The right-click menu

Which items appear when

The menu is the same in all four designs. The card’s own buttons (Unlock, Lock, Open, the gear) cover the everyday actions.

Why most items need a locked vault

Renaming, resizing, compacting, verifying and changing the password all rewrite or inspect the encrypted file itself. Apple’s disk-image tools, which Doghouse uses for Standard Vaults, only allow that while the image is not mounted, so Doghouse only offers those items while the vault is locked. The two things you can only do while it is unlocked, Vault Settings and Second Password, work on the open vault.

If a vault changes state between opening the menu and clicking, you get a plain message: “Lock “Name” first, then change its password.”, “Lock “Name” first, then rename it.” or “Lock “Name” first, then change its iCloud setting.” Click Lock and try again.

Reveal Vault File in Finder

Opens a Finder window with the vault file selected: Name.sparsebundle or Name.nosync for a Standard Vault, Name.pocketvault or Name.nosync for a Pocket Vault. This is the thing to copy if you want a backup of a locked vault. If the file is missing, the “not in that location” or “Waiting for disk” alert appears instead.

Rename…

The sheet is titled “Rename “Name”” and, for a Standard Vault, “Renames the vault file and the folder shown in Finder”. Type the New name (no “/” or “:”) and the Password, which is pre-filled from your Keychain after Touch ID if the vault requires it. Doghouse mounts the vault invisibly, renames the volume, locks it again and renames the file. A Pocket Vault only carries its name in the file name, so no password is asked.

If another vault file with the new name is already in that folder, you get “A vault named “Name” already exists in that folder.”

Change Password…

Asks for the current password, the new one twice, and an optional hint. Has its own page: change a vault’s password.

Change Size Limit…

Standard Vaults only. The sheet says what the vault “can currently grow up to” and how much the files inside use: “Files inside currently use 3.2 GB — the limit can be raised anytime, or lowered down to that amount.” Enter the new limit with the MB/GB switch, type the password and click Resize. The button stays off until you actually change the number.

The field won’t let you go below what the files use. If the resize still fails for that reason, Doghouse explains: “The new limit is smaller than the space the files inside currently use. Delete files first (and reclaim free space), or choose a larger limit.”

Reclaim Free Space…

Standard Vaults only. “Shrinks the vault file on disk after files were deleted inside.” A sparse bundle grows as you add files but does not shrink by itself when you delete them. Type the password and click Reclaim; Doghouse runs Apple’s compact operation on the image and updates the size on the card.

APFS images don’t always give back much this way. If the file stays far larger than its contents, the reliable fix is to create a new vault with a fresh limit, copy the files across while both are unlocked, and trash the old one.

Verify Vault…

For a Standard Vault: “The vault is opened invisibly, its filesystem is checked, and it is locked again. Nothing inside is changed. Useful before making a backup copy.” For a Pocket Vault: “The vault is decrypted in memory, every item is checked, and nothing is shown or changed.” Type the password and click Verify.

Results: “Vault is healthy — filesystem check passed.” or “Vault is healthy — every item decrypted and checked.” in green; “Wrong password.” or a “Verification reported problems” message in orange. If problems are reported, unlock the vault, copy your files out to a new vault and trash the damaged one.

Keep out of iCloud

A toggle with a tick when on. Turning it on renames Name.sparsebundle (or .pocketvault) to Name.nosync and sets the file-provider ignore attribute; turning it off reverses that. iCloud Drive then uploads or stops uploading the file accordingly. Only possible while locked, because renaming a mounted image is not. See what Keep out of iCloud does.

Remove from List (keep file)

Takes the vault out of Doghouse without touching the file. The confirmation reads: “The encrypted vault file stays on disk, but its saved password is removed from your Keychain — you’ll need to type the password to open it again. Bring it back anytime with “Add Existing Vault…”.” If the vault requires Touch ID, you authenticate first.

Useful when you want a vault off this Mac’s list but intend to keep the file, for example before handing the Mac to someone else. Removing frees the free version’s single slot.

Move Vault to Trash…

Deletes the vault and everything inside it. The sheet explains: “The vault and everything inside it will be moved to the Trash — recoverable until the Trash is emptied, and encrypted the whole time. Its saved password is removed from your Keychain.” You must type the Vault password (pre-filled from the Keychain after Touch ID, if required) and click Move to Trash. A wrong password shows “Wrong password — the vault was not deleted.”

An unlocked vault is locked first; if that fails because a file is in use, nothing is deleted. If the vault file is already missing, the item simply removes the entry from the list.

Items for an unlocked vault

• Vault Settings… — the same sheet as the gear button on the card. See Vault Settings.
• Second Password… — Pocket Vaults only. See the second password.

Touch ID and the menu

If a vault requires Touch ID, every sheet that needs its password pre-fills the field only after you authenticate; the prompt names the action, for example “change the password of the vault “Name””. If you cancel, the field stays empty and you can still type the password. Remove from List asks for Touch ID even though it needs no password.

The menu bar panel’s menu

Right-clicking a vault row in the compact menu bar panel shows a shorter menu: Reveal Vault File in Finder, Locate Vault… when the file is missing, and More in Doghouse…, which opens the main window where the full menu is.