Second Life - How to: Sort Inventory

This might seem like a silly how to topic, but get back to me after you have been in SL for a few years and your inventory is like a big black hole where you can hardly find your bodyparts. If I had a linden for every time I have seen the line "Oh wait, I lost my <insert bodypart here>" I would be rich.

The first thing you want to do is go into your Bodyparts folder and create sub-folders for the different bodyparts, like Skin, Shape, Eyes, Hair, etc. I am a sorter and organiser so I usually have sub-folders in my sub-folders, but it is of course up to each individual how organised you want to be. It is difficult for me to give specific examples using my own avatars, because I have so many and they all use different systems since they are all different natures. One avatar is a wolf all the time, and a quadruped wolf doesn't use the same bodyparts or clothing or anything else really as a human avatar, or a Petite avatar. So use your own system that works for you.

Once the Bodyparts folder is organised, move on to your Clothing folder. These sub-folders are usually more similar for my different avatars. The first level of sub-folders might look something like:
*Accessories
*Avatars
*Clothing
*Footwear

Then we add the second level of sub-folders:

*Accessories
   -Bags
  -Belts
  -Hats/Gloves/Scarves
  -Straps (i.e. upper arm straps, leg straps or bracers)
  -Jewellery
  -Misc (for those attachments that serve no real purpose, or you don't have enough to warrant a separate category)
  -Weapons
*Avatars
  -Quads
  -Furry
  -Neko
  -(whatever other kinds of avatars you might have)
*Clothing
  -Bottoms
  -Tops
  -Sets
*Footwear
  -Boots
  -Flats
  -Heels
  -Sneakers
  -Slippers
  -Sandals

Depending on how much of each category of item you have, you may want to add a third level of sub-folders to some of the second level ones. I usually have this for the sub-folders in 'Jewellery', 'Clothing', and 'Footwear'.

It is also a good idea to add a sub-folder for 'Unsorted' items. Because there sometimes just is not enough time in the day to sort through all the awesome stuff we accumulate in SL. That way, when you have a few spare moments, you can go into the 'Unsorted' folder and do some sorting.

When your Clothing folder is all set up, we move on to the Objects folder. Here I usually only have sub-folders for 'Backups', 'Spare Parts', and 'Stuff'. The Backups folder is for boxes that I have paid lindens for, and when I say that I mean paid more than 1 or 2 lindens. It is also for folders where I keep backup copies of prim items that have resize scripts in them. Because scripts cause lag, and if there is the option to delete the scripts I usually do that after I have fitted the item. But I sometimes change shape, and if I should want to use that same item on a different shape, it's good to have a backup copy with the resize scripts intact so I can fit the item for the new shape as well. This is something that designers recommend always doing for items with resize scripts, because they don't usually replace items that have had the scripts deleted simply because you want to resize them again.

The Spare Parts folder is for stuff that I might want to use some time in the future, or items from outfits that I don't want to include but I don't want to delete them either, so to keep them from cluttering my inventory, I box them and put them in the spare parts folder. For example, a couple of my avatars are ones that are possible to use as either gender, so I collect both female and male items, but perhaps I am happy at the time to have the avatar as one gender, so I stick the other gender's items in the Spare Parts folder to use in the future.

If you are a builder, you may want to add a 'Building' sub-folder to the Objects folder as well. And sorting those items is something that only you know how to do. But it's usually good to keep all that stuff in one place.

Also if you are a designer you'll be using a lot of different textures, in which case you may want to organise your Textures folder into sub-folders as well. Personally I prefer to use texture organisers, where I keep them organised by category, so one organiser for hair textures, one for terrain textures, one for fabrics, etc.

If you do this from the start, you will see that you will have less issues with your inventory in the long run. And above all, you won't want to jump off a bridge every time you open your inventory. Trust me, I say this from experience. I have avatars where I just don't want to open the inventory window because it is so full of stuff it makes me cry.

One last tip: For items that you perhaps do not use frequently, it is good to keep a type of organiser as well. With the Outfits function it's no longer necessary to keep wardrobes, and I am not even sure it is possible what with the outfits linking to items in your inventory. I think if you keep the item in a box in your inventory, the link won't work. But there are other things, like house decorations, or just miscellaneous stuff that you don't want to get rid of. Backup boxes as well, they can accumulate and clutter your inventory. And the more items in your inventory, the longer it takes to populate and the more lag you have when you log in.

So to fix this, take your items that you want to organise, go to a place that allows building, preferably a sandbox (there are thousands of them, just do a search for Sandbox), make a box, name the box after the items that will be in it (e.g. Fun Shooters, or Backup Boxes), go to the Contents tab in the Edit window, and drop in the stuff you want to box up. That way you can store up to 100 items in a single prim.

Just remember that you can't store items in folders inside the prim, so you may want to have a system equivalent to the sub-folders here as well. I did recently find a script that gives items from a box in several separate folders. If I can figure out how that works, I might put out an organiser that uses it.

There you are, your inventory is organised, and you will never have to wonder where your .... shoes are again. ;)

Enjoy your Second Life!