at startup you'll find .nomedia and hidden folders are treated correctly (i.e. ignored) again. Beware though, my ringtone and notification tones were reset and I suspect it was a side-effect of doing this.

Block certain images from Gallery?

Is there a way to block certain folders from showing their images in the Gallery app? I love mClock and the skins for it have image files. So whenever I open the gallery app it shows all the images for mClock and just clutters up the gallery. Is there a way to block this?
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

You can block a directory by putting a file called ".nomedia" in (without quotes obviously). May have to clear the gallery cache and have it rebuild its image file.

I tried it and no success
I went into the parent directory /sdcard/mClock/ and tried to make a filed named ".nomedia" minus the quotes and it said it cannot make a file named that...
So I already had the "Gallery Blocker" app from the market and it essentially does what you suggested. However even after "blocking" a directory the images in that same directory still show up. Even after clearing gallery data...
Sent from my Transformer Prime TF201 using xda premium

The .nomedia file should work fine. But you have to reboot after the file has been placed. I know that it is annoying but I had to learn that as well. Try it?

Try the app Loky. That's what I use. You can hide contacts, photos, messages, etc... lol
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using xda premium

Hi,
I might be missing something here but the easiest solution would be to put a "." (without the "") before the folder name. This would effectively hide the folder (can still be seen and accessed via astro or es file explorer provided you allow hidden files/folders to be visible) thus preventing the gallery app or any other image programme from accessing your images.
Hope that helps!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App

Andrewgrace said:
Hi,
I might be missing something here but the easiest solution would be to put a "." (without the "") before the folder name. This would effectively hide the folder (can still be seen and accessed via astro or es file explorer provided you allow hidden files/folders to be visible) thus preventing the gallery app or any other image programme from accessing your images.
Hope that helps!
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using XDA App
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That doesn't help when you can't change the folder name due to it being required by the program that created it.

You can try an app called Vaulty Stocks. I think its on sale right now so its cheap. It will hide images from your gallery. The app will act as an app for the stock exchange. When it tells you to enter the company name you wanna look up(really your password), it will take you to the hidden photos. If you enter something other than the password, it will take you to the Google stocks browser page. Its a pretty good app
Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk

Quickpic (a vastly better free gallery app than stock) will do the no media thing for you, just long press and select hide folder
blazing through on my Nexus Prime via XDA app

I had the same problem with Beautiful Widgets creating a folder in my gallery with a lot of cache images but I easily solved it by going into the /sdcard/data/beautifulwidgets/cache folder and deleting everything. I don't know it that helps in your case but I hope so.
Speaking of hiding folders and pictures in the gallery...I was wondering if anyone knew how to permanently get rid of the picasa images. I'm running GummyNex 0.7.6 and I love it but I'm really picky about having only things I want/need on my phone. When I go to the gallery I always have a "Scapbook Photos" and "Profile Photos" folder with a little picasa logo on it. With that said, I've been playing around with things in attempt to finally get rid of them and they ALWAYS come back. I searched the entire phone with Root Explorer for any file with "picasa" in the name and all the files come from the google plus folders (in /data/data/ and /data/user/0/ and /sdcard/Android/data/). After deleting all the files and folders and still no luck, I deleted the entire app. Then the files started generating in the gallery folders (in the directories mentioned above). So, with my limited knowledge of coding and such, I then started trying to edit the .xml files that had anything with "picasa" in them and still no luck. The closest I can come is to delete all the picasa files and go to the gallery and hit the refresh button which then causes a force close, then go back into gallery and the folders are finally gone....but then if I hit the refresh button or take a picture.....they're back!!! arrrrgggghhh!!! It defeated me and I can't stand it! But if anyone knows how to change this, I'd be forever grateful!!!

OP, did you ever figure it out? I have tried both putting a '.' in front of the folder name ie: .dontlookinhere as well as putting a .nomedia file in the folder. I've rebooted and cleared cache yet the folder remains.
---------- Post added at 09:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------
To add, quickpic won't show the folder but the stock gallery will

Can Anyone Confirm?

