An item can be in your inventory, equipped on your character or held in your hands. Actions often require one specific state: a tool in a backpack is not the same as a tool ready to use.
Prepare your equipment
- Open inventory using your current Controls binding.
- Check the clothing, containers and equipment available to your character.
- Equip the clothing or hold the tool the activity requires.
- Leave room for purchases, gathered materials and completed crafts.
For jobs, wear the required outfit. Carrying the outfit without equipping it does not meet that requirement. Read outfit-change confirmations carefully: accepting a job can remove clothing replaced by its uniform.
Move items into storage
Approach the correct container or storage interaction and open it. Check that you have access and that the destination can accept the item's size, volume and weight. Move the item, wait for the result and confirm which inventory now contains it.
Use authorised home storage or vehicle cargo as appropriate. Leaving an item on the ground is not the same as placing it into storage. Avoid moving away while a transfer is still pending.
Use food and tools
- Food or drink: hold the suitable consumable and use its action; F is the default consume key.
- Gathering tools: equip the correct tool, face the job target and use the displayed interaction or attack binding.
- Workbench ingredients: check the recipe's requirements and place supplies in the inventory expected by that interaction.
- Phone or tablet: carry the correct device and use its shortcut. They are different items.
If an item will not move or work
Check capacity, item size, range, access permissions and whether another action is using the item or container. Read the message before retrying. A delayed result is not proof that an item has disappeared.
Hospital respawn has specific inventory-loss consequences. Read Health and Recovery before choosing it.