diff --git a/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/asynctasks/GetDirectoriesAsynctask.kt b/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/asynctasks/GetDirectoriesAsynctask.kt
index a58a9cf34..790214824 100644
--- a/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/asynctasks/GetDirectoriesAsynctask.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/asynctasks/GetDirectoriesAsynctask.kt
@@ -61,10 +61,7 @@ class GetDirectoriesAsynctask(val context: Context, val isPickVideo: Boolean, va
         media.sort()
 
         val directories = groupDirectories(media)
-        val dirs = ArrayList(directories.values.filter {
-            val file = File(it.path)
-            file.exists() && file.canonicalFile == file.absoluteFile    // filter out symbolic links too
-        })
+        val dirs = ArrayList(directories.values.filter { File(it.path).exists() })
         Directory.sorting = config.directorySorting
         dirs.sort()
 
diff --git a/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/extensions/context.kt b/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/extensions/context.kt
index c446567b2..ffe7b3f4b 100644
--- a/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/extensions/context.kt
+++ b/app/src/main/kotlin/com/simplemobiletools/gallery/extensions/context.kt
@@ -75,7 +75,8 @@ fun Context.getParents(): ArrayList<String> {
     }
 
     parentsSet.filterTo(parents, {
-        if (File(it).isDirectory) {
+        val file = File(it)
+        if (file.isDirectory && file.canonicalFile == file.absoluteFile) {  // filter out symbolic links too
             if (!config.showHiddenFolders) {
                 isFolderVisible(it, noMediaFolders)
             } else