How to Use the Star Highlight to Sort a Big Haul

After mining, looting a dungeon, or trading, your inventory can fill with dozens of items at once. The animated star is designed exactly for this: it marks everything newly acquired so you can spot it instantly instead of scanning every slot.

Reading the highlights

When you open your inventory, each newly picked-up item shows an animated star over its slot. Items you already had before the trip do not get a star, so the highlighted slots represent only what you just gained. Use this to quickly separate fresh loot from your existing stock.

Working through the pile

Decide on a cleanup method before you start. If you enabled hover-clearing, move your cursor across the highlighted slots one at a time — each star disappears as you acknowledge it, effectively letting you tick items off. If you enabled close-clearing instead, sort or move items while the stars are visible, then close the inventory to reset all markers at once.

For the smoothest workflow, keep the default golden color so new items stand out against colored names, and use hover-clearing so you can process items deliberately. Combine this with a chest or shulker box nearby: pull starred items out, stash them, and watch the highlights vanish as you go. This turns a chaotic inventory into a clear checklist of what you actually picked up.