FAQ

Short answers to common questions, grouped by area. Each one links to the guide that covers it in full - start here, then follow the link if you need the detail. Exact on-screen messages are collected in Error messages at the bottom.

Connecting platforms

Who can connect a platform? Connecting is admin-only, so if you don’t see the + button on a platform card, you’re not an admin. See Connecting Platforms.

What do I need to connect Facebook or Instagram? For Facebook you need a Page you administer; for Instagram you need a Business (Professional) account linked to a Facebook Page - a separate “Meta Business account” isn’t required. See Facebook and Instagram.

Can I connect more than one account per platform? Yes for the social platforms (LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube). HubSpot, Mailchimp and Google Analytics allow one account each - disconnect the current one before connecting a different account. See Connecting Platforms.

Why do my accounts need reconnecting from time to time? The access a platform grants HIVE runs out after a while. It also stops working if the account’s password changes or someone removes HIVE’s access on the platform’s side. See Connecting Platforms.

Where do I reconnect an account? On the Connect Platforms page - open the account and choose Re-authenticate Account. (Some messages say “in Settings”, but the controls live on Connect Platforms.) See Connecting Platforms.

What happens if I disconnect YouTube? Disconnecting YouTube permanently deletes its analytics and the link between your past posts and the channel; your post content stays in your archive. It doesn’t affect other Google services such as Google Analytics. The access you authorised on your Google Account stays in place until you remove HIVE on your Google Account permissions page - and removing it there applies to your entire authorisation, ending every HIVE connection that uses that Google account. A video you’d already scheduled still publishes on YouTube at its time, and HIVE can no longer cancel it - stop it in YouTube Studio. A video HIVE was still sending to YouTube (its post shows Publishing) stops, and that post is marked Failed. See YouTube.

I have the Risk & Reputation add-on but no alerts are arriving. If the add-on was switched on recently, monitoring doesn’t run until an admin has chosen what to monitor - until then the screen reads Set up your risk and reputation monitoring, and no alerts of any kind are produced, though your Unified Inbox keeps receiving comments and mentions as normal. If monitoring is set up, check your Ignore list: an Ignore term normally applies to the search for your company name as well. See Choosing what we watch for.

How do I stop a scheduled YouTube video without deleting it? Open the post and choose Cancel schedule. The video stays on YouTube as private and never publishes. Delete would destroy the upload instead, permanently. Cancel schedule only appears once YouTube has the whole video, so not while the post still shows Publishing. See Cancelling a scheduled YouTube post.

Why is Cancel schedule greyed out? You’re within two minutes of the publish time, or past it. That close HIVE can’t be sure YouTube hasn’t already made the video public, and cancelling one that’s gone live would take it down. Hover it for the reason, and use YouTube Studio inside that window. See Cancelling a scheduled YouTube post.

My YouTube post says Scheduled but won’t let me edit it - why? A scheduled YouTube video is already uploaded to YouTube and held private until its time, so its title and caption are no longer HIVE’s to change. Edit them in YouTube Studio. See Tracking your posts.

Why does my YouTube post say Publishing? HIVE sends videos to YouTube in the background, so publishing or scheduling doesn’t wait for YouTube. The post shows Publishing until YouTube has the whole video, which can take hours for a large one, and then Published, or Scheduled if you gave it a publish time. If YouTube can’t take the video, the post is marked Failed and you get a post-failure email. See How YouTube receives your video.

Why does my YouTube post have no link to open? Because there’s nothing public to open yet. A scheduled, cancelled, private or unlisted video has no public page, so HIVE shows a chip explaining where it stands instead of a link, and hides the engagement figures. A post that still shows Publishing has no link yet either, because YouTube is still receiving the video. See Tracking your posts.

I unchecked a Page in Meta’s screen and it affected another account - why? Meta grants one set of permissions per account, so removing a Page there revokes HIVE’s access to it everywhere it’s used, including other customers’ accounts. See Facebook.

Analytics

Why are my HubSpot email analytics empty? Two different reasons: either your HubSpot portal isn’t on Marketing Hub Professional or Enterprise (a tier limit), or the tier is fine but no marketing emails were sent in the dates you chose (“No campaigns found”). See Analytics and HubSpot.

Why does the Mailchimp activity chart only go back 180 days? Mailchimp’s activity data is capped at 180 days, so the opens/clicks/sends chart can’t go further back. Your campaign list still covers the full window you select (up to two years). See Mailchimp.

Why is YouTube shown in its own section? Under YouTube’s policies its figures aren’t mixed into cross-platform totals, so HIVE reports YouTube separately. See YouTube.

