User Guide

How to use Shelfed

Everything you need to know to get the most out of your personal inventory app.

Getting Started

Create your account

1

Download Shelfed from the App Store or Google Play.

2

Open the app and tap Sign Up. Enter your email and a password.

3

You're in. You'll land on the Items screen — your inventory home base.

Tip: You can also sign in with Google for a faster setup.

The four tabs

Shelfed has four main screens accessible from the bottom tab bar:

Items

Your full inventory list with search, filter, and sort.

Dashboard

Stats, charts, and insights about your inventory.

Categories

Create and manage your item categories.

Settings

Account, appearance, household, and exports.

Adding Items

Tap the blue + button (bottom-right of the Items screen) to open the scan screen. You have three ways to add an item:

AI Photo Scan (recommended)

Point your camera at an item and tap the shutter. The AI identifies it and pre-fills the name, brand, model, categories, and description automatically.

Works best with clear lighting and the item label visible.

Barcode Scan

Point the camera at any product barcode. Shelfed detects it automatically and looks up the product details.

Manual Entry

Tap ⌨ Manual on the scan screen to open a blank form. Fill in as much or as little as you like.

Available fields: Name, Description, Brand, Model, Category, Tags, Quantity, Purchase Date, Purchase Price, Warranty End Date, Location, Notes, Barcode, User Manual URL, YouTube Videos.

AI Photo Scan

How it works

1

Tap the + button on the Items screen to open the camera.

2

Frame your item and tap the shutter button. Or tap 🖼 Gallery to pick a photo from your library.

3

The AI analyses the photo and returns a result card with name, brand, model, categories, and description.

4

Review the details, edit anything you want, then tap Use These Details to open the add form pre-filled.

5

Tap Save to add the item to your inventory.

Collector details

The AI automatically includes collector-relevant details in the description for specific item types:

Books — ISBN, author, publisher, edition, year
Vinyl — RPM, label, catalog number, pressing
Coins — denomination, year, mint mark
Cards — set name, rarity, edition
Stamps — country, year, denomination
Comics — issue, publisher, key significance

Barcode Scan

Barcode scanning happens automatically whenever the camera is open — no button to press.

1

Open the scan screen (tap the + button).

2

Point the camera at any product barcode (EAN, UPC, QR code).

3

A barcode chip appears at the top of the screen when detected. Tap Use to look up the product.

4

The add form opens pre-filled with the product details.

The same barcode is ignored for 3 seconds after detection to prevent duplicate triggers.

Multi-Item Scan

When the AI detects multiple distinct items in a single photo, it enters multi-item mode automatically.

1

Take a photo containing multiple items (e.g. a shelf of electronics).

2

A carousel appears showing each identified item as a separate card. Swipe left/right to browse them.

3

Deselect any items you don't want to add by tapping the checkbox on their card.

4

Tap Add All Selected to save all checked items at once.

If you want to capture a group as a single item instead, use Set Mode.

Set Mode

Set Mode tells the AI to treat everything in the photo as one collection rather than identifying individual items. Perfect for stamp pages, coin trays, card binders, or any grouped collection.

1

On the scan screen, tap the 📦 Set pill above the shutter button. It turns amber when active.

2

Take a photo of your collection.

3

The AI returns a single result describing the whole set — with a summary of what it contains, condition, era, and identifying marks.

4

Review and save as one item.

First-time tip: A tooltip appears the first time you open the scan screen explaining Set Mode. Tap it to dismiss.

Find Resources

Find Resources automatically searches for the user manual and YouTube review/unboxing videos for any item in your inventory.

1

Open any item's detail page.

2

Tap Find Resources.

3

A panel slides up showing links to manuals and YouTube videos. Tap any link to open it.

4

Tap Save to Item to store the best links directly on the item for future reference.

Results are better when the item has a brand and model filled in.

Search & Filter

Search

The search bar at the top of the Items screen searches across name, brand, model, location, and notes simultaneously. Results update as you type (300ms debounce).

