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How to find the thumbnails folder on Android. CCleaner, Cooler Master, Memory Booster, All-In-One Toolbox - Brief review based on questions from comments

Every user of a modern gadget equipped with Android OS has encountered such a not very pleasant problem when, at the most inopportune moment, the phone’s memory is full, and it is no longer possible to take photos or install applications on it. Even a device with 32 GB of built-in memory will sooner or later be full, and this is not to mention the capacity of 16 GB or less.

When such a problem occurs, the user begins to audit his device, deleting photos, videos, etc. And in the process of searching for files to delete, the owner of a phone with the Android operating system can find a file with the same name thumbnails. Almost no one knows what kind of folder this is and why it is needed.

Thumbnails – translated from English as “thumbnail”. Thumbnail is a cache directory, which saves thumbnails of previously viewed images. Every time a user goes to the “Gallery” folder and opens any photo, picture or video for viewing, a mini-thumbnail of this image is automatically saved in the thumbnails directory.

The main, and perhaps the only purpose of these miniature thumbnails is that they help to quickly load miniature photos in the tiles of the “Gallery” folder on Android. The downside is that after a while thumbnails can again take up to several gigabytes of the phone’s built-in memory. And what to do in such cases is it possible to delete this folder, it is necessary to understand in more detail.

But first you need to find the place where the thumbnail directory is stored.

Is it possible to delete

The location of thumbnails is “sdcard/DCIM/”. In order to delete this directory, you must first find it, sometimes this will take some time, because if you simply connect the device to the computer through Explorer and at the same time include hidden files and folders, you still cannot always see it. In addition, there may be several such folders in memory. Deleting a directory is also not so easy, as it would seem, because simple deletion will not solve this problem, since when you open the “Gallery” the system will completely restore all the sketches after some time.

Some experts simply advise not to use the “Gallery” application at all, but to use other tools with more functionality and then there will be no problems. But not everyone is comfortable with this, so you should know how to delete a folder with copies of thumbnails.

There are several methods for deleting the thumbnails folder manually or using special applications, but in this case it is necessary not only to delete it, but also block its further recovery.

Ways to remove thumbnails

How to block folder recovery

Even after deleting thumbnail using any of the proposed methods, the system will still restore it sooner or later, so it is necessary block restoration of the thumbnails directory. And to do this, you should perform the following actions to deceive the system:

  1. Using a conductor, connect the device to the computer.
  2. Find the thumbnails folder and delete it (you can delete it using any other of the suggested methods).
  3. Launch a text editor, such as Notepad.
  4. Create two empty files, one with the name thumbnails, the second with the name nomedia and when saving, specify the file type “All files”
  5. Move both files to the location where the thumbnails folder was just deleted.

The task of the nomedia file is set a ban on scanning the “Gallery”, and the purpose of thumbnails is to block the restoration of a deleted directory.

Now the system will not be able to create thumbnails and they will not have to be constantly deleted.

When using an Android smartphone, you will invariably come across new menu items or folders whose names interest you. In this article we will talk about one of these folders - it is called Thumbnails. What is this folder and what is it for?

The first is a hidden folder, so it is not displayed by default in the smartphone’s file manager. As for a computer or laptop, in some cases it is displayed, and in others you have to enable the display of hidden files and folders in the settings.

Second, in the folder you will find thumbnails of images located on your smartphone. As a rule, they take up a little free memory, so there is no need to worry about running out of space on your smartphone. However, there are exceptions when files can really take up a lot of space.

Is it possible to delete a folder? You shouldn’t touch the folder itself, but delete the contents if you want. Deleting, by the way, is as easy as shelling pears - select the file, then click “Delete”, for example:

Whether this is necessary is up to you to decide. Just remember that the thumbnails will still be created by the system. Thumbnails are generated automatically and are necessary in order not to use smartphone resources.

How to open Thumbnails folder on Android smartphone?

You will need a file manager that supports viewing hidden files and folders. For us it is “File Manager +”.

Launch the file manager, then open the main memory - this is where the DCIM (Digital Camera Images) folder is usually located.

Select the DCIM folder.

In the upper right corner, tap on the icon in the form of three dots, a menu appears, in it click on the “View” line.

In the “Show hidden files” line, check the box.

The .thumbnails folder, hidden until this moment, became visible.

It contains miniatures.

Which you can, of course, delete.


On a smartphone or tablet, the Thumbnails folder - what kind of folder is this - this question interests many users. The limited amount of memory on smartphones and tablets can turn your head; free memory melts right before your eyes, and the reason is not always obvious. Alas, Android does not have good workspace optimization, and the RAM and storage memory become heavily clogged.

Every day the moment approaches when the user will peer into every corner of the operating system in search of elements that are not useful and that can be discarded. The more actively a smartphone or tablet is used, the faster the memory disappears. The reason is that many elements are cached, and this cache is used to quickly load and display pictures, videos, etc.

