Doghouse
Open (⌘ ,). Vaults lock themselves after 15 minutes by default, when the screen locks, when the Mac sleeps and when Doghouse quits. The panic shortcut, ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ L by default, locks every vault at once from any app. Locking is never forced: a vault with a file in use stays open and is retried.
On this page
Where the settings are
All of these apply to every vault and live in Settings: choose in the menu bar at the top of the screen, press ⌘ ,, or click the gear in the menu bar panel. The sheet’s subtitle says “Applies to all vaults”. Per-vault options are in Vault Settings.
Lock vaults automatically
Lock vaults automatically is on by default, After 15 minutes. The choices are 1, 5, 15 or 30 minutes and 1 hour. Doghouse checks once a minute and locks any vault that has been idle longer than that.
“Idle” is measured from the last time you used the vault through Doghouse: unlocking it, clicking Open (or the folder button in the menu bar), adding files with the Finder service, or editing items in a Pocket Vault window. Working on files inside a Standard Vault in another app does not reset the timer; when the timer runs out and such a file is still open, the lock fails quietly and Doghouse tries again a minute later. As Settings puts it: “A vault with files still open is never interrupted — Doghouse simply tries again later. Opening a vault from the app resets its timer.”
Lock when the screen locks, the Mac sleeps or Doghouse quits
Three switches, all on by default:
- Lock when the screen locks — when the screen saver with a password kicks in, you lock the screen (⌃ ⌘ Q) or close the lid.
- Lock when the Mac goes to sleep — as the Mac is about to sleep.
- Lock all vaults when quitting Doghouse — Quit waits until every vault is locked, then exits.
The note under them applies to all three: “Locking is always graceful: a vault with files in use stays open rather than risking your data.”
The panic shortcut
Panic shortcut: lock everything instantly is on by default with ⌃ ⌥ ⌘ L. Press it in any app and every unlocked vault locks at once, Standard and Pocket, with no dialog. “Works system-wide, even while another app is in front.” It uses the system’s global hot-key mechanism and needs no Accessibility permission.
To change the key: click the Shortcut button (it shows the current combination), then press the new one. It must include ⌘, ⌃ or ⌥; Shift alone is not enough. Press Esc to cancel recording. Pick something you won’t hit by accident but can find without looking.
Why a lock can be refused
Doghouse never force-ejects a Standard Vault. If a document inside is open in Preview, Word, a code editor or any other app, macOS reports that the volume is in use and the vault stays unlocked. A manual Lock shows “Could not lock vault — a file inside may still be open”; automatic, sleep, screen-lock, quit and panic locks are silent and retried. Close the document, or quit the app, and lock again. A Pocket Vault locks by saving and closing its window; a manual lock that cannot save keeps the window open and tells you why, while automatic locks close it regardless so nothing stays readable.
Lock All
Whenever anything is unlocked, a Lock All button appears at the top of the main window and in the menu bar panel; the plain menu bar menu always has the item. It locks each open vault in turn, with the same graceful rule.
Doghouse keeps running
Closing the main window does not quit Doghouse. The app stays in the menu bar so that auto-lock, the sleep and screen-lock triggers, the panic shortcut and the Finder service keep working. To quit, choose , press ⌘ Q, or use the power button in the menu bar panel. If you hide the Dock icon, the menu bar icon is kept on so the app is always reachable; see the menu bar and app settings.