Inventoil Made Easier

Inventoil Made easy

“There’s never enough of the stuff you can’t get enough of.” ~ Patrick H.T. Doyle

Inventoil Made easy

A few years ago I introduced the word “inventoil” to the world, which was my word for going through my inventory and sorting things. At the time my inventory was almost manageable. I knew what I had and where it might be. That ended a couple years ago when boxes exploded with fatpacks of fatpacks, and I started joining events to blog. And oh, well, I shop a lot too. Pfff.

StarlightShining clued me into a fancy trick in Firestorm that is going to revolutionize your inventory, especially if you have a hoarding problem as I do. And I’m going to teach you how to do it. The bottom line is that you are going to be able to pack massive amounts of stuff into a package without manually moving it. It’s kind of like those Spacebags that “triple your storage’ when you vacuum out the air.

Inventoil Made easy

First, get the Firestorm client. This only works with Firestorm as far as I know.

You need to select what you want boxed. Make a folder at the top layer (meaning “Inventory > Folder”). If it’s in any other folders, this will not work. My folder is “~ 100 Block,” full of some dope stuff I got to blog for the 100 Block, some of which you saw here. The event is over and I am desperate not to part with these things but the reality is, they have to be packed away if I can’t bear to delete them. I named the folder with the ~ (a tilde in geek terms) so it would sort to the bottom of my inventory, making it easier to find. (You can name with ! at the beginning and it sorts to the top but I have used that trick too many times for it to be useful to me anymore.)

Everything in that folder, including folders, is going to pack into the package at ONE LEVEL. That means the stuff IN the folders will go into the box but the folder separation will not. So if you pack folders in this folder, don’t expect them to remain sorted. I don’t personally care. Most people name things in a manner that they sort correctly. And if they don’t, well, I didn’t need it anyway.

Inventoil Made easy

Edit the box and hit “Copy Key.” You are going to need that in a moment.

In the chat line of local chat type “zdrop on <paste what you copied from Copy Key here> <name of folder EXACTLY with capitalization correct here>”. The package and folder do not have to have the same name, incidentally. I just happened to do that. This is a photo of what I ended up typing.

Inventoil Made easy

If you did it all correctly, you will see the message in your chat window start scrolling by and witness each item being packed into the package. The progress will fill up your screen but no one else’s.

Inventoil Made easy

While it packs, resume your normal activities in the sim. Pose for photos (though the little starry line might show as you package), furnish your house, sort other items in inventory (though you can’t start another zdrop transfer), chat in Skin Addiction. It’s not a quick process if you have a lot of things.

Inventoil Made easy

The biggest thing I found is that you need to stay within in the sim you are on and while I have not tested this, I am guessing you have to stay in relatively close proximity to the package. I managed to thoroughly furnish the Theosophy sky box while packaging all my LeeZu one evening.

Inventoil Made easy

If you are packing a lot, I would advise you to get a scripted package that will allow you to scroll through menus to find the contents of the box. I use the Bright Container myself, which is old technology but works for me. And yes, you can pack into packages that already contain scripts, objects, notecards, etc. If I find more 100 Block items, I can simply jam them into that box from the same method.

When it’s done, you’ll see this. (Please note the time stamp. Started at 20:48, ended at 21:03):

Inventoil Made easy

If you check inside your package, it may take some time for the inventory to pull up but you should see this:

Inventoil Made easy

Any no copy items will have gone into that package. The rest transfer, so if you want to keep the folder in your inventory AND have a box of things, go ahead. I will be holding on to that folder for a day or two more and then maybe, if I can bear it, moving it to trash. In a day or two I might even “empty trash.”

Let me give you a quick review of my outfit. Start with the aforementioned LeeZu Baxter, whose work I can not BEAR to part with. Her newest top features a peekaboo peel off strap that drops down, so I put on the bodysuit that Kinu Mayako is offering for a mere 5L in the Pink Fusion Hunt. (Oh hunt items—another choice batch for boxing!) My skirt is Datrip Blackbart’s Pink Fusion Hunt item and my shows with anklets are from Mr. Gospel Voom and his innate knowledge of what turns men on. (I got lots of compliments on these shoes, ladies… hint hint).

My skin is Carina Larsen’s newest and I have to say I have a secret crush on her work. Her skins look like no one else’s but have a sophistication and freshness all at once that make them gorgeous and unique. My eyes are also from Carina and include a HUD for changing size, glow, and shadowing. I will be featuring more of these mesh eyes. Finally my hair is Chiaki Xue’s newest, a darling short cut that includes a little bouncy flexi so when I am hanging upside down, you can see it fly out.

Inventoil Made easy

Yes, I know my inventory is too big! “To inform fools, that they are so, does not make them any wiser.” ~ Taylor E Bennet

Hair: *Dura-Girl*53(L-Red) by Chiaki Xue for Dura *

Skin: Amacci Skin – Tyne (Cream) – 02 Ruby by Carina Larsen for Amacci *

Eyes: Amacci  – Zenith Eyes – Mesh Eyes with HUD – Spring by Carina Larsen for Amacci *

Top: [LeeZu] Constance Top/pink by LeeZu Baxter for LeeZu! *

Bodysuit (underneath): [ SAKIDE ] Pink Dream Bodysuit v3 by Kinu Mayako for [ SAKIDE ], available for the Pink Fusion Hunt *

Skirt: Legal Insanity – Pink fusion hunt – leo mini skirt by Datrip Blackbart for Legal Insanity, available for the Pink Fusion Hunt *

