.thumbnails folder location on Android phone

[JustRay]

Hi,
I'm so confused.
First, I have a Galaxy A50 running version 11

My issue is with the location of the .thumbnails folder on my phone.
I have all of my pictures and such inside of Internal storage.
I don't use the SD card. (Yet)

Based on my reading, I THOUGHT, I could expect to find a .thumbnails folder at the following location along with all of my photos and things.
Internal storage / DCIM
But, it's not there.

However, there IS a .thumbnails folder in the following location
Internal storage / Pictures
AND, when I take a new photo, a thumbnail is created in, the Internal storage / Pictures / .thumbnails folder, although the picture itself is in the Internal storage / DCIM folder.

Since all my pictures, screenshots and videos are stored in the "Internal storage / DCIM" folder, i THOUGHT I would find the .thumbnails folder there as well.

I hope that someone can straighten me out on this.

First:
I didn't expect to find a "Pictures" folder at all.
What is the difference between "Pictures" and DCIM ?
IE: What goes into the "Pictures" folder as opposed to the "DCIM" folder/

Second:
Is it even possible to have the ".thumbnails" folder in the DCIM folder ?
And if so, how might I do that ?

Thanks for any replies

 

[puppykickr]

Pictures and DCIM both usually have a .thumbnails folder.
(The '.' dot indicates that this is a 'hidden' file, and so 'show hidden files' must be selected in your file manager app in order to see files with this.)

If it is not in one or the other folder, then that is actually a good thing, in my opinion.

That means that your stock apps do not require a low quality facimile of each of your pics and vids to display individual selections on the menu.

In short, this is a great space saver.

Anyway, the difference is that DCIM is typically used by your camera(s), for the pics and vids taken with the device.

Pictures is what the other apps you use will deposit images and videos into.

For instance, when I open the Pictures folder on one of my devices...

is what I see.

Each app has its own folder in pictures.
(I added the wallpapers folder.)

In my file manager, there is also a Downloads folder, and some other apps make use of this with each one having its own folder.

The Gallery app that I use shows a folder view, so all of the images are grouped into folders, which makes them easy to sort through.

 

[JustRay]

Thanks for the reply.

You wrote:
Pictures and DCIM both usually have a .thumbnails folder.
(The '.' dot indicates that this is a 'hidden' file, and so 'show hidden files' must be selected in your file manager app in order to see files with this.)

Ray's reply:
I DO have "Show hidden system files" enabled.
I DO have a ".thumbnails" folder within the "Pictures" folder
I do NOT have a ".thumbnails" folder within the DCIM folder.

And then you wrote:
Pictures is what the other apps you use will deposit images and videos into.

Ray's reply:
My wife's Galaxy S10's looks a lot like your post.
As for me, I pretty much only use the Samsung camera app, so my "Pictures" folder is a bit sparce.
(Except for the ".thumbnails" folder)

Here is what my "Pictures" folder looks like.
AND, here is what my "Pictures / .thumbnails" folder looks like.

I DO get thumbnails created when I view a photo that was taken with the Samsung camera app.
It's just that they appear in the "Pictures / .thumbnails" folder rather than anywhere within the "DCIM" folder structure.

My screenshots also appear in the DCIM folder
Although the thumbnails for those screenshots appear within the "Pictures / .thumbnails"

Odd ?
Or not, do you think ?

 

[puppykickr]

It's different, for sure, at least in my limited experience.

But it is nothing to worry about.

If the folder grows to a large enough size to become a burden on the system, then this can be prevented by deleting the folder and then adding an empty file with the exact same name.

Android will not allow multiple files or folders with the same name to exist in the same area, so this will prevent the system from making a new folder.

Because you created a file and not a folder, the system also will not add to the contents of it.