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Shelved privacy policy

This policy explains what the Shelved Chrome extension processes, why it does so, and the choices available to you.

Effective September 28, 2026

Who operates Shelved

Shelved is operated by Zektek LLC (“Zektek,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). This policy applies to the Shelved browser extension and the usage analytics API that supports it at extension-api.zektek.com.

Information stored in your browser

Shelved stores the following extension data:

  • a record for each bookmark: its title, URL, hostname, when it was saved, when it was last visited (once you allow history access), when you opened it from Shelved, and whether it’s snoozed, dismissed, or manually included or excluded from tracking;
  • the date Shelved was installed, so that without history access it only reminds you about bookmarks saved after that date;
  • your settings: the staleness threshold you’ve chosen, and whether backups and browser notifications are turned on;
  • the bookmarks currently shown as reminders, and how many new reminders have been shown this week, so a large backlog is spread out over time;
  • if backups are turned on (on by default), daily snapshots of your bookmark tree, kept for 7 days, used only to restore something that went missing;
  • the results of any scan you’ve run for duplicates, empty folders, or dead links, and anything you’ve told Shelved to ignore, so a later scan doesn’t keep showing items you’ve already dealt with;
  • whether anonymous usage analytics is turned on (on by default); and
  • a randomly generated analytics client identifier, plus a temporary session identifier that expires after 30 minutes of inactivity or 24 hours, whichever comes first.

All of this is stored only in Chrome’s local extension storage on each device. The analytics session identifier is stored only in Chrome’s session storage, which clears when the browser closes.

Information processed when you use Shelved

Tracking bookmarks and visits

Shelved reads your bookmarks, their titles, URLs, and folder structure, through Chrome’s bookmarks API to build its list. Only if you grant the optional history permission does it also look up when a URL you’ve already bookmarked was last visited; this lookup is targeted to your existing bookmarks, never your general browsing history. All of this processing happens entirely inside your browser.

Notifications

Only if you grant the optional notifications permission does Shelved show a system notification when it finds bookmarks you haven’t revisited in a while, which may include a bookmark’s title. This stays on your device and is never sent anywhere.

Tidying duplicates, empty folders, and dead links

When you run a tidy scan, Shelved compares your bookmarks’ URLs to find duplicates and walks your bookmark folders to find empty ones, both entirely locally. Checking for dead links makes a direct request from your browser to each bookmarked site to see whether it’s still reachable. Shelved does not read or store the content of the pages it checks, and only flags a link as dead when the request fails outright; a page that loads but returns an error is left alone rather than guessed at.

Limited usage analytics

When enabled, Shelved sends pseudonymous usage events to extension-api.zektek.com, along with your analytics client identifier, session identifier, the extension version, and the browser type the extension was built for. The API adds your approximate country, which it determines from your connection, and then forwards these events to PostHog, our analytics provider. Because this forwarding happens on our server, PostHog receives the event data from our API rather than directly from your browser, and does not receive your IP address through this process.

These events can indicate:

  • that the extension was installed;
  • that the popup was opened;
  • which action you took on a reminder (open, snooze, never remind, or delete), and whether you took it from the popup, the settings page, or a bulk action on the settings page;
  • whether you allowed, declined, or closed a request for the optional history or notifications permission, and whether it came during first setup or later from the settings page;
  • that you turned browser notifications on or off, and which part of a Shelved notification you clicked;
  • that you ran a tidy scan, and the kind of item you removed with it: a duplicate, an empty folder, or a dead link;
  • that you restored a backup, with the number of restored bookmarks rounded to a range, such as 10 to 99;
  • the staleness threshold you chose, when you change it; and
  • that you turned usage analytics off.

Shelved never sends bookmark titles, URLs, domains, folder names, or exact bookmark counts through these events, and the staleness threshold is the only setting value it sends. You can turn usage analytics off at any time from Shelved’s settings page; doing so stops future events and deletes your locally stored analytics client identifier.

Why we process this information

We use this information only to:

  • show reminders for bookmarks you’ve gone without visiting;
  • remember your settings, snoozes, and dismissals;
  • back up and, if needed, restore your bookmarks, if you’ve kept that feature on;
  • run the scans for duplicates, empty folders, and dead links that you ask for;
  • understand whether core extension features work; and
  • diagnose failures and improve Shelved.

We do not sell personal information, use Shelved data for targeted advertising, or build profiles of the sites you visit.

Service providers

Zektek operates extension-api.zektek.com, which forwards usage events to PostHog, Inc., which stores them in the United States on our behalf, as described above. Bookmark tracking, history lookups, and dead link checks do not go through this API or any other Zektek server; they run directly between your browser, Chrome’s own APIs, and the sites you’ve bookmarked.

Retention and your choices

Analytics events are retained according to Zektek’s PostHog project settings. Extension settings, bookmark records, tidy scan results, the local analytics client identifier, and the analytics setting remain in browser storage until they are cleared, turned off, or the extension is removed. Backup snapshots are automatically dropped after 7 days, and the analytics session identifier expires automatically after 30 minutes of inactivity or 24 hours, whichever comes first.

You can change Shelved’s staleness threshold, turn backups, browser notifications, or anonymous usage analytics on or off, and revoke the optional history or notifications permissions, all from Shelved’s settings page. Turning analytics off also deletes your locally stored analytics client identifier. You can remove all locally stored extension data by uninstalling Shelved or clearing the extension’s data in Chrome. You can also use Shelved without a Zektek account because no account is required.

How we use Chrome permissions

Google requires every Chrome extension to state this plainly: we only use the information Chrome’s APIs give us to provide or improve the features described in this policy. We don’t use it for advertising, and we don’t sell it.

Security and children

We use reasonable technical measures to protect information processed by Shelved. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure, so we cannot guarantee absolute security.

Shelved is not directed to children under 13, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13.

Changes to this policy

We may update this policy as Shelved changes. We will post the revised policy here and update the effective date above. Material changes will be communicated through the extension or this page when appropriate.

Contact us

For questions, privacy requests, or concerns about Shelved, please contact Zektek.