Setting Up Storage Locations and QR Labels

storage locations containers qrcode labels

If you have items spread across shelves, boxes, closets, or storage units, Storage Locations helps you track exactly where everything is. Pair it with printable QR code labels and you can scan a bin to see its contents — or scan a label when adding an item to instantly assign it to the right spot.

Storage Locations is an optional feature. This guide walks through enabling it, creating your first locations and containers, printing QR labels, and connecting everything to your collections.

Enabling Storage Locations

Storage Locations is turned off by default. To enable it:

  1. Open App Settings
  2. Under Features, toggle on Enable Storage Locations

Once enabled, you’ll see a My Locations section on the main screen alongside your collections.

Configuring Location Settings

Before adding locations, take a moment to configure how they’ll work. Tap the settings button in My Locations to access the configuration screen. Here you’ll set up:

Folders and Files

  • Location Folder — where your location .md files will be stored.
  • Asset Folder — where QR code label images and other assets will be saved.
  • Template File (optional) — a template that defines the default properties for new locations.

This follows the same pattern as collection folders. Keeping everything organized in a dedicated location folder makes backups and syncing straightforward.

Properties

Define the properties you want to track for each location. At minimum you’ll want a name, but you might also add things like address, notes, or a photo. Set the property types for each field just like you would for a collection.

Container Property

Choose which property will be used to hold your containers. Containers are typically stored as tags on a location — each tag represents a physical container (a shelf, a bin, a drawer) within that location. Select the property that will serve this role.

Display Settings

Configure how locations appear in the app — which property to use for thumbnails, sort order, and other display preferences.

QR Code Label Settings

Set your preferred label size and format. These settings apply when generating QR code labels for locations and containers. Getting these right upfront means your labels will be print-ready without any fiddling later.

Adding Locations

With settings configured, you’re ready to create your first location.

Tap the + button in My Locations. A location represents a physical place — your home, your office, a storage unit, a workshop. Give it a name and fill in any properties you defined.

You can create as many locations as you need. Most people start with one or two and add more as their tracking expands.

Adding Containers

Containers are the specific spots within a location — a bookshelf, a closet bin, a garage shelf, a labeled box. There are two ways to add them:

  • As tags on the container property — open a location, and add tags to the container property you configured. Each tag becomes a container. This is the quickest way to add several containers at once.
  • From within a location — open a location and tap + to add a new container with its own details.

Name your containers in a way that’s easy to identify physically. “Shelf A,” “Blue Bin,” “Top Drawer” — whatever matches how you’ve organized the space. You’ll be attaching labels to these, so clear naming helps.

Generating and Printing QR Code Labels

QR code labels are what tie the physical world to the app. Once a label is attached to a container, scanning it lets you jump straight to that container in MDCollections — or assign items to it on the spot.

Generating Labels

You have a few options:

  • Generate a single location label — from Location Settings, tap Generate Location QR Code Label in the QR Code Labels section. This creates a label for the location itself.
  • Generate all container labels at once — from Location Settings, tap Generate All Container QR Code Labels. This creates labels for every container across all your locations in one go.
  • Generate a single container label — open a location, go into a container’s settings, and tap Generate QR Code Label. Useful when you add a new container to an existing setup.

All generated labels are saved to your Asset directory as image files, ready for printing.

Printing and Attaching

Print your labels on label paper, sticker sheets, or regular paper (you can cut and tape them). Attach each label to its corresponding physical container — stick one on each bin, shelf, box, or drawer.

Once a label is attached, the physical container is linked to its digital counterpart in the app. That connection is what makes the scanning workflow possible.

Connecting Collections to Locations

Storage Locations and your collections are separate until you connect them. Here’s how to link them so items can be assigned to specific containers.

Add Storage Properties to Your Collection

Open your collection’s settings and add two new properties:

  • A property of type Storage Location — this will hold which location the item is stored in.
  • A property of type Storage Container — this will hold which container within that location.

These property types are specifically designed for the storage system. They’ll show location and container pickers when editing items, and they enable the QR scanning workflow.

Assigning Items to Containers

When adding or editing an item, you have two ways to assign it to a container:

  • Scan a QR label — tap the Scan Container button and point your camera at the QR code on the container. The storage location and container fields are filled in automatically.
  • Select manually — pick the location and container from the dropdown menus in the storage properties.

Scanning is faster when you’re standing in front of the container. Manual selection works well when you’re entering items from a list or know where something will go.

Unassigned Items

If an item has a storage location set but no container, it appears in an Unassigned group within that location. This is useful for tracking items that are somewhere in a room or area but haven’t been placed in a specific container yet. As you organize, you can assign them to containers later.

Browsing by Location

Once items are assigned to containers, you can browse your storage from the location side too. Open a location, then open a container to see everything stored inside it. This is a different view of the same data — instead of browsing by collection, you’re browsing by physical location.

This comes in handy when you’re standing in front of a shelf and want to know what’s on it, or when you need to reorganize and want to see the full contents of a box before moving it.

Tips

  • Start simple. You don’t need to label every container on day one. Start with the locations and containers where you most often lose track of things, and expand from there.
  • Use clear container names. “Garage - Shelf 3 - Bin A” is more useful six months from now than “Bin 1.” Be specific enough that the name tells you where to look.
  • Print labels in batches. Use the “Generate All Container QR Code Labels” option to create everything at once, then do one print session. It’s faster than generating and printing one at a time.
  • Scan when you put things away. The best time to assign a container is when you’re physically placing the item somewhere. Scan the container label, save the item, and it’s tracked.