Inventory Organization

OMG

Ok, when I first realized I was in inventory hell, I thought I'd try to rename things with certain naming conventions that would cause them to list together. Obviously, I should have been using folders all along. So here I am now.....

Is dragging items the only way to move things to other folders? Because dragging an item up/down past hundreds of things and inadvertently dropping it (who knows where) before I can finally get the window scrolled to the right place using "mouse push" makes me cry IRL. Can you rename things using a long file name that includes the folder? Are these things stored on our computers so that maybe I could do it there?

(Sorry, I don't know the right place to post questions like this.)

Hi, Lacy! I had that same problem before I learned about opening a new inventory window and dragging that way. I constantly ended up with a folder inside another folder, and nowhere near where I wanted it to be.
Just open your inventory window, go to the top tool bar and click on "file", then "new window" or something like that. It will open a duplicate inventory window for you, which you can position right next to the one currently open. You can then drag across rather than up and down, which is much easier.
I think you can name a folder anything you want to name it.
As far as I'm aware, your inventory is NOT stored on your computer's hard drive. It is only accessible through the servers at LL by logging onto SL.
Good luck!

Hi Lacy, you can open an additional Inventory window and then drag things from one window to the other (like a folder) without having to drag and scroll...which usually results in dropping it somewhere and having to stop and look for it. In your Inventory window, click on File and then "New window". Hope that helps

Beat me to it!

I totally love y'all!

Thank you so much!!!

Thanks people! That's something I've learned today too!

Hi! Welcome to SL and the Forums!

Managing inventory is a challenge for most of us in SL. I know both the Academy of Second Life ^ASL^ and classes run by NCI offer classes on inventory management/control. You can find those by choosing the "Search" tab on your screen, then selecting "Events" then from the drop-down box on the right side, choose "Education." You can also search on Events from the SL website.

An easy way to drag and drop items in inventory is to open two inventory windows. At the top of your inventory window, select File ->New Window. Then you can arrange the windows side by side or however is easiest for you to drag & drop.

Inventory is only stored on the SL server, not offline.

Hope that helps a bit

Hi Lacy,

Welcome to the forums. As far as renaming objects, you can rename any that are modifiable. Any that are no modify you cannot.

Your inventory is not stored on your computer, it's stored on the lindens servers, so no you cannot do it while offline. That would be nice.

Yes it would be fantastic if we could sort out inventory offline. Nothing worse than interruptions when you are in the middle of an inventory guddle.

I am in inventory hell too!! What catches me is that when you rezz something, even just to look at it, I always choose take instead of delete, and then end up with 2, or 3, or more versions of the same thing, because I am worried about deleting the thing in the first place.

I know you should make folders, etc, but where to put them? Am I right that if you create a folder in the Library, the system makes a duplicate in your Inventory, or did I dream that??

Anyone got a foolproof way of reaching inventory heaven??

Joss

select all => delete

It would be a nice thing if no mod items (especially those that become no modable after you mod them (like by linking or such) and modeling poses could at least be renamed (sifting through a thousand modeling pose 1, 2 , 3 is a headache..when you could put a descriptive title instead)

Joss, the Library folder is like a backup store of the original start-up avatars plus useful objects and textures etc. I don't think you can save into the Library folder. Clothes/shape/skin outfits save by default to your Clothes folder (Clothing? I keep forgetting)
You make these outfits from the 'make outfit' button in 'edit appearance'.

My trick for the inventory nightmare (I spent an hour yesterday moving some things around, e-gads)

I name my foldes like this A.clothes, A.hairstyles, A.jewelery.....and so on....so my most used folders will always be at the top...... Then once I open a new window I simply type the name of the folder I want to drag my items into....so I will only see the folder I want to dump things into....and I wont accidentally dump em in the wrong place.

This has worked like a charm for me thus far.....my next step will be creating sub-folders but I get a head ache just thinking about how might break things down. LOL

Also.....you can drag multiple things into a folder by holding 'shift' while you click and drag.....you can select multiple items/folders.....but only if they are together.....anotherwards ya can't scroll down and select different things...they have to be listed in order....but it's very handy~!!!

