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I'm enjoying Bejeweled 2, but don't want the 'backdrops', 'fonts', and multiple 'images*' folders in the Gallery. They're a pain to wade through when I'm trying to see my own pics. Is there any way to remove them?

I've Googled a bit, but have only found other people complaining about the issue--no real solutions.

ale
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Roy Pardee
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5 Answers5

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Yes you can! In directories that you do not want scanned by the media scanner put a blank file called .nomedia

Don't forget the "."

Windows may not let you create this file because of the name.

Some file explorer apps have an option for creating this file.

The app developers should have created this file for you but some forget.

ale
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Seth Hikari
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  • Before you follow this answer please be aware that there are many cases of this method deleting the media in the folder where the ".nomedia" file was placed. BACKUP YOUR DATA FIRST. – Daniel Apr 02 '11 at 22:56
  • Many cases? Have you got any links? (it seems a fairly innocuous thing to do; I'm just wondering what it is that does the deleting) – Matt H Apr 02 '11 at 23:59
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    Issue 3692 should of been fixed, but beware on some HTC devices https://review.source.android.com/#change,14161 – Seth Hikari Apr 03 '11 at 02:59
  • @Seth Thanks for the update - can you point out where it says this since I couldn't find it. Had I seen that I wouldn't have said anything. – Daniel Apr 03 '11 at 07:00
  • That worked great--thanks! I was able to create that file at a command prompt ("notepad .nomedia"). – Roy Pardee Apr 03 '11 at 20:04
  • @Daniel

    "Fixing media scanner inappropriate removal of media files.

    This commit fixes the inappropriate removal of media files after adding a .nomedia file into a folder that has been previously scanned."

    Though people are still reporting this problem on HTC devices sometimes, and devices without 2.1 would not have this fix it looks like

     – Seth Hikari Apr 04 '11 at 05:43
  • Thanks @Seth can you provide a link to that for myself and others? – Daniel Apr 04 '11 at 05:59
  • I've created an empty .nomedia file in the directory I want to hide, and while there were no deletions, the dir is also still visible in the gallery (Android 2.3.2). What can be wrong? – Bart van Heukelom Jun 29 '11 at 11:14
  • Will that work in a parent directory? (e.g. the one that holds all the music albums) – golimar Jan 25 '15 at 17:00
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.nomedia doesn't solve the problem at all! Putting that file in folder where you store music (to get rid of all covers to be listed in gallery) also excludes all the music in the media player (PlayerPro in my case).

I would suggest using a BETTER gallery, like QuickPic, where you can set which folder to INCLUDE instead of needing to exclude folders. I Still don't get it why this option isn't available in stock gallery!

Another solution would be to use a separate app to HIDE certain folders, if your issue is that you have some 'secret' folders you don't want your friends or gf/bf to see ;) Hideit Pro is an excellent app of that kind.

Irfan
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SHarkware
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1

If you really want .nomedia to do its job, follow these 3 steps :

•  add a .nomedia to whichever folders you choose

•  flush your photo gallery app's cache/data using your device's app mgr

•  download/install a free media scanner app from the market (there are several) and invoke it … this last step will rebuild the photo gallery's cache/data… CORRECTLY this time !

Plus, you don't even need a rooted device for this : first step you can use any file mgr, even the dinky one that comes stock with Android devices, second step you can use your device's own app mgr as stated, and third step there are media scanner apps both for and without root, diff is only in some extra options, but invoking the Android media scan service itself is just one single line of code, no root needed.

GuccizBud
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For it to work, after creating the. nomedia file, you must move the media file out, then back into the folder. I used ES file explorer to create the .nomedia file. Once you create one, just use copy/paste to spread it around.

Also in order to avoid the stress in future, it's better to place the .nomedia file in newly created folders so that all future media file that end up in it won't show up in Gallery. I found the nomedia file in Evernote folder which means they too foresaw this problem :-)

Edit: I came across another solution. After creating the ".nomedia" file, instead of manually moving the media files to and fro, you could remove and reinsert the SD card in order to force the gallery to rescan folders.

Olumide Oyetoke
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  • You could also mount the device to your PC and unmount it, or manually trigger the MediaScanner using an app like SDrescan :) – Izzy Apr 29 '13 at 18:44
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I just tested out Seth's answer and it worked fine on my HTC EVO. I created the .nomedia file using Notepad++ and the default Notepad on Windows, so both of those should create a .nomedia file just fine. Even though this worked for me, I still suggest you make a backup of your files before trying this (I did when I tested), since from what I read this in an unreliable method for users to apply. Again from what I read it works fine if the media files are placed in the folder after the .nomedia file is placed in it, but if the files are there before the .nomedia file then it may delete the files. If Seth's answer does not work for you, you may want to try creating an empty folder (with the same name as the one you want to put the .nomedia file in), place the .nomedia file in the folder and then add the photos (or whatever media you want), and see if that fixes the issue. I was going to try this if the first method failed, but it hasn't deleted my media yet, so we'll see what happens. If either of these methods are not helpful, there are a few apps in the market that claim to hide your media. Again, BACK UP YOUR DATA FIRST, since I did read a comment that one user's photos were deleted.

Hope this helps.

Edit: As Matt H pointed out, I should have provided links. See the comments below for relevant links.

logoff
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Daniel
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  • As per my other comment, where did you read that the .nomedia method is unreliable and may cause files to be deleted? – Matt H Apr 03 '11 at 00:04
  • @Matt H Good point. I should have provided links. AOSP Issue 3692 – Daniel Apr 03 '11 at 00:28
  • @Matt H Check out some of the comments here: http://androinica.com/2009/08/how-to-hide-non-music-audio-files-from-appearing-in-android-media-players/ – Daniel Apr 03 '11 at 00:33
  • Wow, quite a bug, thanks for the links. The comments on the AOSP issue you posted above say that a fix has been submitted, but it doesn't seem to have made into all versions of Froyo. I have an HTC Desire HD on the latest official firmware (Android 2.2.1), and can't reproduce the problem. – Matt H Apr 03 '11 at 09:16