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Running KitKat, I want to extract a zip file with photos and place them in a folder where the Gallery app will find them. I'm using Android File Manager and Easy Unrar Lite to move files around and extract them. Where in the file systems should I put them?

katriel
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It doesn't matter where you put them. A convenient place usually is the (internal or external) SD card, where you simply could create a Photos folder, and extract your photos to.

The gallery app simply checks the devices media database, it doesn't check the directories directly. This database gets fed by the so-called Media Scanner, which gets triggered by different system events, such as immediately after a completed boot, or whenever the SD card gets mounted. This is why you don't see the extracted images immediately. See my answer here for how to trigger it "on demand" (hint: for Kitkat, try the SD Scanner app).

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Izzy
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    Just to clarify what @Izzy says: it does not matter where to put them, as long as the folder where you extract the files does not contain a file named .nomedia which would hide all the pictures (songs and videos too) in that folder to the Media Scanner. The .nomedia file is hidden, so if you want to delete it you must use a file explorer app which allows to see hidden files (I use ES File Explorer) – Francisco Alvarado Dec 20 '13 at 07:41
  • This is a great resource for media (re)scanner apps. https://android.izzysoft.de/applists/category/named/mediascanner – Gaia May 05 '17 at 01:35
  • @Gaia Agreed :) Glad you like it! – Izzy May 05 '17 at 06:04