[Mac] Support Dock Icon Context menu: Opening a specific vault via the Dock menu opens all previously closed vaults

Bug reports
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1

Steps to reproduce

  1. On macOS, open multiple Obsidian vaults.
  2. Quit Obsidian using Cmd + Q.
  3. Right-click the Obsidian icon in the Dock.
  4. Select a specific vault to open from the context menu.

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Y

Expected result

Only the selected vault should open. The application should not restore all previously closed vaults.

Actual result

Instead of opening only the selected vault, the application re-opens all the vaults that were previously closed.

Environment

I suspect this bug only happens when using multiple vaults, so I didn’t use the Sandbox vault.


SYSTEM INFO:
	Obsidian version: v1.11.1
	Installer version: v1.10.6
	Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 25.1.0: Mon Oct 20 19:26:04 PDT 2025; root:xnu-12377.41.6~2/RELEASE_ARM64_T8122 25.1.0
	Login status: logged in
	Language: en
	Catalyst license: insider
	Insider build toggle: on
	Live preview: on
	Base theme: adapt to system
	Community theme: none
	Snippets enabled: 1
	Restricted mode: off
	Plugins installed: 28
	Plugins enabled: 22
		1: Templater v2.16.2
		2: Style Settings v1.0.9
		3: Link Embed v2.9.2
		4: Iconic v1.1.4
		5: Folder notes v1.8.17
		6: Table of Contents v0.2.0
		7: Custom Node Size v1.0.0
		8: Dynamic Outline v1.19.0
		9: Commander v0.5.4
		10: Slash Commander v0.3.7
		11: Open Plugin Settings v1.3.5
		12: Callout menu v1.2.3
		13: Callout Manager v1.1.0
		14: Hide Sidebars on Window Resize v1.1.0
		15: Advanced Canvas v5.5.0
		16: Tasks v7.21.0
		17: Latex Suite v1.9.8
		18: Outliner v4.9.0
		19: Image Converter v1.3.15
		20: Linter v1.30.0
		21: AnyBlock v3.3.2
		22: Callout Suggestions v1.0.2

RECOMMENDATIONS:
	Custom theme and snippets: for cosmetic issues, please first try updating your theme and disabling your snippets. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community theme and snippets.
	Community plugins: for bugs, please first try updating all your plugins to latest. If still not fixed, please try to make the issue happen in the Sandbox Vault or disable community plugins.

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Additional information

As shown in the GIF, the “UIBE” vault was not successfully opened. Instead, other vaults were opened.

Untitled design-3

[FR]: By the way, it would be great to add a Manage Vaults option to the context menu when right-clicking the Obsidian icon in the Dock. Please let me know if I should file this as a separate Feature Request.

2

Even without using the dock icon’s right-click menu, if you fully quit Obsidian on macOS with (say) five vaults open, it’s going to open those five vaults again. Obsidian has always behaved this way on macOS.

I sometimes use that menu to switch between open vaults but usually use Cmd + ~ to cycle open vaults/windows.

1 Like
3

Thanks for the reply!

I’ve been using this feature for a long time as well, but it can be extremely misleading sometimes. I finally reached my limit with it yesterday, which is why I opened this issue.

The core problem is that this behavior is inconsistent with the right-click menu of native macOS apps (like Finder or Preview).

For example, if you right-click Finder or Preview in the Dock and select a file, it opens only that specific folder or PDF.

However, the Obsidian icon doesn’t function this way. Therefore, I still believe that the behavior described in the issue is a bug.

1 Like
4

Understood, and I don’t disagree it’s different behavior from other apps.

Once Obsidian is fully open (with however many vaults open), clicking in the recent vaults list works as expected – or at least used to, will try again when I get home – it’s just on cold startup where we see this. My feeling is it’s an Electron oddity.

Let’s see what the team thinks.

5

Thanks for the BR. This list is made by the MacOS and we have so far not looked if it’s even possible to manage it.
I will leave this BR open but this is more a FR than bug at this point.

2 Likes