[Android Q&A, Help & Troubleshooting] RocZi:
Whatsapp version 2.17.427 (latest updated as at 07 Jan 2018)

Phone : Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge

Android : Nougat 7.0

Windows : Windows 7 Ultimate

I would plug in my phone to pc via USB, the Autoplay options will appear, I will select "Import pictures and videos" and then it will start scanning all the folders in my phone, including microSD card.

The results will always include ALL the hundreds of gifs that I scrolled in whatsapp to preview first, before selecting and sending the 1 that I want. So I googled and read about the ".NOMEDIA" file. I did the following :

Folder path : Computer\Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge\Phone\Android\data\com.whatsapp\cache\gif\gif_preview_cache

I copied existing .nomedia files that i can find in my phone to the above folder. Didn't work, scanning still pickup the gifs.

I deleted the .nomedia file I copied, and use the native "My Files" explorer to create a new file in the above folder and name it as .nomedia. Didn't work, scanning still pickup the gifs.

I tried the above 2 methods, but this time, I restarted the phone and re-plugged in the usb. Didn't work, scanning still pickup the gifs.

I tried using ES File Explorer and create the .nomedia file. Didn't work, scanning still pickup the gifs.

I installed Nomedia app. The app didn't even have this gif cache folder on the list. No add folder function too. Next!

I tried renaming using one of my file explorer app by adding a dot to the gif_preview_cache folder so it becomes ".gif_preview_cache". From my pc, the folder disappeared. But I can still see the renamed folder from using file explorer from my phone. So the renaming works. As for the gifs scan, well it "works" because now the folder is considered hidden. Scanning will not pickup. But this is not a good permanent solution because of the problem below.

The problem is that, if i go to whatsapp to preview gifs again, whatsapp will create a NEW gif_preview_cache folder and store all the previewed gifs. Scanning will pickup. So that means, I gotta constantly rename. or it is like the same as deleting the whole folder each time. The .nomedia is supposed to do its job as a permanent solution.

After all these, I know the following will also be unlikely to work, but i still tried anyways by putting .nomedia files in the parent folders "gif" and the parent of gif, "cache". Didn't work, scanning still pickup the gifs.

The only thing i can think of is a workaround by telling whatsapp to save the gifs cache to the dot folder ".gif_preview_cache". I don't see such option available in the app. So this would require hacking whatsapp, so nah.

I am out of ideas now. Does anyone knows why certain folder like the gif_preview_cache is still pickup with the .nomedia file in it?

oh, by the way, "lockscreen_capture_port.png" keeps getting pickup as well in the folder :

Computer\Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge\Phone\Android\data\com.android.systemui\cache

I already put the .nomedia file in it. I believe this info will help, as it is now two different locations. I suspect maybe its the parent folders, maybe the "data" folder or the "Android" folder being excluded by... windows scanning procedures or something, or it is an android problem, I don't know...

I am exhausted of all possible experiments. Any contribution is appreciated. Thank you for your time and expertise!