I've been working with hiding images with .nomedia files for years, but at this point, I feel I have tried everything and I can't find a solution to my problem.
I have a bunch of epubs that are displaying coverart showing up in the Samsung default gallery app. I've tried adding the .nomedia files to the offending folders and wiping data for both gallery and media storage, but they continue to return. I've found on some tablet forums that they had had significant trouble, and the only way it would work would to be to make a new folder, put the .nomedia file in first, and then put the items into that folder. This also had no result.
I know some apps will selectively choose to ignore the .nomedia files. Is this default gallery app one of them? This is my first time using a Samsung phone with Touchwiz. I'm not sure what to do at this point, but I installed Quickpic, and they aren't showing up there. Rather not have to pass on the default app.
Thoughts?

Pics in "Download" folder magically disappear?

Only happens on my wife's phone and not mine. She can download the pics from an email or text and after about 24 hours "poof" She just sees a black template for each one. Can't bring them up on PC and or QuikPic- You can see the templates in the Download Folder but no where else nor can you do anything with them other than delete. She is stock and its done this out of the box-
Thanks in advance for any help!

Anyone... thanks = )

Do the file sizes change?

Murasaki no Kaze said:
Do the file sizes change?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Jut looked at her phone to verify and now the thumbnails are gone... I saved some more photos and will verify for you-
Also path is the typical... /storage/sdcard0/Download/NAME OF FILE.JPG
Thanks!

If she's plugging it into a mac (or any computer) it's probably set to auto copy then remove from phone.
Also check any apps that "sync" or auto-upload pics.

Just verified, she does not hook it up to any PC even the one at work... only charges off the wall.
Thanks

See if she's using any apps with her pics. Other than that just check to see if the file size is changing. It mostly sounds like something is moving/deleting the pics.

She was completely stock before last night putting the Quikpic on there to see if that program could still see them. Other than stock gallery and stock settings- I haven't found any setting within Gmail or Messaging or within Gallery or Settings that does anything weird to pictures unless I have missed something.
Thanks again for all of your help so far...

It won't be the gallery, you'd look to that for thumbnail problems.
Check if she uploads to facebook/instagram/etc.
If she does, HOW is she uploading? Web? App?

No uploading... she just keeps them in her Download Folder and eventually they turn into a black thumbnail template.
Whats funny is the ones that she moves to a folder (With a Category Name) no issue and they never dissapear... Only that folder...
I have removed everything and cleared up the directory and let the stock android file structure- re-create everything. its very weird...

Saving to a sdcard or internal?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Is the by chance a file in the directory called .nomedia I believe is what it's called? I get weird issues with pictures downloaded from time to time .I had the nomedia file deleted that and haven't had any issues with images since
Making the iPhone jealous one user at a time.

blaker13 said:
Saving to a sdcard or internal?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
internal. Default download directory.
mkfryan said:
Is the by chance a file in the directory called .nomedia I believe is what it's called? I get weird issues with pictures downloaded from time to time .I had the nomedia file deleted that and haven't had any issues with images since
Making the iPhone jealous one user at a time.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
.nomedia doesn't directly affect files. It's used to tell galleries/music players/etc not to bother reading the current folder. It will make stuff not appear in apps, but it doesn't touch files. There's no reason for that to be in a stock download folder, but never hurts to check.
Love the signature btw

Is she going into her "downloads" app in her app drawer and clearing that list out? I know I accidentally do that from time to time.
Try using File Manager to move them to external storage. Does she maybe have a cleaning app that clears out her downloads?
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

Alright so a little more info-
When she downloaded Quikpic to try and view the thumbnails the program actually removed them. So thats why the templates were deleted this time.
However, one thing is certain- The download is set to internal storage and the category folders are on the Micro SD.
So if she moves them to a category on the Micro SD they are fine and never turn into a black template/thumbnail. If she keeps them in the Download Folder however, they eventually turn to a black thumbnail ans stay there until maually deleted... its like the picture disapears and the thumbnail looses contact with the original file.
-Thanks again for everyones help so far... :good:

Will check this tonight... .nomedia thing-

Be sure to ask what thenewguy1 asked.
If all else fails, she can just install a download manager and have it intercept and save the pictures to a different folder.
Also, does this ONLY happen to pics? No other file types are affected?

