Second Life Inventory Management: Your Folders

February 15, 2012
As you can guess my inventory is bulging because of my penchant to pick up freebies and do hunts any chance I get, not to mention the items I have purchased.  I have read many articles and discussed inventory control with most all my friends we all agree it is a must in order to keep from going insane.

In these many folders of mine are several tools that have helped me keep my inventory under control . I hope to share them with you eventually but today I thought I would share with you how I organize my inventory and some handy tips I have found to assist me in making the job so much easier.

The first thing I stress to all new avatars in Second Life is controlling your inventory with a good folder system. Start early, so it don't become overwhelming later. A good folder system is subject to the way you feel most comfortable in organizing your items. So my system may not work for everyone. I recommend reading over my system and taking the bits that seem most helpful to you to blend into your own system of doing things. At the end of this post I have listed some other helpful posts I have used in the past in helping me get organized.


A new avatar always comes with the 18 System Folders; Animations, Body Parts, Calling Cards, Clothing, Current Outfit, Favorites, Gestures, Landmarks, Lost And Found, My Outfits, Note cards, Objects, Photo Album, Scripts, Sounds, Textures, Trash, Library. System folders can not be deleted or renamed. They automatically reside at the top of your inventory unless you uncheck Sort System Folders to top in the Inventory window. You can created sub-folders in the System folders and any items you create like note cards, animations, clothing, snapshots and gestures will go to their respective system folder automatically.

You are not restricted to filing items in the systems folders provided. You can create your own folders. In fact that is what I do, because I personally dislike using the system folders. You have a few choices how to create your own folder system.
Click to view larger.
My inventory looks like this when you first open it up,  I keep the system folders sorted to the top because as you unpack boxes the folders go into your inventory and they automatically go below the Trash folder. With the way I do my personalized category folders, this process makes it easier to go through and file things as needed since you do not have to drag things to the top of the list. Some prefer to have their category folders at the top so they do not have to scroll down when accessing their inventory. You should play with each way and see what suits you. Here is a quick explanation for each of my category folders:
  • Tali Stuff (Divider Line): Makes it easier to see where my category folders are.  The "!" puts the folder at the top of the list and the numbers keep them in the order I want them.
  •  Necessities: This is where I put links to everything I normally wear with every outfit. That way when I put on my outfit for the day, I just right click that folder and select wear items. It finishes up all my outfits and I always have my favorite attachments on.
  • Animations: This is where I put anything that I use to animate my avatar. Inside I have it broken into several sub-folders: AOs, Dance, HUDs, Pose Balls, Pose Stands, Free Standing
  • Appearance: This is where I place anything that has to do with the way I look. Inside it is broken into several sub folders:
    Accessories (Jewelry, Hats, Belts, Gloves, Doll Stuff, Glasses, Masks, etc)
    Body (Skins, Shapes, Eyes, Wings, Tails, Make-up, Tattoos, etc)
    Clothing (Shirts, Pants, Dresses, Shorts, Lingerie, Swimwear, Full Outfits, etc)
    Shoes (by Colors then by Boots, Heels, Flats, etc)
  • Breedables: This is where I keep anything to do with my Pets in SL, sub-folders are Meeroos, PetPlants, Horses and Dogs.
  • Building/Structures: This is where I keep all my houses/skyboxes or other environments I pick up. Sub-folders include Environments, Globes, Houses, Skyboxes, Stores.
  • Construction Tools: This is where I put everything I use for building anything. Sub-folders include: Bridges, clothing templates, columns, emitters, megaprims, platforms, signs, sounds, teleporters,textures and scripts. Inside each of these it breaks down further depending on the items.
  • Holiday Stuff: I just keep this handy to put all my holiday stuff in that I wander across. This is just a temporary home cause I usually archive this stuff once a month. I will explain archiving your inventory and some handy tools to use in a later post.
  • Home Accessories: This is where I file all those home decorations and furniture pieces I get. Some sub-folders are: Wall hangings, Beds, Chairs, Living-room sets, Electronics, Game Tables, Outdoor furniture, etc.
  • Misc: This is where I file stuff that I just can't figure out how to file like my flying eyeballs, though I suppose those could be pets. I don't know for sure.. so they stay in Misc.
  • Role Play: This is were I keep my Role play stuff organized. I have sub-folders for my goth, vampire, steampunk, fantasy, historical, pirate and nautical costumes, avatars etc. Makes it easy to find when I am in character and need something.
  • Sim Accessories: This is where I filed my off sim items or stuff I use for landscaping sims.
  • Stores: This is where I keep the display and merchandise for my store.
  • Tools for SL Living: This is where I place those gadgets I use but don't really know where to file them like my script monitor or prim monitors.
  • Add to Back Ups:  This is where I put items I want to archive so that when I do my archiving at the end of the month its just a quick sort into my archive boxes. Again I will discuss archiving in a later post.
  • Go Through Inventory : This where, if I get too many folders below my bottom divider line or if I decide to do a hunt, I dump all the unsorted items here to sort at a later date.  I try not to do this often but when I decide to go on a hunt I will create a folder with the hunt name on it then drag all the other folders except that hunt folder to my Go through Inventory folder, so that I can keep track of where I am at in a hunt. As I go along I drag the hunt gift folders into the hunt folder to keep it organized. And it keeps the area below clear for when I am working on stuff.
  • Bottom Divider Line: This is just to make it easy for me to visually see where my Category folders end, and the stuff I have to go through begins.
And that my friends is the start to the organization madness. The next step is to sort and delete duplicates and file away the items you want to keep. I will save that for the next post, till then take care and happy hunting....don't forget to sort it into it's own folder!!

My Flying Eyeball


Items in Photos:


Poses:

  • Poses were created using my (CTS) wardrobe hud, unsure of who created the animations in it.


Tags:

Theme images by Airyelf. Powered by Blogger.