Filter chips

Below the search bar, a horizontal row of chips lets you filter:

Category — tap to pick a category; only items in that category are shown.
Tags — tap any tag chip to toggle it; multiple tags can be active at once.
Borrowed — shows items you've borrowed from others.
A Clear chip appears when any filter is active. Tap it to reset everything at once.

Sort

Tap the sort chip (shows the current sort, e.g. "Newest first") in the filter row to open the sort picker. Available options:

Newest first
Oldest first
Name A → Z
Name Z → A
Price: High → Low
Price: Low → High
Your sort preference is saved automatically and remembered across app restarts.

Categories & Tags

Categories

Categories are the primary way to organise your items. Each item can have one category.

1

Go to the Categories tab to create, edit, or delete categories.

2

Each category has a name, icon, and colour.

3

Assign a category when adding or editing an item.

Free accounts can have up to 5 categories. Pro accounts have unlimited categories.

Tags

Tags are flexible labels — an item can have multiple tags. Great for cross-cutting concerns like "fragile", "insured", or "garage".

When the AI scans an item, it suggests tags based on the item's secondary categories. You can accept, reject, or add your own.

Lending

Track items you've lent to other people. The item stays in your inventory but is marked as lent.

Lend an item

1

Open the item's detail page.

2

Tap Lend.

3

Enter the borrower's name (required), optional email, optional return-by date, and any notes.

4

Tap Lend Item. The item now shows an amber "Lent to [name]" badge in your inventory.

If the borrower has a Shelfed account, enter their email to link the loan to their account — the item will appear in their inventory as "Borrowed".

Mark as returned

1

Open the lent item's detail page.

2

Tap Mark as Returned. The badge disappears and the loan is recorded in history.

Overdue loans

When a loan passes its return-by date and hasn't been returned, the loan section turns red and shows reminder options:

Tomorrow

Snooze 1 day

In 3 days

Snooze 3 days

Pick a date

Update due date

"Pick a date" updates the due date in the database and reschedules the full notification cycle.

Household Sharing Pro

Share your inventory with family members or housemates. Everyone in a household sees all items — great for tracking shared possessions.

Invite someone to your household

1

Go to Settings → Households.

2

Tap Invite Member. An invite link is generated and copied to your clipboard.

3

Share the link via any messaging app.

4

The recipient opens the link, taps Open in Shelfed, and is added to your household automatically.

The recipient needs a Shelfed account (free is fine) before accepting the invite.

Switching between households

If you belong to more than one household, a household picker appears at the top of the Items screen.

1

Tap the household name chip to open the picker.

2

Select a household. The items list updates immediately to show that household's inventory.

Your selected household is remembered across app restarts.

Leaving a household

Go to Settings → Households, find the household under "Member of", and tap Leave. Your items stay in your own household.

Dashboard

The Dashboard tab gives you a visual overview of your inventory. Sections include:

Summary Cards

Total items, total value, items with warranties, and items currently lent out.

Expiring Warranties

Items whose warranty expires within 30 days, colour-coded by urgency.

Category Breakdown

A visual breakdown of your items by category.

Tag Cloud

Your most-used tags, sized by frequency.

Price Distribution

A histogram of item values across your inventory.

Notifications

Warranty reminders

When you add a warranty end date to an item, Shelfed schedules automatic reminders:

30 days before expiry
7 days before expiry
1 day before expiry
Enable warranty notifications in Settings → Notifications.

Loan reminders

When you lend an item with a return-by date, reminders are scheduled at:

3 days before due date
1 day before due date
On the due date

If the item is still not returned after the due date, you can snooze the reminder from the item detail page.

Settings

Appearance

Choose between Light, Dark, or System (follows your device setting). Your preference is saved and applied on every launch.

Export Pro

PDF Report — a full inventory list formatted for insurance claims.
CSV Export — spreadsheet-ready data for all your items.

Households Pro to create/invite

Manage your household memberships. Rename your household, invite members, remove members, or leave households you've joined. See the Household Sharing section for full details.

Account

View your email address and sign out. To delete your account, contact support.

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