Alright so some wild updates... may be onto something (She doesn't clear downloads and she doesn't have the no image file)
However... it happened again yesterday- Here is the scenario on how it occurs.
She has an email with a image in Gmail-
Saves the picture-
File is saved in Download Folder and visible within Gallery Download Folder-
She then takes the email within Gmail and moves it to a folder-
Several minutes later this happens to the image-
Blacked out thumbnail and the size and data or there but no image-
Unable to see it at all or explore for it-
It gets better, if she moves it back to the Inbox or where it was saved orig the image will reappear-
So in theory its like it saves the shortcut to the image and when the image is moved the shortcut defaults to blank template.
What causes this??? LOL Thanks = )

So she's saving from the gmail app? Or from gmail web?
She clicks on pic -> menu -> save ?
Is that how she's saving them?
In trying to simulate your problem, somehow my thumbnail cache got screwed lol, cleared through quickpic and it seems to be working fine, haven't seen it black out yet... for me it doesn't give me the save option, it shows me the picture, and if I check the folder or gallery, it's already been saved to disk.
Now gmails tripping lol
Try clearing data and see if this problem persists.

senfinger said:
Alright so some wild updates... may be onto something (She doesn't clear downloads and she doesn't have the no image file)
However... it happened again yesterday- Here is the scenario on how it occurs.
She has an email with a image in Gmail-
Saves the picture-
File is saved in Download Folder and visible within Gallery Download Folder-
She then takes the email within Gmail and moves it to a folder-
Several minutes later this happens to the image-
Blacked out thumbnail and the size and data or there but no image-
Unable to see it at all or explore for it-
It gets better, if she moves it back to the Inbox or where it was saved orig the image will reappear-
So in theory its like it saves the shortcut to the image and when the image is moved the shortcut defaults to blank template.
What causes this??? LOL Thanks = )
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
How is she saving it? I am also trying to replicate the issue. I am opening the attachment, hitting menu and save. I have moved the email but the image is still working fine. If she uses file manager to move them to another folder does it also corrupt the file? Is she somehow saving a link or shortcut? I am about lost
Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using xda app-developers app

SM-N910P NK2 Gallery Issue w/ Dropbox Image/Video Sync.

Good mornoonevenight.
I've turned on Dropbox image and video sync within gallery (while not sync'g the entire structure).
I have a tremendous amount of data out on DB. I use it to have a pseudo roaming profile across several boxes (laptop, workstation, and a VM) with a lot of win32 files therein, including toolbars, appdata, etc.
The issue I have is that on the Note 4 I am experiencing substantial latency when opening gallery. I believe that it is directly related to gallery syncing all of the Images from all of the folders on DB (i.e. If I turn off the DB img/vid sync, the latency goes away).
Some 33k items are being synced: https://db.tt/h1Bh5KrZ
I expected it to sync only certain folders (i.e. Camera Uploads, Pictures, etc.} not every folder on my DB...
I tried to resolve with putting .nomedia files on DB, not really expecting it to work. It didn't.
Next, I found where the cache is locally stored on the device (stg-em-0-cloudagent-cache-dropbox) and tried to sprinkle .nomedia files throughout, even to eventually include the root cache-db folder (thinking that it would ultimately break DB image/video sync). It had no effect, I am still seeing where DB is syncing some >33K images, which clearly explains the latency whenever gallery is opened or I navigate up to the root gallery folder.
Two questions:
1) Is there a way in which I can prevent the DB client on the device from cache'g all folders, restricting it to a specific subset of folders from the cloud? OR,
2) Is there some way in which I can keep Gallery from loading everything within the DB cache folders (residing inside of the cloud agent folders)?
I was really hoping that the attempt of .nomedia files in the cloudagent folders would have done it, but alas, no...
Please & Thanks.
-t
Sent from my SM-N910P using XDA Premium 4 mobile app

If you're rooted on KitKat running Xposed, you could try "Xposed Media Scanner Optimizer". There's a .scanMedia 0 bit file that can be utilized to optimize the media scan. I tried this but since I don't have much media to be scanned, the media scans were already optimized @ 2 seconds and running infrequently so I disabled it.
It could also be drop box issue trying to sync all data and media alike. Read it thoroughly and try it. Hope it helps but I wouldn't know, myself.

Thanks for the reply.
Yeah, I have had xposed and media scan optimizer installed for some time. It is a nice tool.
Given I have moved most of my media off to the cloud, I hadn't considered trying to use it to circumvent the inclusion of all of the DB folder content. hmm. Will have to give that a go.
Thanks for the idea!
-t