Shelf

What Shelf Does

Shelf is a macOS menu-bar utility that holds files, images, and text you're moving between places — a temporary staging area that clears itself. Fourteener Labs, LLC (“we,” “us,” or “our”) does not operate a server for Shelf, does not receive anything you place on the shelf, and cannot see your shelf's contents.

Information Stored on Your Mac

When you add something to the shelf — by dragging it onto the menu-bar icon or the open shelf, pressing the shelf hotkey, sending it from the Services menu or Shortcuts, or having a screenshot captured automatically — Shelf copies that item into a folder on your Mac at ~/Library/Application Support/Shelf/. It keeps one real file per item plus a small manifest.json that records each item's name, type, the time it was added, how long it's kept, and any text recognized in it (plus a small file for your stacks). Your settings, including retention, expiry rules, ignored apps, and the screenshot folder you picked, are stored in standard macOS preferences. All of this stays on your Mac.

The Clipboard and Screenshots

To do its job, Shelf reads a few local sources on your Mac. When you use the shelf hotkey, it reads the current clipboard so it can copy that item onto the shelf. When automatic capture is enabled, Shelf watches your clipboard for new images and, if you choose a screenshot folder in Settings, watches that one folder for new screenshot files and moves them onto the shelf. Shelf remembers the folder you picked with a standard macOS bookmark and reads no other folder. If you turn on the optional clipboard history (off by default), Shelf also keeps the text and links you copy; copies that a password manager marks as concealed are always skipped, and copied text that looks like a card number or secret key is kept for only an hour and shown hidden. These reads happen entirely on your Mac. Shelf does not upload, transmit, or share the clipboard, screenshots, or any shelved item. You can also name apps to ignore: while one of them is frontmost, Shelf makes no automatic capture at all.

Drop Zone, Services, and Shortcuts

While the drop zone is on, Shelf notices when you drag something toward the top of your screen so it can show a “Drop to Shelve” target. It sees only the pointer's position and the kinds of data being dragged, not their contents, unless you drop onto the target. It does not watch your keyboard and needs no Accessibility permission. You can turn the drop zone off in Settings. The “Send to Shelf” Services menu item and Shelf's Shortcuts actions act only on what you send or ask for.

Text Recognition and Naming

To make images searchable and give screenshots useful names, Shelf reads the text in shelved images using Apple's on-device Vision framework and, on macOS 26 and later, Apple's on-device Foundation Models. This happens entirely on your Mac; the recognized text is stored with the item and deleted with it. Both features can be turned off in Settings.

Automatic Deletion

Unless you pin an item, Shelf deletes it from your Mac after your chosen retention window (1–30 days, or the time you set for that item). Deletion happens locally and removes the item's file and its manifest entry. When you remove an item yourself, Shelf holds it for a few seconds so you can undo, then deletes it. Shelved items are excluded from Time Machine backups. Because Shelf is a temporary staging area, do not rely on it for long-term storage; keep anything you want to retain elsewhere or pin it.

Information We Do Not Collect

Shelf contains no Fourteener Labs analytics, advertising, crash-reporting, or tracking SDK, and makes no network requests. We do not receive or sell your:

• files, images, text, screenshots, or anything else you place on the shelf;
• clipboard contents or screenshot folder;
• device identifiers, location, contacts, or browsing activity; or
• name, email address, or any account information — Shelf has no account.

No Network Use

Shelf does not connect to the internet. It has no sign-in, no cloud sync, and no backend service. Everything it does happens locally on your Mac.

Purchases

Shelf offers a one-time unlock as an in-app purchase processed by Apple. Apple provides Shelf only the StoreKit transaction and entitlement information needed to unlock the app; we do not receive your payment-card information. The free-trial timer is stored locally on your Mac and is not sent to Fourteener Labs. Apple's handling of purchase data is governed by Apple's Privacy Policy.

Security

Shelf's items are ordinary files stored in your user Library folder, protected by your macOS user account. No method of local storage is completely secure, and anyone with access to your unlocked Mac can open those files. Keep your Mac secure, and remove sensitive items from the shelf when you're done with them.

Children's Privacy

Shelf is not directed to children under 13, and Fourteener Labs does not knowingly collect personal information from children through the app.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy as Shelf changes. The current version will remain posted here with its effective date.

Contact

Questions about Shelf or this policy can be sent to support@fourteenerlabs.com.