I'm running into problems regarding stockpiles and linking so I figured I'd post here asking for help rather than start thread n+1 regarding these subjects. If this isn't appropriate let me know and I'll delete the post and start a new thread or RTFM or whatever, if somebody has a link to a good one regarding this sort of thing.
My current problem is with bags. I brought some gypsum plaster with me on embark for setting up my hospital, and of course it's in bags. Now previously when setting up hospitals I've learned that putting coffers in the zone is a bad idea as it snags things in a very haphazard manner. So I tried to designate stockpiles for individual things. Crutches, thread, cloth, etc. However I could never get a plaster stockpile to work correctly.
Now fast forward to the fortress I'm working on currently. It's still in the very early stages so no hospital just yet, however in designating stockpiles for a quern I figured I'd need some empty bags for it to function. So in the furniture/siege ammo category I enabled boxes and bags, thinking this would work for empty bags the same as barrels. However it's pulling my plaster bags which I'm guessing can't further be used to hold the wheat I intend to mill. As far as I can tell the furniture stockpiles should be the empty containers, and bars/blocks -> gypsum plaster should be for bags full of the stuff. Further, the finished goods -> stone/clay -> gypsum plaster should be for other items that are actually made out of gypsum plaster.
Am I misunderstanding the designations, or is this a bug in need of a workaround? If the latter, anybody got any suggestions?