Layout of inventory window is not space-efficient

Now that I have larger bags, the wide inventory window wraps each bag to 2 extra slots, leaving nearly an entire row empty, so that I have to scroll up and down to manage things--and the view doesn't autoscroll when I drag items. Further, in the hero window, bags are shown in rows 4 across, resulting in a spatial orientation difference in locating items.

Please, make the inventory window display bags in a grid rather than in flat rows, each bag 4 wide, so that more things fit on screen, and make it so dragging outside the visible area autoscrolls the inventory.

You can resize the inventory window to taste...

I have it sized to fill the screen, and it still leaves big empty gaps because two slots wrap. If I make the window narrower to not have gaps, I still have to scroll up and down because that's not making efficient use of the whole screen, either. And again, no autoscroll.

The bags should be layed out in inventory in a grid of cells 4 wide, as in the hero equipment view, for compactness and for consistency.

Depends on the screen size, doesn't it? I'm not sure it can be made to fit all the different screen ratios.

That's exactly why putting the bags into more compact rectangles would be better, rather than letting them run off in long horizontal lines that wrap just a bit, leaving nearly an entire line worth of empty space.

It sounds like you use the setting which keeps bags separate under its own heading. Use the cog wheel in the inventory pane and select Hide Bags. This will make you have 1 big inventory.

its to large anyway. and since you can only size the whole GUI thats the problem

Hide Bags is an option for some people, but I don't want one giant bag. I like having separate bags, to keep my keeper gear separate from stuff I salvage & sell, but I would like for the bags to be laid out on screen more efficiently.

Have you tried Invisible Bags?

I was thinking more about this, and about how I have been interacting with my inventory lately, and I actually would like something between the two current options.

I have a "consumables first" bag, and an invisible bag, and they are super-useful. I sometimes want to put something into one of them, and right now I have the choice between lots of empty space -- as the OP mentioned -- and a bit of guesswork / memory test to figure out which of the indistinguishable slots are part of which bag.

I think a hybrid that outlined each bag, but used the "combined" layout, would be excellent for this. Background color would be an easy way to display this, but outlining the contiguous regions would also work. I'd definitely find that a quality of life improvement -- not exactly a huge problem, but occasionally I struggle with this in a way that is small, annoying, but also easy to forget.

I like those ideas, too. Layout & space issues aside, the more serious problem I've had is that when swapping gear, things move around unpredictably. I've salvaged some good items by mistake because of this. Rather than having a special bag, though, it might make sense to allow the player to lock an item so that it can't be salvaged (or destroyed or sold!). Maybe a check box or popup menu item, and some visual indication that it's protected.