How to exclude Album Art from Gallery app?

BMWBig6

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Whenever I view my photos with the Gallery application, I notice that it includes Album Art imagery stored among my music collection (in "Folders" view and "All Photos" view). Is there a simple way to filter or exclude these directories from being indexed by the Gallery app? It's very hard to traverse or browse my "real" photos when every other folder is an Album Art cover.
 

pandroid

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create a blankfile in the folder with the album art named ".nomedia"

ive also uploaded the file for you. just unzip it. youll have .nomedia in there

(file removed)
 
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BMWBig6

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create a blankfile in the folder with the album art named ".nomedia"

ive also uploaded the file for you. just unzip it. youll have .nomedia in there

Thanks for the tip. I just added the file to the music folders with album art. I have 2 questions though:


  1. Do I need to wait some time for the phone to re-index my directories (and skip/remove the ones with album art)? I immediately went to my gallery after adding the .nomedia files but the album art still showed up. Is there a way to force or refresh the index?
  2. Does the .nomedia only affect gallery indexing? Or will my album art in these folders no longer appear in the default Android music player now that I've marked it to skip? (Basically, is the scope of the .nomedia global or limited to gallery indexing only?)
 

pandroid

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  1. Do I need to wait some time for the phone to re-index my directories (and skip/remove the ones with album art)? I immediately went to my gallery after adding the .nomedia files but the album art still showed up. Is there a way to force or refresh the index?
  2. Does the .nomedia only affect gallery indexing? Or will my album art in these folders no longer appear in the default Android music player now that I've marked it to skip? (Basically, is the scope of the .nomedia global or limited to gallery indexing only?)

1. a reboot should take care of it

2. its limited to the gallery app
 

Backnblack

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Tried you file Pandroid, now the gallery will not open....
 

pandroid

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Tried you file Pandroid, now the gallery will not open....

really!? have you tried a reboot? ive never heard of that happening. did you maybe put it in the root of DCIM? does removing it fix gallery?
 
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BMWBig6

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Tried you file Pandroid, now the gallery will not open....

Same for me. :( The gallery immediately closes. Yes I rebooted several times. The weird thing is, when I go to the same directories to remove the .nomedia files, the album art graphics files and .nomedia files are missing (is that what is supposed to happen?). So how do I get it back to the way it was? (No, I did not put .nomedia in the root or even anywhere in the DCIM folder, I only used it in some custom music folders on my SD card, but perhaps it got copied or propagated elsewhere on my phone during indexing?)

*Update* even worse, it's started deleting some of my music files too (which were in the same directory as the album art). Seems like others have had the same problem (see http://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=3692).

Anyone know how I can get my gallery working again? I can't find instances of .nomedia anymore, so I don't know how to revert back to my old setup.

Also, my phone is super sluggish now.
 
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Backnblack

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Tried you file Pandroid, now the gallery will not open....

really!? have you tried a reboot? ive never heard of that happening. did you maybe put it in the root of DCIM? does removing it fix gallery?

Yes Really...
Reboot = Nothing
Not in root of DCIM, not even a sub folder of dcim
Removing it did nothing....

Factory Reset Fixed it tho...:icon_evil:
 

pandroid

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Yes Really...
Reboot = Nothing
Not in root of DCIM, not even a sub folder of dcim
Removing it did nothing....

Factory Reset Fixed it tho...:icon_evil:

i bet clearing the data/cache of gallery would have fixed it:)

unless you tried it and didnt work. in that case... very odd indeed. sorry you had to do that
 

pandroid

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dont tell me you have the same issue as backnblack

menu/settings/applications/manage applications/all
select 'gallery'
select 'clear data'
 
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BMWBig6

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dont tell me you have the same issue as backnblack

menu/settings/applications/manage applications/all
select 'gallery'
select 'clear data'

Yeah, I'm having the exact same problem, but I'm trying to recover from it without resorting to the factory reset (I'm not keen on reloading and reconfiguring everything).

"Clear data" didn't seem to help or do anything. I rebooted after clearing data, and the Gallery still closes immediately after attempting to open.

I tried to use an app called ".Nomedia Manager" (StudioKUMA?) and it listed where I had manually copied the .nomedia files. I manually deleted those entire directories, and then tried to open the Gallery. It now shows a "Loading Media Files" screen but after 2 hours nothing has yet to appear. I don't know if that means it's re-indexing any graphics files on my phone or stuck in some endless loop. Whatever it's doing, it killing my battery so I've plugged it in to keep it charged while it's doing it's thing.

Any other suggestions?
 
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pandroid

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Yeah, I'm having the exact same problem, but I'm trying to recover from it without resorting to the factory reset (I'm not keen on reloading and reconfiguring everything).

"Clear data" didn't seem to help or do anything. I rebooted after clearing data, and the Gallery still closes immediately after attempting to open.

I tried to use an app called ".Nomedia Manager" (StudioKUMA?) and it listed where I had manually copied the .nomedia files. I manually deleted those entire directories, and then tried to open the Gallery. It now shows a "Loading Media Files" screen but after 2 hours nothing has yet to appear. I don't know if that means it's re-indexing any graphics files on my phone or stuck in some endless loop. Whatever it's doing, it killing my battery so I've plugged it in to keep it charged while it's doing it's thing.

Any other suggestions?

hrm... im really sorry. in no way did i maliciously post that file. ill be sure to remove it and take a look at it. it works perfectly on my phone, infact it IS the file off my phone

this is what i would do if i was experiencing your problem:
search through my entire sdcard for .nomedia

remove .thumbnails and maybe even .video_thumbnails from /sdcard/DCIM as well as 100ANDRO (if you have it)

dont open gallery

clear gallery data again from setting

reboot

and open up gallery giving a few minutes for it to reindex your images

hope this fixes it for you. this is really odd

edit: i checked the file i uploaded and it seems fine. even works on my phone. i removed it anyways. im stumped as to what the issue is.
 
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BMWBig6

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hrm... im really sorry. in no way did i maliciously post that file. ill be sure to remove it and take a look at it. it works perfectly on my phone, infact it IS the file off my phone

Apology accepted, I know you were just trying to help!

this is what i would do if i was experiencing your problem:
search through my entire sdcard for .nomedia

I have found other instances of .nomedia, but they are in app-related directories (like "/sdcard/data/beautifulwidgets/wskins" or "/sdcard/launcherpro_backup"). I don't think I want to touch those, right?

remove .thumbnails and maybe even .video_thumbnails from /sdcard/DCIM as well as 100ANDRO (if you have it)

How do I do this? I don't see/know a way to search for these filetypes. Do I need an app to view these (like I had to install to find the .nomedia instances)? I'm not that adept at Android yet, and hitting the search button in file manager didn't let me search by filetype.

Is there a way I can just repair or reinstall the Gallery (from apk or something)? Again, I'm trying to avoid a factory reset.
 
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