Hands: Slink Mesh Hands (av) Casual Right and Slink Mesh Hands (av) Relaxed Left by Siddean Munro for Slink

Nail Appliers: :FY: Spring Glitter Nails @ Pink Fusion Hunt by Hannah Lacombe for Forever Young, available for the Pink Fusion Hunt *

Shoes: [Gos] Charlotte Mary Jane Pumps – Patent by Gospel Voom for Gos Boutique *

Floor cushion: Sway’s [Shirin] Floor Cushion – silver.indigo by Sway Dench for Sway’s, out for The Challenge *

Poses by Tutys for Tutys

30 thoughts on “Inventoil Made Easier

  1. Pingback: Inventoil Made Easier | Be Happy in sl's Blog

  2. Pingback: Inventoil Made Easier (Post-38578) | [O.L.D.] Old London Docks

  3. Reblogged this on Whimsical and commented:
    I never knew how to do this and as a blogger I have tons of stuff that I want to keep but keeps filling up my inventory – check out this blog on how to solve that problem! Thank you Harper!

    • I would caution that you don’t pack too many things into the box and that you name the packages clearly. Maybe it’s all the items you bought at C88 in May. So name it all C88 May 2014. Then you have a discreet set of items :)

  4. These sentences :

    “Any no copy items will have gone into that package. The rest transfer, so if you want to keep the folder in your inventory AND have a box of things, go ahead”

    I see copy items in that inventory window.

    So does this just pull one item out if the item is copy? Some items only copy inside inventory so if I picked up an item in world that I tried to copy it may have broken scripts. Also, some copy items were made and fitted to a position ….

    Bottomline, my question : by permissions — what goes inside the box and what stays out in the birth folder.

    Am really excited about this !

    • Sorry about the confusion. If your folder contains a no copy/transfer item, it will end up in the box and will no longer be in your folder. If your folder contains a copy/no trans item, you will find it in the box AND in your folder. So if you box a bunch of gacha items, they will all end up right in the box and not in your inventory. Hope that helps :)

  5. Pingback: Inventoil Made Easier | Second Life Freebies Addiction & More

  6. Ok, I want to kiss you! Never heard of this before, always struggeling with my inventory and stowing stuff in boxes… and now this! It works! Thanks for sharing this!!!

  7. Reblogged this on Around the Grid and commented:
    Harper Beresford uses this interesting trick in Firestorm client to do some bulk inventory control. You can check to see if it works in other viewers, but the odds are it works only in Firestorm. I haven’t tried this myself, as I’m satisfied with Bright or other similar boxes; your mileage may vary.

  8. Pingback: Inventoil Made Easier | Second Life Fashion Addict

  9. This does work and I am so glad! I bought another system and while it works fine, it cost me almost $L5000, and sorting has been a bit of a challenge – probably because of something I did in setting it up, but still…
    I went a bit mad last week and reduced my Inventory (otherwise known as what my grandmother used to refer to as “Fibber McGee’s closet” – which I think was from an early American television show, referring to a man whose closet would just spill out everywhere whenever it was opened) by more than 10K, I did this by throwing out some old system outfits that I never wore anyway (from 2009-2011). I don’t feel too bad about that, but…suddenly…I wish I still had that cute pink (and very flouncy!) dress I used to wear when we lived on the Mainland…
    Anyway (and despite the fact that I’m all nostalgic for good ol’ Cyaboz now), thank you, Harper! Have a great weekend!

  10. I would like to thank Harper for sharing this excellent storage method with us.

    However I feel I owe it to all who work for Linden Labs to share with her readers “What Harper Beresford Didn’t Tell You”

    We have all experienced those moments when SL has been humming along perfectly all day and suddenly and for no apparent reason everything slows and slows until it’s like SL is traveling via a pipeline of extra thick molasses to your computer.

    Well please do not blame LL or any of the LL staff for this, and don’t blame your viewer, your ISP or your computer as the cause is none of these.

    This phenomenon is caused but nothing more complex that Harper clicking the folder in her inventory labeled HAIR or SKIN etc to gather up the contents of Harper’s inventory folder labeled HAIR I am informed that no less than 47 servers have to be diverted from their usual tasks to help cope with the massive load.

    So now you know what causes those unexplained slow-downs.

  11. What about the 100 Item limit? Several sources back in the day (like 7 years ago) recommended packing unused items in a cube to save inventory space but not putting more than 100 items in each cube lest the Inventory servers get confused. I blog about Inventory maintenance often, one of the more recent entries being in reply to a Strawberry Singh meme (http://poultryreport.blogspot.com/2013/08/the-inventory-meme.html) in which I expound a bit more on boxing.

    • I had no trouble opening the boxes that had more than 100 items. It would take a bit to load but they opened. If I used a scripted storage box I had no trouble whatsoever. If I boxed my inventory in pieces of 100 at a crack, I would lose my mind. I would also lose my mind opening boxes in boxes. Perhaps it’s psychological. I still have access to the content in some small way. (And 7 years ago they were not dealing with exponentially large inventories.) As for Strawberry’s “meme,” dunno about it.

  12. Pingback: Inventoil Made Easier | My Blog

  13. Reblogged this on My Blog and commented:
    If you haven’t seen this before, it’s well worth the read. I started doing some of my hunt gifts today and it is so easy. Now to get the Bright inventory boxes and do more.

Leave a comment