Why are my Facebook reach and engagement figures empty? The Page’s connection doesn’t include access to Page statistics, so Facebook doesn’t report those figures. Reconnect the Page, approving everything HIVE asks for, and they start arriving. Your follower count is unaffected either way. See Connect Facebook.

What counts towards Total Reach? Reach across your Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok accounts over the selected dates. Google Analytics is not included - website visitors have their own figures on the Web tab. YouTube is deliberately excluded. See Analytics.

Why does Engagement Rate show “N/A”? Nothing in that period could produce a rate. A channel needs both interactions and reach in the window before it has one, and the headline needs at least one channel that does - so a newly connected account, or a quiet period, will show N/A rather than a misleading 0%. If every other card has numbers and this one doesn’t, try reloading. See Analytics.

Why does Audience Growth show a shorter date span than I chose? The account has less follower history than the window you picked, so the change is worked out only over the span actually covered - and labelled with those real dates. See Analytics.

Why can’t I choose a date range longer than two years? Analytics are limited to a 730-day (roughly two-year) window. See Analytics.

Why does my YouTube subscriber count say “Hidden”? The channel has hidden its subscriber count, so YouTube doesn’t return the number. See YouTube.

Why is LinkedIn labelled “Impressions” when Facebook and Instagram say “Reach”? Each network measures differently, so HIVE labels every tile with its real metric instead of forcing one word. See Analytics.

Where do I find my KPIs in Analytics? On the Measures tab, which shows your Success Measures. See Success Measures.

Why does a Success Measure say “No data” instead of 0? Because they aren’t the same answer - HIVE won’t report a zero it can’t stand behind. The card says what’s missing instead, whether that’s no activity in the period, a channel still collecting its history, or a manual measure waiting on a value. See Success Measures.

Can I still change a measure after its period ends? For about nine days, yes. After that HIVE finalises it and the card becomes read-only, so the record of what happened stays put. See Success Measures.

What’s the dashed ”… connected” line on the growth chart? It marks the day an account first appears in the data; that day’s “new followers” bar is left blank so the initial jump isn’t counted as growth. See Analytics.

Features

Why did the caption limit drop when I added another network? The limit follows the strictest platform you’ve selected - Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn are 500 characters, TikTok 2,200 on a Reel and 4,000 on a Post, YouTube 5,000. See Social publishing.

How many images or videos can I add to a post? Up to 10 images per post, as JPG, JPEG, PNG or GIF; Reels and Stories take a single image or video, so a new pick replaces the last. A TikTok photo post takes the same 10. See Social publishing.

How large can a video be? It depends on the platform. An MP4, MOV or WebM video can be up to 256 GB for YouTube, 4 GB for TikTok and 1 GB for Facebook (a limit HIVE sets), 500 MB for LinkedIn, which takes MP4 only, and 300 MB for Instagram, or 100 MB for a Story. Other video files upload when you save or publish, and are limited to 512 MB. Each platform has length limits too, and HIVE checks them all before you publish. See Video limits by platform.

Can I post photos to TikTok? Yes - select TikTok, pick Post rather than Reel, and your images publish as a TikTok photo post. TikTok starts on Reel whenever you change your channels, so pick Post last. See Photo posts.

My scheduled post failed - will HIVE try again? No. A failed post is left as failed (not retried) so you can fix it and publish it again. See Planning.

Does a KPI need a linked brief? The structured KPI goals on a planning card do - the card must be linked to a strategic brief first. The free-text KPI Goal box on an announcement or event doesn’t need a brief. See Planning.

Is Crisis Response the paid add-on? No - Crisis Response is a standard feature for any Editor. The paid add-on on that page is Risk & Reputation, which unlocks the live monitoring dashboard. See Crisis Response.

Are announcements emailed to recipients? No - announcements appear in the app only; they aren’t sent by email. See Announcements.

What do surveys record about respondents? Their email address and the time they responded - not their IP address. See Surveys.

I shared a newsletter and it said it was successful - why didn’t everyone receive it? The confirmation means the send was accepted; individual addresses can still fail (for example a bad address or an oversized attachment). See Newsletters.

Why did my shared document arrive with no attachment? The attachments came to more than about 38 MB in total, so that email was sent without them. See Document Hub.

What files can I upload to the Document Hub? PDF, Word and Excel files, up to 20 MB each. See Document Hub.

Why can’t I reply in the Unified Inbox? Replies are sent from a connected account, so if there’s no connected account for that platform you’ll be prompted to connect one first. See Unified inbox.