Instead of loading new photos from the smartphone’s memory each time and processing them at the same time, an intermediate link is used - a cache. It is processed much faster and creates a feeling of operational operation of the system and at the same time it is slightly loaded.

Thumbnails - what is this folder and can it be deleted?

So, Thumbnails - what is this folder and can it be deleted? This is a folder that contains thumbnails, thumbnails, and a cache for quickly processing multimedia elements. As the smartphone operates, the need for each individual element is significantly reduced, and the space remains reserved, so we can free up additional memory without losing important data.

In fact, the answer to the question - is it possible to delete the Thumbnails folder is positive, since the folder itself contains only temporary files; they do not have any strategic value either for the user or for the operating system. The only thing is that for the first time, the photos will take a little longer to load.

The behavior of the system is clear; every time you view a photo, it makes thumbnails of them and copies them to the Thumbnails folder. Unfortunately, you can’t simply disable this Android functionality, so you’ll have to make do with alternative methods.

Having found out whether it is possible to delete the Thumbnails folder, another logical question arises: how to get rid of it. This is where things get more interesting, simply clearing a directory can be quite simple, but preventing new files from appearing will not be easy.

We will not reinvent the wheel, since there are already special programs that clean the Thumbnails folder and other similar functions. In the field of cleaning the system from garbage, temporary files and caches or thumbnails, there is a fairly simple, advanced and free tool - CCleaner. It has proven itself well on both computers and mobile devices.

To empty a folder, you need to:

  1. Go to Play Market and enter the query;
  2. Install the application;
  3. Launch the program and activate search in it;
  4. When finished, you will see in the “Thumbnail Cache” section the amount of memory that will be released, click on “Clear”.

The disadvantage of this approach is that it will need to be carried out with a certain regularity, as the folder fills up. There is an alternative method that will block, in our case, a malicious Android function.

Creating an empty file

Having figured out whether it is possible to remove Thumbnails and how to clean it, we will smoothly move on to the most effective way to save space. To ensure that the system does not create new files that will be filled with the same data, it is necessary to replace the file with one that will not be suitable for use by the system, but at the same time will replace it.

To perform the procedure, it is better to use a computer and connect a gadget to it, then:

  1. After connecting, select the device type as the media;
  2. Click on “Organize” in Explorer, where select “Folder and Search Options”;
  3. Set the flag next to “Show hidden files...”;
  4. Deselect "Hide extensions..."
  5. Go to the root of your smartphone or tablet and select the DCIM folder;
  6. Delete the folder called .thumbnails;

  1. Create a file.thumbnails.txt in this directory using RMB and the “Create” -> “Text Document” option;
  2. RMB on the new file, select “Rename” and delete the .txt extension so that only .thumbnails remains;

  1. Right click again and click on “Properties”;
  2. Check the box next to "Read Only".

Now disconnect the device from the computer and you can check the result of the procedure using the camera, viewing images, gallery, the size of the .thumbnails file should not change.

In a similar way, you can achieve your goal without using a computer, but your native Explorer will not help you in this task. To perform renaming in such a complex format, you need to use Total Comander or ES Explorer. The procedure is generally no different, the steps are similar, the main task is to create an alternative file, so that a new one will not be created. Since the mode is “Read Only”, the file size will not increase.

Currently, the only effective way to completely get rid of photo caching is to use the workaround described above. However, you may be able to simply clean out the folder from time to time using CCleaner and the results will remain the same. Using one of the described approaches, you can free up a lot of space, up to gigabytes.

If you still have questions on the topic “On a smartphone or tablet Thumbnails – what is this folder and can it be deleted?”, you can ask them in the comments


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Sooner or later, users of Android smartphones notice that the memory of their device is slowly being “eaten up” by something. A closer examination revealed that in the "DCIM" directory where the photos are stored, there is a hidden ".thumbnails" folder. It may contain one or more files of type ".thumbdataX-XXXXXXXXXX-X", where X are numbers. Typically, file sizes range from several MB to several GB, and this circumstance can cause a lot of trouble for users of Android devices with a small amount of memory.

Examples of these files: ".thumbdata3-1763508120" or ".thumbdata5-1763508120_1", but there may be other varieties, it all depends on the type of device, version of Android, etc.

Also, the ".thumbnails" folder may contain thumbnails of photographs, representing their reduced copies in the ".jpg" format.

Purpose of ".thumbdata" files

".thumbdata" files are used for indexing and caching purposes and may contain rendered images. They are generated by the camera and gallery so that image previews (thumbnails) are quickly displayed on the screen and users do not feel the device lag when scrolling through photos, especially if they have a huge library. ".thumbdata" files may contain thumbnails of already deleted images. Therefore, it may happen that even if you delete all the photos from your device, one or more “.thumbdata” files will remain “live” on the memory card, taking up precious space.

As already stated, ".thumbdata" files are hidden by default. To see them, enable the option to view hidden files in the built-in manager. If there is no such option, I recommend downloading the ES Explorer application.

Click on the menu button in the upper left corner, scroll down the program menu and click on the switch next to the "Show hidden files" option.

