Shelf

Shelf requires macOS 13 Ventura or later. It's a menu-bar-only app, so there's no Dock icon or main window — look for the tray icon at the top-right of your screen.

Three ways: drag a file, image, or text selection onto the menu-bar icon; copy something and press the shelf hotkey; or let a screenshot be captured automatically. Click the icon any time to open the shelf and see what's on it.

⌃⌥⌘S (Control-Option-Command-S) shelves whatever is currently on your clipboard. Copy first, then press it. If the clipboard has nothing Shelf can hold, it just beeps.

Shelf is a temporary staging area: unpinned items are removed automatically after your chosen retention window (3 or 7 days). To keep an item, open the shelf and choose Keep (the pin) on it — that stops its clock until you unpin it. Don't use Shelf for long-term storage.

Open the shelf and drag the item straight into wherever it needs to go — an email, a chat message, a Finder folder, or an upload field. It carries the real file. You can also Copy it back to the clipboard or Reveal in Finder.

Yes, when auto-shelf is enabled. If your Mac is set to save screenshots to the clipboard, Shelf catches them from the clipboard and leaves them there so you can still paste. If your Mac saves screenshots as files, Shelf moves them off your Desktop onto the shelf. Reading your screenshot folder may prompt macOS for a one-time folder-access permission — allow it once.

Every item on the shelf is a real file under ~/Library/Application Support/Shelf/, alongside a small manifest.json. Because they're real files, drag-out and Reveal in Finder work normally, and if the app ever misbehaves your items are still sitting right there.

No. Shelf has no account, no server, no network connection, no ads, and no analytics. Nothing you shelf ever leaves your Mac. See the Privacy Policy for details.

Yes. In the gear menu under “Don’t auto-capture from,” add any apps — a password manager, your bank, anything. While one of them is the frontmost app, Shelf won’t auto-shelf screenshots or copied images. You can still drag items in or use the hotkey deliberately.

Open the shelf, click the gear, and set the number of days (1–30) under “Keep items for.” Lowering it sweeps anything already past the new limit right away. The same pane also has an optional item cap, sort order, compact rows, the auto-shelf toggle, the confirmation style, and a rebindable shortcut.

Shelf is a one-time $4.99 purchase — not a subscription. It comes with a 10-day free trial, and the whole app works during the trial. When the trial ends, a single unlock keeps it going forever. The App Store shows the current price before you buy.

Every feature is available for 10 days, free, with no payment required. There's nothing to cancel — the trial simply ends. After it, you can unlock Shelf with the one-time purchase to keep using it. Your shelved items stay safe on your Mac either way.

On a new Mac or after reinstalling, open the shelf, click the gear, and choose Restore while signed in to the same Apple Account you bought with. Your unlock is tied to that Apple Account.