Help

Create an account

ShelfMapper is a website. Open it in a browser, then choose Get started or Log in.

• Email. On the sign-up form, enter an email, a password of at least 8 characters, and the same password again. Check the box to agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, then choose Create Account. Confirm the address from the message in your inbox before you sign in.
• Google. Choose Continue with Google and pick the Google account you want to use.

The link under the form switches between Log in and Sign up. After you sign in, the letter button at the top right opens your account menu. Choose Logout there when you are done.

If the Terms or Privacy Policy change, ShelfMapper asks you to read and accept the new versions before you continue. Sign out on that dialog leaves you logged out.

Scan Shelf and Library Map

Signed-in work happens in two places, switched from the top bar:

• Scan Shelf is where you add a photo, correct the books ShelfMapper finds, and save the shelf.
• Library Map is the canvas of shelves you have already saved. Search, arrange, and edit books here.

The first time you sign in during a visit, an empty library opens on Scan Shelf. If you already have shelves, it opens on Library Map.

The ring next to your account shows how many scans you have used in the current 15-minute window, for example 2/10 scans. Open the account menu to see how many scans are still left.

Photograph a shelf

A useful photo is one shelf, shot straight on, with the spines facing the camera. The scan step lists the same checks:

• Good light. Natural or overhead light. Avoid harsh shadows and glare on the spines.
• Head-on angle. Stand in front of the shelf. A strong side angle makes titles harder to read.
• One shelf at a time. A photo of several rows is less accurate. Scan each shelf on its own.

The question-mark button beside the step title opens a short note for that step. Click outside it, or press Esc, to close it.

Add the photo

On a computer, click the upload area or drag an image onto it. On a phone, choose Take photo or Choose from library. Photos can be JPG, PNG, or WebP, up to 10 MB. ShelfMapper starts reading spines as soon as the image loads. That read counts as one scan.

Several photos at once Premium Select multiple images in the file picker. ShelfMapper scans the first, and after you save it, loads the next. Free accounts scan one photo at a time. Choosing more than one opens the upgrade dialog and keeps only the first image.

Look closer before you save

• Use the Zoom slider (up to 4×) and Reset to return to the full photo. Drag the photo to pan while you are zoomed in.
• Click a highlighted spine on the photo to jump to that book in the list.
• Crop & re-scan opens a crop box. Drag a rectangle around the shelf, then choose Crop & Re-scan. The crop has to be large enough to be a real region. Cropping runs another scan. Cancel leaves the original photo in place.

Review detected books

After a photo loads, the step changes to Review detected spines. Each book is a card with a crop of that spine, a title, and an author. The number on the card matches the outline on the photo.

A Check this badge means the read is blank, labeled “unlabeled spine,” or low confidence. Edit the title, search the catalog, or skip the card. An OCR line appears when the raw text differs from the title you see, so you can compare them.

• Title and author. Type corrections directly. Changing a confirmed title clears the catalog match until you confirm again.
• Search Book. Looks the title up in Google Books. Apply the result you want. Each lookup counts toward your book-search limit.
• Use best match. Appears when ShelfMapper already has a suggested catalog hit. One click applies that title, author, and cover.
• Match remaining. Searches Google Books for every spine you have not confirmed yet, and applies high-confidence matches. If nothing is confident, edit the titles and search those cards yourself.
• Skip. Removes that spine from this shelf. If you later rescan the same shelf, skipped titles stay skipped.
• Skip Unlabeled. Removes every card whose title is empty or “unlabeled spine.”
• Add spine. Use this when a book was missed. The button switches to Cancel add, and the photo cursor becomes a crosshair. Drag a box around the spine. Press Esc or Cancel add to leave drawing mode. You need a photo loaded before you can add a spine.
• Adjust an outline. Select a spine, then drag the white handles on its corners so the box sits on that book.
• Hide shelf photo collapses the picture so you can work through the list. Show shelf photo brings it back. Clicking a thumbnail zooms the photo to that spine.

If the list says no spines were detected, use Add spine to draw the books yourself, or crop and scan again.

Save a shelf

Save shelf stays off until at least one book remains. The button shows the count, for example Save shelf (24).

Choose it, then name the shelf. Leave the name blank to keep Untitled Shelf. Cancel returns you to the review without saving. A successful save stores the photo and the books, then opens that shelf on the library map. If more photos are waiting in a Premium batch, the next photo loads instead.

Saving the same photo again updates that shelf rather than creating a second copy. A rescan does the same: it replaces the books on that shelf with the list you just reviewed. Titles you skipped stay on the skipped list for that shelf.

The Your shelves list on the left of Scan Shelf shows shelves you have already saved. While a save is in progress the button reads Saving Shelf & Books.... If the shelf is stored but the books fail, save again to retry the books.

Use the library map

Library Map is a canvas. Drag empty space to move around. Scroll, or pinch on a touch screen, to zoom. The controls in the corner do the same jobs:

• − and + zoom out and in.
• Fit frames every visible shelf.
• Arrange changes what a drag does. Off, dragging pans the map and a tap selects a book. On, dragging moves a shelf, and the handle at the corner of the photo resizes it. The hint bar states which mode you are in. Got it dismisses the hint.

An empty map offers Scan your first shelf, which returns you to Scan Shelf.

Click the map so it has keyboard focus, then:

• ← → ↑ ↓ pan. Hold Shift for a smaller step.
• + and − zoom.
• F or 0 fits every shelf.
• Esc clears the selected book.

With Arrange on, click a shelf card and use the arrow keys to nudge it. Hold Shift to move one pixel at a time. Enter renames that shelf. Shelf positions save while you are online.

