How do I make my dupes sweep up their maximum capacity before delivering to storage?

[Frothy Girth]

It seems like carrying capacity is useless because my suppliers will pick up one thing off the ground from one side of the base and then immediately go to the storage on the other side with their carrying capacity barely even filled while completely ignoring the tons of other stuff that was piled up with whatever they picked up.

I've tried enabling proximity and everything but nothing I do seems to change this behavior.

[DaveSatx]

without prioritizing the sweep i've noticed the dupes target the stuff nearest them when they start the job..   i've learned to be selective with what i sweep to make it more efficient-ish.

[Yoma_Nosme]

Easy fix. Just use sweep only for most stuff. Priority 5 or 6, depending on your playstyle as high as you prefer

Exceptions are. Metals, algae, dirt in the beginning. Put the compactors for them on priority 6 so you can have them close and save from hatches. Later flip the compactors to 'sweep only' if you like.

Further exceptions. Slime and polluted dirt. Priority 6 or 7 because you want this out of the way first. Store under water.

When you sweep materials try to sweep minerals one type at a time.

Be generous with compactor placement.

You can limit the compactors storage size this proves valuable when you try to place them ''strategically''.

 

[Chipplyman]

Build a container near the sweep area with sweep only and high priority. When the area is clear, drop the priority or deconstruct.

FWIW last time I checked, items dropped from a container don't count as debris for decor calculations. 

[greggbert]

^^^ This

Sweep everything up to a high priority container near the debris, then destroy the container and sweep everything to  a high priority container at your preferred destination.  The container will merge items of the same type and your dupes will be more likely to grab a full load after you destroy it.