You’ll find junk on defeated enemies, stashed in containers, and scattered around virtually every location you explore. You can, of course, sell these bits and bobs for extra Caps, but a junk item’s true value lies in the components it yields. Battered clipboards are made from springs and wood; desk fans contain gears, screws, and steel; an old fuse can be salvaged for copper and glass. With the right junk items, you can build everything from simple floor mats to advanced Power Armor mods.
Whenever you build an item, the required components are automatically salvaged from the junk items that are currently in your inventory or stored within the related crafting station. If a settlement is under control, all of its workstations are linked to its workshop. This makes managing your collected junk items incredibly easy—when you attempt to craft an object, you’ll instantly see which components can be salvaged from the available junk items.
When a lack of materials is holding up construction, use your Pip-Boy’s Junk tab to mark your desperately needed components. Cycle the display to “Component View” to see all of the components offered by the junk items that are currently in your inventory. Highlight the desired component and select “Tag for Search.” From that point on, your Pip-Boy automatically indicates if a targeted junk item contains the tagged component. Repeat the process at any time to add or remove tracked components from your list.