How do I clean up remembered files in builtin files app? Default files app is showing many files (mostly photos) that don't exist anymore. How to clean it up?
All of these files existed under /sdcard and were cleaned via synchronization with my PC over ssh. I don't keep my old photos on my phone, and most of the rest was just junk.
(Yes the files really don't exist. If I tap them it just spins. It's like the files app can't handle the file not being there.)
I've operated this way for a long time, but it's glitched out now.
This is an rooted essential PH-1 phone; firmware is from this year. Note that rooted PH-1 phones run patched firmware.
Delete cache of the file manager and photos app.

Go to the app info section in your settings, enable &quot;show system apps&quot; on the hamburger menu, locate media storage, delete it's cache. Reboot, wait for a few minutes for the media databases to build up again and your problem most likely would be solved.

This may not always solve the problem as explained very well in this answer by Irfan Latif and you may have to resort using apps such as AZ media rescan