Why is a comment still in the Inbox after we replied? Every reply goes out and shows in the thread, but only some replies archive the comment, and your company’s Inbox settings decide which. By default a reply from any of your connected accounts on that platform does. If an admin has chosen Only the account that received the comment, a reply sent as another of your accounts leaves the comment in the Inbox. A comment also comes back when someone else replies after you. Anyone can open Inbox settings to see the choice, and only an admin can change it. You can always archive the comment yourself. See Inbox settings.

Why did a comment I archived come back? Someone replied to it after you archived it. Archive hides a comment until there’s a new reply, though a reply that would archive the comment under your company’s Inbox settings doesn’t bring it back. Archive it again to hide it until the next reply. See Archiving and retention.

Why did my reply post under the top comment instead of the one I clicked? Every platform allows only one level of replies, so HIVE attaches your reply to the top comment of the thread. On YouTube and Instagram it adds an @mention to the person you’re answering, unless the reply you’re answering came from one of your own connected accounts; on Facebook and LinkedIn it shows a Replying to note instead. See Replying from the post.

Why did some rows fail when I imported contacts from a CSV? Each row is checked on its own. Only a name and an email are required - a row missing either, one whose email address isn’t usable, or one whose email already belongs to a contact is skipped while the rest import, and HIVE lists each failed row by its row number with the reason. Department and job title are optional. See Importing contacts from a CSV file.

Why won’t HIVE let me publish a post I sent for approval? It’s waiting for an approver, and while it is, only an approval can release it - HIVE tells you who it’s waiting for and adds “You can cancel the request if you want to publish it yourself.” Either wait for an answer (approving publishes or schedules the post for you), or choose Cancel approval request in the composer and publish it yourself. If it was approved and you’ve edited it since, publishing it is refused too - cancel the request to publish it as it is. A request nobody answers expires after seven days. See Sending a post for approval.

Why did an approval link stop working? Removing someone from Settings → Contacts stops every post approval and crisis protocol link they hold, at once, and adding them back doesn’t restore those links - send them a new one. A post approval link also closes once the request has been answered or withdrawn, or seven days pass without an answer. See Removing a contact.

If I change a contact group, does it change who received something I already sent? No. Picking a group adds the people in it at that moment as individual recipients, so editing or deleting the group later never touches a send, an approval request or a crisis protocol already made. See Contact groups.

Roles & access

Who can do what? Admins connect platforms, Editors create and send content, and anyone can view and export analytics. See Getting Started.

What’s the difference between admin and editor or viewer? Admin is a separate setting from your role - an Admin Viewer can connect platforms but not create content, and a plain Editor can create content but not connect platforms. See Getting Started.

Can everyone export analytics? Yes - viewing and exporting analytics is open to any role, with no admin or paid tier required. See Analytics.

Why can a Viewer see buttons like “New Survey” or “Add Contact” but get an error on clicking them? A few screens don’t hide those buttons by role, so the action is refused when you click rather than the button being greyed out. See Internal.

Why can’t I change another user’s role? Only admins can. For everyone else the controls are hidden in Settings → Team, and HIVE refuses the change even if you reach it another way. See Getting Started.

Why is the Editor option greyed out as “(Limit Reached)”? All of your plan’s editor licences are in use. Viewers don’t count towards the limit - free up a seat or add licences to make someone an Editor. See Getting Started.

Signing in, account & data

How does a new team member get a login? An admin adds them in Settings → Team, and HIVE emails them a single-use link to choose their own password. There’s still no self sign-up, but no admin types a password for anyone either. See Setting up your account.

How do I reset a forgotten password? Use Forgot password? on the sign-in page - enter your email, choose Continue, and the link appears under the password box. HIVE emails you a reset link. See Forgotten password.

How do I change my password when I still know it? Settings → Security, using your current password. No email involved. See Changing your password.

What are the password requirements? At least 12 characters, with an uppercase letter, a lowercase letter, a number and a symbol, and nothing taken from your name, your email address or the word “HIVE”. A space counts as a symbol. HIVE shows the list as a checklist and ticks it off as you type, so you never have to guess. See What your password needs.

Do I have to change a password I already have? No. HIVE doesn’t expire passwords, doesn’t force a change and won’t sign you out - the requirements bind the next time you choose a new password. See What your password needs.

What does the amber “Pending” badge mean next to someone in Settings → Team? They’ve never chosen a password - either they haven’t opened their setup email yet, or it aged out. Use Resend setup email on their row. See Team accounts.

Why did HIVE ask me for a verification code when I logged in? When you sign in from a device HIVE doesn’t recognise, it emails a 6-digit code to confirm it’s you and trust that device. See Getting Started.

Where is my data stored - is it in the EU? By default your data is held in the EU (Microsoft’s Ireland region); some organisations are provisioned to a US or Swiss region instead. See Raising a ticket.

