Making Keys

A key holds a door or group of doors and can be assigned to one or more people, giving them access to all the doors in that Key. Property management can also apply certain settings to keys, such as Key Schedules. When you make a change to a key, the changes will apply to everyone with that Key. 

Here are the steps to create a key:

1. In Latch Mission Control, navigate to 'Access' > 'Keys.'

2. On the right-hand side, select 'Actions' and choose 'Make Key' and add a name for your key. For example, you might name your key '101,' 'All Parking Gates,' 'Resident Amenity Key,' 'Property Management Amenity Key,' or 'Building Entrances.'

3. Unless you're creating an Elevator, ensure 'Door' is selected under Type. From there, go to 'Doors' and tap 'Select Doors.' 

4. Choose the door or door you'd like to include in the key. Choose whether you'd like to enable doorcodes for each door you add. Enabling doorcodes will provide the users who have access to this key with a unique doorcode to open this door. You may also put a Key Schedule in place, which will determine the hours when users assigned this key may perform an unlock at that door. For example, if you add a schedule to the 'Pool Door' for Monday-Friday 9 AM to 5 PM, users assigned this key will only be able to use their Latch App to open the 'Pool Door' during those times. 

5. Once complete, choose 'Select Doors' and, on the next screen, choose 'Make Key.' 

6. Your key is now created, to assign it to a user - follow the steps in this article.

Strategies for setting up your Keys

When setting up your Keys, consider creating the fewest number of Keys possible. This will make it easier to manage everyone's access. Ask yourself which groups of people need to unlock the same set of doors during the same hours and which groups may share the same set of doors.

Example: Keys for a residential complex

1800 Main St is a property with 200 apartments and 20 amenities with different types of people who need access: 

• Vendors that work only during business hours, may generally only access entrances, some amenities and all service areas. They must not be able to share their key with guests. 
• Employees that only work during business hours but must access certain show apartments as well as the amenities and offices.
• Other employees, such as the maintenance team, must be able to access all entry doors, service spaces and amenities 24/7. 
• Generally, employees should not share their key with guests.
• Residents that must be able to access all entry doors and their apartment 24/7, but only access amenities during certain hours. Additionally, residents may have guests but must escort them to amenities. 

Keys:

• Apartment Keys for each of the 200 units, such as "Unit 205C", given to each of their respective resident leaseholders with 'May share Key' turned on. 
• "Amenities" Key with all amenity doors given to residents with 'May share Key' turned off
• "Employee All Access 24/7" Key with all doors, except for occupied apartments, given to employees that need to access the entire building 24/7, with 'May share key' turned off.  
• "Employee Business hours" Key with all doors, except occupied apartments, with door schedules set to 8:00 am to 6:00 pm and given with 'May share Key' turned off. 
• "Residences" Key with all entry doors given to residents with 'May share Key' turned on. 
• "Tour" Key with all unoccupied apartment doors, given to all employees when giving a tour with 'May share Key' turned on so they can demo functionality to prospective residents. 
• "Vendors" Key with all the entrances, service spaces, and amenities, each with 8:00 am to 6:00 pm door schedules and given with 'May share Key' turned off.