LittleFin Software has introduced Compartments 1.0 (http://www.littlefin.com/compartments.html) for Mac OS X (10.5 and higher), an US$19.95 home inventory application. It allows household items to be entered, searched and sorted by location, type, value or any custom tag. Drag and drop photos and other info can be added to each item listing.

The first step in using Compartments is to set up Locations, which are the places in which the user's items are stored. A Location can be a room, a house, a piece of furniture, a briefcase, or a safety deposit box -- any place that contains things to be cataloged. Next, the user creates an Item for each one of their possessions.

The Add Item dialogue box permits one or more of the following entries: item photo, item name and type, location, date acquired, estimated value, make and model, serial number, notes, and tags. Items can be an object, document, or computer file, and all Items can be found in some Location.

Items that share the same tag or type can be automatically compiled into an auto-updating Smart Collection. Additionally, Compartments includes support for searches by item name, by item kind, or by item tag. The Quick Add command allows the user to enter all the Items in a Location in one dialog box, and automatically generate all the individual Item entries whose details can be filled in at any time. The application can generate an insurance report including all or any part of the dwelling's contents, listed individually with complete details, and a total dollar amount for all things lost or missing.