Macshelf
Your files,
within reach.
A lightweight floating shelf for macOS. Drop files, links, and text while you work — drag them back out whenever you need them.
See it in action
Works exactly how
you'd expect.
Start a drag anywhere on your Mac. Macshelf appears. Drop, hold, drag back out.
Features
Everything you need,
nothing you don't.
Zero Friction
The shelf appears only when you drag. Window moves and resizes never trigger it — no false positives, ever.
Drop Anything
Local files & folders, raw images, web URLs, plain text snippets. Every type is treated as a first-class item.
Drag Back Out
Every item on the shelf is fully draggable. Drop it anywhere that accepts files or text — apps, Finder, email, browser.
Auto-Clean
An item is removed from the shelf the moment its drop is accepted by the destination. No manual cleanup.
Always on Top
Floats above all windows using a non-activating panel — works across every Space and full-screen app without stealing focus.
Liquid Glass UI
Designed from scratch for macOS 26 — frosted glass, smooth spring animations, and pixel-perfect Retina rendering at every size.
Image Drop
Drag raw images from Preview, Photos, or any app that puts image data on the pasteboard. No need to save to disk first.
Grouped Drop
Select multiple files and drop them all at once — they land as a single group item with a stacked icon and count badge. Drag the group to any upload field and every file arrives in one shot. No more repeated drags.
Featherweight
No background agents. No persistent services. No launch daemon. Near-zero CPU and memory when idle — Macshelf only works when you need it.
How it works
Four moments.
Zero learning curve.
Start dragging
Macshelf slides in
Begin dragging any file, link, or text. The shelf glides in from the right edge of your screen.
Drop on the shelf
Held for you
Your item is stored on the shelf, ready and visible whenever you need it next.
Drag back out
Goes anywhere
Pick up the item and drop it into any app, Finder window, email, or browser field.
Shelf is empty
Fades away
Once the shelf is empty, the panel fades out on its own. Out of sight until you need it again.
Requirements
Built for modern Mac.
Release Notes
What's New in v1.1
New Features
Drop multiple files at once — they land as a single group item with a stacked icon and count badge. Dragging the group out delivers every file to the destination in one go. Perfect for uploading a batch of photos.
Macshelf now accepts raw images dragged from Preview, Photos, screenshots, or any app that puts image data on the pasteboard — not just file references.
UI Improvements
The info (i) button is now on the left; a new quit (×) button sits on the right. To quit, click (×) and choose Quit. The old right-click method is removed.
Clicking × shows a small popup menu so accidental quits are no longer possible.
Hover over any shelf item to see its full file name in a frosted overlay — no more guessing from a truncated label.
Bug Fixes
The shelf now appears on whichever screen the cursor is dragging from, not always the main display.
Added @MainActor annotation, Task-based hide timer, and Sendable closure fix for clean Swift 6 builds.
Updated to NSApp.activate() to silence Xcode deprecation warnings.
Free & Open Source
Macshelf is MIT-licensed and built in the open. Contributions, bug reports, and feedback are always welcome.