Shelf — sections & notes for Gmail

Group Gmail threads under your own section headers. Add sticky notes & colors. No account, no server — nothing leaves your browser.

The Gmail organizer that never gets access to your account — no sign-in, no server, nothing leaves your browser. Labels tell you what an email is. Shelf tells you what to do next. Add your own section headers inside any Gmail label view or the inbox, drag threads onto them, and stick a private note on any conversation — all rendered in Gmail's own visual language, like the feature was always there. WHAT IT DOES • Sections ("shelves") inside the inbox and every label view — like Multiple Inboxes, but for any label. Create, rename, color, collapse, drag to reorder • Sub-shelves: nest one shelf inside another ("This week" → "Parents"), drag in and out — an indented chip in the parent's color shows the nesting • Your order: drag threads into the sequence you'll actually work them in — within a shelf, between shelves, wherever • Drag threads onto a shelf, or file several at once with multi-select • Sticky notes on any thread — visible in the list, in the open conversation, and everywhere the thread appears • Rich notes: bold / italic / underline, links (⌘K), bulleted and numbered lists, and checkboxes you can tick right on the note. Long notes collapse. Everything autosaves • Note colors (red for urgent, etc.) — colored notes also paint a slim edge on the thread's row, so urgency reads at a glance • A movable "Everything else" section — drag it to the top for a triage-first inbox • Hide Shelf anytime (the eye button, or Alt+S): one click shows plain, untouched Gmail — one click brings every shelf, note, and order right back • Works with Gmail's reading pane (vertical and horizontal splits), dark mode, and custom themes • Keyboard-first if you want it: Alt+N note, Alt+M move, Alt+↑/↓ reorder, Alt+S hide/show, ⌘⇧8/7/9 lists and checklists — Docs muscle memory • Accessible by design: full keyboard support, screen-reader labels, reduced- motion support, and colorblind-friendly — color never carries meaning alone WHAT IT CAN'T DO — BY DESIGN When you install, Chrome says Shelf "can read and change your data on mail.google.com." That's Chrome's standard wording for any extension that draws inside Gmail's page — it describes where Shelf runs, not what it does. What Shelf actually does: • No Google sign-in, no OAuth grant, no Gmail API, no server anywhere — Shelf never gets access to your account or mailbox, only to the page on screen • It cannot send, archive, delete, or label your email, and it makes no network requests: nothing you read or write is transmitted, to anyone, ever • Your sections and notes live in your browser's extension storage (synced across your desktops by Chrome itself), and never leave it • No analytics, no tracking, no account, no sign-up • Uninstall it and Gmail is exactly as it was WHO IT'S FOR Inbox-zero people, GTD people, and anyone whose labels have become piles: track who you're waiting on, stage a job search (Applied / Interviewing / Offer), run a house purchase, keep school-and-family admin sane, give every client a shelf of their own, or build a prioritizing matrix (Urgent & Important / Schedule / Delegate / Someday) right inside your inbox. Built by an educator drowning in parent and student email — and battle-tested by a spouse whose inbox eats things. Shelf is free for individuals — always. It runs on generosity: if it earns a place in your day, the options page has a link where you can donate whatever that turned out to be worth to you. — Not affiliated with or endorsed by Google. Gmail is a trademark of Google LLC.