🧭 Summary
A job in ContentsPal is built from two related but distinct things: Inventory Items (what was documented) and Custody Labels (how it's organized and tracked).
Inventory Items are the physical objects — every bowl, lamp, couch, and picture frame documented in the field, uploaded from photos, or imported from a spreadsheet. Custody Labels are the stickers with QR codes that you attach to boxes, tagged items, and garment bags during packout to track where things go and what's billed.
Most items end up on a label, but not all — and a label can exist without items too. This article explains how the two relate.
📋 Inventory Items
An Inventory Item is a single physical object documented as part of the claim.
Each item is one line on the inventory — a vase, a couch, a set of golf clubs. Items can be created in three ways:
In the field — captured from the mobile app using Single Mode or Multi Mode
From photo uploads — bulk image upload on the web portal, with AI identifying objects in each photo
From an inventory list — imported from a spreadsheet
Items live on the Inventory tab of the job. That's where you'll see details like name, room, quantity, condition, photos, and valuation.
📦 Custody Labels
A Custody Label is a QR-coded sticker that organizes items and tracks their location through the packout, storage, and cleaning process.
Labels are created on the web portal and printed on sticker sheets. The crew attaches them to the physical container (or directly to a tagged item), and the mobile app scans items into each label as they're packed.
Labels come in several types, each with their own purpose:
Type | Used for |
Box | A packed box — has a box size (small, medium, large, etc.) |
Tag | A single tagged item — furniture, appliances, anything too big to box |
Bulk Textiles | A bundle of textile items packed together |
Single Textile | One individual or a group of similar textile items |
Garment Bag | Garment bag containing clothing |
Other | Any other container or grouping |
Labels live on the Custody tab. Because labels are used for billing, the Custody tab is also where you'll count boxes, set box sizes, and track location history.
🧩 How They Relate
Inventory Items and Custody Labels are connected, but each can exist independently. Here's how they pair up in practice:
Scenario | What it looks like |
Items in a box | Many items scanned into one Box label |
Tagged item | One item on one Tag label (the label is the item's wrapper) |
Non-salvageable item | Item documented with no label — it's being thrown out |
Empty box label | A Box label with no items — the crew used a box during packout but didn't inventory the contents |
A few rules of thumb:
An Inventory Item can be on at most one label
A Custody Label (except Tag) can hold many items
Items being thrown out usually have no label — in rare cases they do
Empty labels almost always mean boxes that weren't inventoried — Tag labels are virtually never empty
💡 Example: A Living Room Packout
A crew arrives at a water damage job and packs out a living room. Here's how Inventory Items and Custody Labels work together:
The couch is too big to box, so it gets a Tag label (
LIVINGROOM-1). The couch is one Inventory Item, and that Tag label holds just that one item.Books, decor, and small electronics go into three Box labels (
LIVINGROOM-2,-3,-4). The crew inventories each item as they pack — so those three boxes hold, say, 47 Inventory Items between them.A shattered lamp is photographed and marked non-salvageable. It's an Inventory Item with no Custody Label — it's not being packed, it's being thrown out.
The crew also used a fourth box for miscellaneous items but didn't have time to inventory what went in. They create
LIVINGROOM-5as an empty Box label so it still counts for billing.
At the end of the job, the Inventory tab shows every object documented. The Custody tab shows every container used — including the empty one. Both views tell part of the story.
🧭 Where You See Them in the App
Tab | What you see |
Inventory | Every Inventory Item on the job, with photos, rooms, quantities, and valuation |
Custody | Every Custody Label on the job, with type, room, location, and the items scanned into it |
From a label row, click Go To Inventory to jump to the Inventory tab filtered to just that label's items. From an item, you can see which label it's on (if any).
📚 Related Articles
📦 Managing Custody Labels
How to Audit and Clean Up Your Inventory
🏷️ Add Tagged Item
What labels does ContentsPal support?