(wait....IS there a way to multiple select items in inventory that are not one right after the other?)

yes, try ctrl-shift

Control/click works for standard Windows applications but can't guarantee SL

OK, class, it's time to review Inventory Management!

1. There are 2 main folders in your Inventory..."inventory" and "library". The library is where you'll find the basic stuff that every new avatar is issued. A sort of "starter kit". The stuff in it is never deleted (issues of bugs aside). You can't add to it, either. You don't NEED to copy anything in the Library to the Inventory folder in order to use it, although (because of those bug issues) some people do, for safety. Although a lot of the things in the Library folder are poor quality, some of it is quite useful. It's a good idea to familiarize yourself with what's there -- it could save you from buying something you already have!

2. The other folder, "Inventory", is where most people spend most of their rummaging time. This is where you store everything you make, or buy, or receive as a gift. It can grow quickly, and needs constant attention to organization to keep it from becoming cluttered and unmanageable. I know avatars with over 50,000 items in their inventories!

3. Inventory Search is your friend, and it works a lot better than the main SL Search function. Type a few letters of the name of what you're looking for in the search box at the top of the window, to quickly find something you've mislaid.

4. Multiple inventory windows are an easy way to sort inventory. Create a new window in the Inventory/File menu. Remember to try and keep the destination window on the left...sometimes dragging an item in the other direction, left to right, will cause funny behavior in the inventory window...folders expanding suddenly, causing you to drop the item into the wrong folder. So, drag from right to left!

5. You can sort folders alphabetically or in other ways. Several of the folders are "system folders" and can't be deleted...but you CAN add subfolders to them. I have subfolders under "Body Parts" for skins, shapes, hair, eyes, eyelashes, nails, and another for complete nonhuman avatars.

6. The "Objects" folder is the hardest one to organize, because this is where everything that isn't clothes, a body part, or a texture tends to wind up. Mine has subfolders for Buildings and Parts, Tools, Props, Landscaping, Vehicles, and Weapons, plus separate subfolders for each major building project that I've done.

7. Some say that a large inventory can bog down your logins and teleports. To keep the size down, you can store seldom-used items in boxes..."storage prims". There are commercial ones available, but a simple plywood cube will work fine. Rez a cube on the ground. Right click and Edit it, and select the Contents tab. Drag items from inventory into the cubes' Contents. Don't store too many items in any one object...42 is the "safe amount" number I've heard. Give your storage box a descriptive name, like "Ugly Hair" and take it back into inventory. Or you can give the box to an alt, or tuck it away in a corner of your land for safekeeping.

8. After you've opened a new boxed product and copied the contents into your inventory, you can Take the box back into inventory if you're in doubt. If the contents are No Copy, the box will be empty, though. You're usually safe to delete the box, in either case. When are you NOT safe to delete it? If, when you drag something onto the ground, a copy remains in your inventory folder, you are safe. If the object disappears from inventory when you rez it, then it is No Copy...don't delete it!

My inventory is pretty well organized, except for the Textures folder. I bought a texture organizer, and that's my next rainy day project.

You can learn more about inventory management from a past Tips article on the blog (there's a link to it on your SL login screen, in the upper right corner). GQ Start offers an inventory course, too.

Well, maybe you can, to a degree: http://shoppingcartdisco.com/2007/12/11/inventory-sorting-made-easy/#more-386

I haven't tried the program yet, but it might be something to consider.

It works for me. I use it all the time when moving items from one inventory window to another. Just click on the first item, then hold down ctrl and click on each additional items, then drag.
One thing to add, if you do store multiple items in a prim, you might want to open that box up every once in a while and check things. I had some dresses in a box in my inventory but hadn't touched it in a couple of months. When I pulled some of my dresses out, 2 of them were missing skirts under the "object not found in database" bug (might not be the exact wording, but it's something like that). I think the longer the period of time between accessing a storage box, the higher the chance that items *might* be missing.

Nice post, Lindal, but you left out all about the "Recent Items" tab

Unfortunately, it won't result in any changes to your inventory on the grid.

Starting from there, though, you *could* make a similar program that would record each change you made to that file, then log in and play back the changes.

Like Dekka said, to select non-consecutive items, use the Ctrl button, just like you would for a regular list. To select a huge bunch of items that are consecutive, use the Shift button.

[Edit: Also, don't forget about filters! They can be very handy to ferret out stuff that may have been misplaced into the wrong folders. I regularly filter to landmarks only, so that I can delete multiple occurrences of the same landmark, or outdated landmarks. Be sure to reset your filters when you're done, otherwise the next time you look for something, you might have a heart attack when you think that everything is gone. ]

Here's a method I use for sorting my inventory. It's not perfect, but it's a start and I've been tweaking it along the way. But these are all folders off the main Inventory directory. Within each of these folders I place further folders of textures, clothes etc. appropriately named (although most of the items I buy appear in their own appropriately named folders that I simply move into one of the main folders).

If this helps anyone, great. And if someone has another system, I'd love to hear it.

! BUILDS
! GIFTS
! TEMP

.0 BODY
.0 a_ Foundation
.0 c_ Hair
.0 e_ Clothes
.0 g_ Shoes
.0 i_ Jewellery
.0 k_ Neko
.0 m_ Glasses
.0 o_ Hats
.0 q_ Canes
.0 r_ Gloves
.0 s_ Misc Accessories
.0 v_Shapes
.0 w_ Skins
.0 y_ Eyes

.1 ANIMATION/POSES
.1 b_ Personal AO
.1 c_ Interractive AO
.1 e_ Gestures
.1 g_ Poses
.1 j_ General Animations
.1 m_ Couple Animations
.1 n_ BDSM Animations
.1 p_ Dancing Animations
.1 s_ Combat Animations
.1 t_ Japanese Animations
.1 v_ Misc Animations

.2 GADGETS, SCRIPTS & BUSINESS
.2 c_ Rezzing
.2 f_ Particle Effects
.2 i_ Teleporters
.2 l_ Misc Gadgets
.2 p_ Misc Scripts
.2 w_ Misc Business

.3 BUILDINGS & GARDEN
.3 a_ SPECIFIC HOUSE
.3 c_ Structures
.3 e_ Doors
.3 g_ Fences
.3 j_ Misc House
.3 k_ Trees & Shrubs
.3 l_ Flowers & Plants
.3 o_ Misc Garden
.3 p_ Outdoor Structures
.3 q_ Outdoor Lighting
.3 s_ Outdoor Bridges
.3 u_ Outdoor Road & Path
.3 w_ Outdoor Patio
.3 y _ Outdoor Misc
.3 z_ Water

.4 FURNISHINGS
.4 a_ Bedroom
.4 b_ Bathroom
.4 d_ Living Room
.4 e_ Dining Room
.4 g_ Kitchen
.4 h_ Den & Library
.4 j_ Entryway
.4 k_ BDSM
.4 l_ Neko
.4 n_ Misc Tables
.4 p_ Misc Seating
.4 r_ Misc Lighting
.4 t_ Misc Rugs
.4 v_ Misc Appliances
.4 w_ Misc Decor
.4 y_ Misc Items

.5 ANIMALS

.6 VEHICLES & WEAPONS
.6 c_ Misc Vehicles
.6 m_ Misc Weapons

.7 TEXTURES

.8 AUDIO

.9 MISCELLANEOUS

Last weekend, I spent about six hours organizing my inventory. My SL Christmas decorations are now packed away and labeled more clearly than the ones in my basement in RL, and at last my texture folder is sorted so that the ones I use most often are right at the top. Now I just need to devise a better way to organize the contents of my clothing folder.

My pet peeve right now is how snapshots given to me by friends end up collecting in my Textures folder, threatening to clutter it back up again. It'd make a lot more sense if they went to the Photo Album.

So, forgive my ignorance as can't log in to try it, but if you start the folders with a number, ie, 1,2 3, does that mean they will always appear in the same order, thus making things easier to find??