Support

Shelve for macOS 13 or later

Common questions

Why do I have to choose my Library folder?

Apps from the Mac App Store run in a sandbox and cannot look at your files until you grant access. The dialog opens directly at your Library folder; click “Grant Access” to confirm. Shelve remembers the permission until you choose “Forget Folder Access”.

I cannot see the Library folder.

The dialog normally opens there for you. If it does not: the folder is hidden by default, so in the open dialog press Shift+Command+. to show hidden items, or press Shift+Command+G and type ~/Library.

I moved things to the Trash but have no more free space.

Space is released only when you empty the Trash in Finder. Shelve never does this for you. On APFS volumes, local Time Machine snapshots can also keep space occupied for up to a day.

How do I undo a clean-up?

Open the Trash and move the items back to where they were. Where Finder offers File → Put Back, it does this for you.

What do the levels mean?

• Safe – recreated automatically by the app that owns it. Quit that app first.
• Caution – can be rebuilt, but it will cost time or bandwidth, or sign you out somewhere.
• Review – may be data that cannot be recreated. Check before removing. Never selected automatically.

What does “Recommended” contain?

Two kinds of items of at least 5 MB: those marked safe, which the owning app recreates on its own, and Xcode DerivedData, device support files and SwiftPM caches in which no file has changed for 90 days. Data of apps that are running right now is left out, and so is anything marked review, leftovers of removed apps, cookies and web data. Each recommended item shows the reason next to it.

Why are some items shown but cannot be selected?

Large items such as iOS device backups or Docker data are listed so you know where your space went, but they should be managed in the app they belong to. Shelve explains where.

An item is listed as a leftover, but I still use that app.

Leftover detection compares folder names with the apps installed on your Mac and can be wrong for command-line tools, browser extensions or apps kept outside the Applications folder. If in doubt, leave it. Reports of false positives are welcome.

Some folders show as smaller than expected or are missing.

macOS protects certain locations, such as Mail, Messages and other apps' containers, even inside a folder you granted. Shelve cannot measure what the system does not let it read.

Privacy

Shelve collects nothing and has no network access. Details are in the privacy policy.