Gallery Question

[marsha12151]

I am using the stock gallery and have no big issues. BUT there is one annoying issue.

When I call up the gallery there are three folders with a couple of photos each and I cannot find them to delete them. I have searched the dcim folder file by file and cannot find the folders. I have also done a full search using root explorer. I can click on the photos and see details. The details show the photo name but the location is unknown.

I used Gallery Enabler to select only the dcim folder in an attempt to limit the search and these three folders still show up.

Are there hidden files? Where are these folders/photos coming from????

Any help appreciated.

 

[BuglessFan]

Gallery searches all folders, not just the camera folders. I'm not sure how the Gallery Enabler you mention works, but by default the Gallery searches the whole SD Card. On my phone the name under the images is the folder name. I get all sort of random ones in there, but it doesn't really get in my way or bother me. I know I'd never want to delete them, as some include icons for apps or images that get used by apps like BeyondPod, but if Gallery enabler gives you a list maybe it allows you to uncheck the folders you don't want to see. I imagine if it were that simple, though, you wouldn't have posted. I mainly posted to say you don't want to delete the files, because they may be being used by apps on your phone.

Also if these are actual photos that you took but want removed, you can always connect by USB and use your computer's search function to look for the filenames.

 

[BuglessFan]

Actually, now that I tried to answer I went to my phone and experimented. Apparently deleting images off the SD card doesn't remove them from the gallery, but deleting them from the gallery does delete them from the SD card.

I had a folder of icons I wasn't using and I deleted them with root explorer, but they remained in Gallery even after I deleted data and rebooted. So then I deleted them from gallery (by using the menu key choosing the folder and then delete) and that did it. I added some test images to a new folder, Gallery found them. When I deleted in Gallery via the menu key the images were also deleted from the SD Card. So apparently when Gallery scans the SD card it actually imports them into a database and these can survive being deleted from the SD card.

If you're trying to get the images out of the gallery and they aren't on the card just using menu and delete will get rid of them, I think. I also learned I was right and it's not safe for me to delete those extra folders with app images because it does delete them from the SD card.

I'm a bit mystified as to how images survive in the gallery after being deleted on the SD card, but apparently, it's possible.

 

[Psychokitty]

There is a thumbnails folder. I think the Gallery must generate them from every image it scrubs the SD card for because there are thumbnails of app icons, etc in the folder.
Clearly an oversight on the developer's part, and probably easily fixable if they installed a simple customizable Gallery filter, accessible from the Gallery menu.
I myself have not tried deleting the thumbs from the folder, but I'm assuming the Gallery will simply regenerate them. However, with your gallery filter app (-which I've been wanting to try), deleting the thumbs might do it.
I would proceed with caution, as you've already found out is best, lol, and simply rename the thumbnails folder by putting a digit in front of the name, and then create an empty new one and see what happens. This way you can always undo it by deleting the new thumbs folder and renaming the original back.

The folder location is:
/sdcard/DCIM/.thumbnails

 

[DF Smod]

Here you go Marsha

 

[LifeIsABeach]

If you create a file called .nomedia and put it into a directory it will stop any picture from that directory and any subdirectories from showing in the gallery. I have done this with the Beautiful Widgets directory and it works great.

 

[Psychokitty]

Really good to know, thanks!

 

[marsha12151]

Well here is my report after trying the suggestions.

1. You can delete the thumbnails but they are created immediately upon opening the gallery app.

2. I can select photos, the menu and see delete EXCEPT in the three folders I want to delete. Doing the exact same action on these three folders gives me a menu with the only choice of seeing details (where location is unknown)

3. Going to get radical. Move the photos I want and other things from the SD Card to my desktop then format SD Card and move back.

 

[aaf709]

My problem is that I have 3 folders that I didn't create. They're called iColor, GNOME and Plain. Each has 37 pictures, all of which are icons. I can't seem to find them on the sd card, but I presume they're from an app (maybe an old browser) that uses them.

While they aren't a pain normally, they'll show up if I'm using the multimedia dock and some apps where I'm putting a picture in a spot and have to search for it.

I'm reluctant to simply remove them via the Gallery as they may be used in an app and I don't want to mess that up.