Hidden directories not staying hidden

[Skipperjohn]

A few months ago I realized my hidden directories were showing up in my gallery. For years I would simply use a tool like "FILES" or "ASTRO", create a directory starting with a period and put things in there that was not appropriate for the general public (my kids like to play with my phone and my friends send me jokes I like to save to share at a later date). Then one day I noticed that if I would copy something into a folder that was once hidden, the new item and often the entire folder would show up in my galleries. This would happen if I used Astro or Files (now My Files). This happened on my old Droid 2 and now my RAZR.
Prior it was rock solid. I could even attach these files to SMS messages (selecting files or astro as the vehicle to locate them) and things would stay fine. But this is no longer the case.

Any ideas or thoughts?

 

[Abe21599]

try adding a txt file titled .nomedia to the folder you want hidden

 

[Skipperjohn]

The folders in question start with a period. I mention this because the .nomedia thing isn't working. Do you think that renaming the folder without the period may be required?
What I did to test it was take the folder which is now not seen by the gallery, copy in the .nomedia, check the gallery, then copy one of the images in the folder to a new name, then poof, the gallery sees it (always the file being copied, often the source file too, and sometimes the entire folder).

 

[Droid-Xer]

Is your phone rooted? You can use an app called QuickPic to hide pics and (if rooted) freeze the stock gallery app.

 

[Skipperjohn]

It is not (yet) rooted.
Yeah, there are apps out there like keepsafe, but they are mainly for pictures only then disable the option to use astro to gram it when texting.

 

[newman1969]

Skipperjohn, Did you ever figure this out? I am having the exact same issue. Any new pictures that have gone into my .private folder are showing up in My Gallery.

 

[Ghostwheel]

Bump. My Gallery ignores a .nomedia file when new images are copied to a folder containing one. This happened in both GB and now ICS. Are there any solutions aside from downloading an app?