How to get rid of ".thumbdata" files?

The very first thought that users try to implement is to simply delete the ".thumbdata" files. It should be noted that this method works, but the thumbnail files will be created again after opening the camera or gallery for the first time. They may be smaller, but over time they will grow to the same size as before removal, and maybe even more.

To permanently get rid of ".thumbdata" files, you need to delete not the files themselves, but the entire directory with them, and then create an empty file with the same name as the directory, namely ".thumbnails".

That's all! The system will be fooled because it is forbidden to create two files or directories with the same name in the same place.

You can also do this with other thumbnail folders, such as the ".dthumb" directory in the "DCIM/Camera" folder.

One of the popular operating systems today is Android. It is installed on millions of mobile devices. The system is a set of folders and files that ensure its operation. But have you ever wondered what is contained in each folder? Some are quite heavy, so the hand is tempted to remove them. Before you do this, you should definitely familiarize yourself with what each folder is responsible for, as well as how important it is for the operating system. We will also tell you what ways to delete an unnecessary folder.

Basic key directories in the android operating system

The first priority before deleting is to find out what the directory contains, because this determines whether it can be deleted or not. If you erase important files by mistake, you can not only disrupt the operation of some applications, but also cause the entire operating system to become completely inoperable.

It is worth noting that the list of folders may differ depending on the device and version of the android system. Also, specific applications can create their own folders in the Android phone’s memory. Let's look at what directories are available in Android.

Cache is a folder for storing temporary files. It may contain a system update. If you are not going to update to a more recent version of Android, then you do not need the update file. You can delete this folder, and in some cases it is even necessary.

Data is one of the largest catalogs, which, as you might guess from the name, contains a variety of data. This includes account data, information about saved passwords, Wi-Fi access points, etc. Since this folder contains a lot of information, let’s look at its subdirectories:

  1. App – a directory that contains installation files for various applications. You can delete it if you do not need all the applications downloaded to your phone;
  2. Data – includes settings, saves and other service information necessary for the operation of specific applications. If there is no data important to you in the applications, you can also delete it;
  3. Clipboard is a special data clipboard that also contains the latest screenshots. It is possible to delete this folder, but it is not recommended;
  4. Dalvik-cache is a cache area for a program called Davlink. This application is a Java virtual machine that allows the phone to run application apk files. To speed up this process as much as possible, files are created in cache memory. It is recommended to clean the contents regularly, but you should not delete dalvik-cache.

The efs folder contains information about the phone's serial number (IMEI), MAC address, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. This directory cannot be deleted. Moreover, it is recommended to make a backup of this folder, since deleting it will lead to the loss of the unique number of your smartphone.

The etc directory contains configuration files, mainly used during OS loading, processes of various programs, for example, to determine GPS location. This is one of the system directories that cannot be deleted.

lib directory – it contains various libraries necessary for the correct operation of program functions and modules. This folder also contains files that ensure the drivers work. It cannot be deleted.

The mnt directory contains images of mounted systems. Partitions of an installed memory card, internal memory or other virtual devices may be located here. Naturally, you cannot delete this directory either.

The proc folder – it contains all the key information regarding the installed Android OS: information about the kernel, configuration parameters and hardware. All existing files and folders are virtual and weigh zero bytes. The system automatically creates them when the user accesses them. This folder cannot be deleted with normal user rights.

The sbin directory is one of the key folders required for the phone to operate. It contains executable files of all programs designed to manage the system. Accordingly, it cannot be deleted.

The sys directory contains the current system configuration. This is a dynamic directory. The information in it is constantly changing. This folder cannot be erased.

The system section is the “backbone” of the entire operating system, since it is where all the files are located, without which android cannot function. The System directory (like any other internal directories) cannot be deleted. To get acquainted, let's take a closer look at the contents of this directory:

  1. App – system wallpaper, standard applications (calendar, notebook, SMS) are located in this folder.
  2. Bin includes executable files and links;
  3. Build.prop contains a huge number of settings for the phone, for example, how long the sensor is delayed after pressing, what is the screen density, and more;
  4. Fonts – information about all stock fonts supported on the phone.
  5. Framework – everything that is needed for the interface, in particular icons, curtains and other graphic elements;
  6. Lib – application library;
  7. Media – all standard melodies and sounds (alarm clock, SMS notifications, call tones);
  8. Tts includes language packs.

Documents – a folder that can contain various documents, in particular .doc and .pdf files. If the contents of the folder do not interest you, you can delete it.

Bluetooth – contains all files that were received by the device via Bluetooth. If there is no important data in it, it is deleted without problems. It can be located not only in internal memory, but also on an SD card.

DCIM is a special directory for saving photos taken using your smartphone's camera. As a rule, it includes a Camera section, in which all photos are located. If the photo you need is not on your phone, you can delete it. Sections such as Pictures, Images, Audio, Music (if there are no important files inside) can also be deleted.

Removal methods

How can I delete a specific folder? The first way is to use standard functions. To do this you need: