Some questions

1) How do I link separate prims, so that I can move them or take them together?

2) I'm going to change my land to group owned. How do I deed all my objects to the group, especially if they are not transfer premissable? If I don't, will they all be returned to my inventory (the land has to be set to auto-return for objects not belonging to the owner)?

1)two ways:

1.a) select and edit one of the prims, than, holding control button, select each other prim and hit ctrl+L - this will link all prims in one only object; or

1.b) do the same above, select each prim while holding the ctrl button, but instead of linking them together, right click one of them and choose "take". You will take all prims together, but not linked - they will appear in your inventory as a broken box.

2) You don't need to deed the objects to the group, you can just set them to the group. (third button in the General tab)

1 - While in edit mode, highlight all the prims and/or objects you want to link together. Then, from the menu, Tools > Link
That's it.

The last prim you pick will be the root prim. The final object will be named whatever this prim's name is. There are a few other things as well, but just remember, the last one selected is the root.

2 - Place the objects out and then select them in edit mode. On the leftmost tab, ht the deed button.

If the land is owned by a group than any object that has that group set will not be auto returned. You can set an objects group without having to deed it to the group. Just like you change your active group you can change your object's active group.

The initial active group for an object will be what ever group you have actice when you res that object.

So ... if the land is owned by "Joe Bob Estate renters" group and you a re a member of that group, just set that as your active group when you set out your things.

you can also use shift to select them one at a time, instead of ctrl

that way you won't get the rotation thing, which if you are anything like me, you will end up accidentally rotating something while selecting multiple prims

Thanks guys. Worked great. I'm a budding builder now. Anyone who needs nice boxes can IM me. The charge will be minimal. lol

Also, I created the group and set the land to it, and I didn't need to do anything to the objects because the land wasn't deeded to the group. Great!

http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Creation_Portal
http://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Creation_Portal

and my Building Tools page to find out what all those buttons do:

https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Building_Tools
https://wiki.secondlife.com/wiki/Building_Tools

(its a wiki page, and so part of a joint project to write, but as of now I contributed 90% of it, so I think it fair to claim it's my work)

Where's that waste of space, Pep? There are pictures which need critiquing.