On a phone, My Library is a sheet over the map. Tap the heading to open or close the book list. Choosing a book closes the sheet and zooms to it.

Find and edit a book

The My Library list sits beside the map. Type in Filter books by title or author to narrow it. Click a row, or press Enter or Space while it is focused, to zoom the map to that book.

Select a book on the shelf photo to open its card. The card shows the title and cover when one is saved.

• Settings opens book settings. You can also use the gear on the library row.
• Save title writes a new title. The title cannot be blank.
• Search Google Books looks up a catalog record and applies the one you choose, including its cover.
• Custom cover Premium Paste a cover URL or upload an image, then Save cover.
• Delete removes that book after you confirm. Deleting a book does not delete the shelf photo.

With a book selected on the map, drag the white handles to reshape its outline on the shelf photo.

Rename, rescan, and delete shelves

Each shelf card on the map has three actions:

• Re-run OCR scan opens Scan Shelf with that photo and a fresh read. Titles you skipped before are left out. Confirm Re-scan to spend a scan. Saving afterward replaces the books on that shelf.
• Rename asks for a new name. Enter on a focused shelf card does the same thing while Arrange is on.
• Delete removes the shelf and every book on it after you confirm.

Shelves in the map controls opens Manage Shelves, a list with Rename and Delete for each shelf. Close it with the ×, Esc, or a click outside the dialog. Shelf management needs a connection.

Premium accounts also get a room menu on each shelf card. Pick a room to move that shelf into it.

Rooms Premium

Rooms group shelves, for example Living room or Office. On the library sidebar:

• The room menu filters the map. All rooms shows every shelf.
• New room (the + button) asks for a name and then filters the map to that room.

Assign a shelf from the menu on its map card. Free accounts see All rooms and Default room. Choosing New room on a Free account opens the upgrade dialog.

Share a read-only link Premium

The share button on the library sidebar opens Share library (read-only).

1. Optional: filter to one room first. A link created while a room is selected includes only the shelves in that room. All rooms shares the whole library.
2. Choose Create share link. ShelfMapper copies the link.
3. Copy copies it again. Revoke turns that link off. Revoked links no longer open.

Anyone with a working link can open a read-only map and a list of titles and authors. They cannot scan, edit, or see your account. A bad or revoked link shows an error instead of your library.

Export your library

The download button on the library sidebar opens Export CSV and Export JSON. Either file includes each book’s title, author, shelf, cover, and the date it was added. The download is named shelfmapper-export.csv or shelfmapper-export.json. Export is available on Free and Premium.

Plans, scans, and billing

Limits reset on a timer. Scans use a 15-minute window. Book searches use a one-minute window. Pricing lists the current plans.

• Free. 10 scans per 15 minutes, 60 book searches per minute, one photo at a time, and the basic scan and map tools.
• Premium. $5 per month or $50 per year, with a 7-day free trial. 60 scans per 15 minutes, 300 book searches per minute, batch photos, rooms, read-only share links, and custom covers.

Open the account menu and choose Start 7-day trial or Upgrade to Premium. Pick monthly or annual. Checkout runs in Stripe. After you subscribe, Manage billing opens the Stripe portal, where you can change the plan, update a card, or cancel. Canceling returns you to Free. You can also open Stripe from Account details.

The account menu badge shows Free, Premium, or Trial with the days left. Shortly before a Premium renewal, a banner names the date and amount. Manage billing on that banner opens Stripe. × hides that notice.

Account details lists plan, billing interval, status, scans remaining, searches remaining, and your counts of books, shelves, and rooms.

Account settings

Everything below is in the account menu, under the letter button.

• Account details. Plan, usage, and library totals. Change plan in Stripe or Manage plan in Stripe continues in the billing portal. Email address and Delete account are at the bottom of this panel. Email-and-password accounts can enter a new address and choose Send confirmation. The new address is used after you confirm it from your inbox. Resend confirmation email sends that message again. If you only sign in with Google, change the email with Google. Deleting permanently removes your account, library, shelves, and photos, and cancels an active Premium plan so you are not billed again. Type DELETE to confirm. This cannot be undone. Account details need a connection.
• Support. Opens the support form.
• Help. Opens this page.
• Logout. Signs you out on this browser.

Offline use and installing

If the connection drops, a banner says library browsing is available and scanning and edits are disabled. ShelfMapper keeps the last library you loaded on this device, including covers. Shelf photos are cached too: the first two on Free, and every shelf photo on Premium. Rename, delete, scan, search, share, and billing all wait until you are back online.

When the browser can install ShelfMapper, an Install button appears in the top bar. On iPhone or iPad, use Share, then Add to Home Screen. The installed site opens like an app and still needs a connection for scans and edits.

When a scan looks wrong

• Glare, blur, or several rows in one photo. Retake it with one shelf, straight on, in even light. Or use Crop & re-scan to keep only the row you want.
• A spine was missed. Choose Add spine and draw a box around it.
• A title is garbled. Edit it, then Search Book. Match remaining only applies matches it is confident about.
• Too many junk cards. Skip the bad ones, or Skip Unlabeled to clear empty reads in one step.
• Scan limit reached. The nav counter is full for this 15-minute window. Wait for it to reset, or upgrade for a higher cap.
• Book search limit reached. Searches reset about once a minute. Premium raises the cap.
• A Premium button is locked. Rooms, sharing, custom covers, and multi-photo scans open the upgrade dialog on Free.

If something still fails, send a note from Support. Include whether it is billing, scanning, your account, or a bug, and what you expected to happen.