Why are my emails sent from a hivecomms.app address instead of my own domain? Sending from your domain only starts once that domain is verified and the email category is switched to your domain; until then HIVE’s own address is used. See Internal.

Why do HIVE’s emails come from two different addresses? HIVE sends sign-in codes, account emails, crisis communications and post approval emails from mail.hivecomms.app, and newsletters, surveys, document shares and press releases from updates.hivecomms.app. Keeping them apart means a newsletter marked as spam can’t stop a sign-in code reaching someone. If you allowlist senders, allow both. See Who HIVE’s emails come from.

Someone in my contacts never got the newsletter - why? They may have unsubscribed. An unsubscribed recipient is skipped silently and the send still reports as completed, and nobody at your company can reverse it. See Unsubscribes.

Can I use our main domain (e.g. acme.com) as the sender? No - you set up a subdomain such as send.acme.com and verify it with DNS records; a root domain would clash with your normal company email. See Internal.

How do I delete my account or export my data? There’s no in-app button - email info@hivecomms.com, and after we confirm your identity the data is removed from active systems within 30 days. See Raising a ticket.

Why did a shared document or attachment link stop working? Links to private files expire after about an hour; reopen the item in HIVE to get a fresh link. See Document Hub.

How do I change who gets notified about a planning card? Card emails go only to a newly-set owner or a newly-added collaborator - never to yourself, and not to people already on the card. See Planning.

My activity log is empty on another computer - why? The Activity log - the record of the messages HIVE has shown you, behind the icon in the top bar - is stored per person in your browser, so entries stay on that device and don’t follow you to another computer or browser. Signing out doesn’t clear them. See Internal.

Error messages

Exact messages you might see on screen, and what each one means. If a message isn’t here, raise a support ticket.

Connecting platforms

“No Facebook Pages found…” - your Facebook account doesn’t administer a Page, and HIVE manages Pages only. See Facebook.
“No linked Instagram Business account found…” - your Instagram must be a Professional account linked to a Facebook Page. See Instagram.
“No LinkedIn company pages found…” - HIVE manages company pages only; connect an account that’s a super admin of one. See LinkedIn.
“Could not read your company pages from LinkedIn. Please try again in a few minutes, and contact support if it keeps happening.” - LinkedIn didn’t give HIVE a list of your Pages it could read. Your account isn’t the problem; try again later, and contact support if it keeps happening. See LinkedIn.
“Could not reach LinkedIn. Please try again in a few minutes.” - LinkedIn didn’t respond while HIVE was finishing your sign-in; try again in a few minutes. See LinkedIn.
“Your … session has expired. Please reconnect …” - the platform’s access has lapsed or been revoked; reconnect the account. See Connecting Platforms.
”… is missing permissions for this action…” - the account was connected without a permission this action needs; reconnect and approve everything requested. See Connecting Platforms.
“No YouTube channel is associated with this account…” - create a channel at youtube.com, then connect again. See YouTube.
“Session expired. Please reconnect …” (during the connect pop-up) - the account picker times out after 10 minutes; start the connection again. See Connecting Platforms.

Analytics

“Failed to Load Analytics” - the dashboard couldn’t load; Try Again reloads the page. See Analytics.
“Some activity may not be shown - try a shorter window.” - part of the email data couldn’t be fetched (a HubSpot rate/paging limit, or a Mailchimp list that failed); narrow the date range. See Analytics.

Features

“Partially Published” - some channels failed while others went live or are still going out; the message names which failed, and which went out or are still publishing. See Limits and known behaviours.
“Publishing” - the post is still going out on a platform, or YouTube is still receiving the video. The post’s status in Posts updates when each platform finishes, and if one then fails you get a post-failure email. See How YouTube receives your video.
“Post Scheduled” with “YouTube is receiving the video in the background. It goes public at the time you picked.” - the post shows Publishing until YouTube has the whole video, then Scheduled. See How YouTube receives your video.
“Post submitted” - HIVE couldn’t confirm the result yet. Check Posts before publishing it again, so it doesn’t go out twice. See Tracking your posts.
“This video can’t be published here” - the video is too large, too long, too short or the wrong file type for a channel you selected, and the line under it names the platform and its limit. Change the video or the channels. See Video limits by platform.
“This YouTube channel must be verified before it can publish videos longer than 15 minutes…” - verify the channel, or publish a shorter video. See Videos over 15 minutes on YouTube.
“Video upload stopped” - use Retry on the video, or remove it. See Uploading a video.
“Aspect ratio not supported” - a file outside Instagram’s allowed ratios was removed from the post. See Instagram.
“Selected time must be in the future.” - posts can only be scheduled for a future time. See Planning.
“That publish time has already passed. Pick a time in the future.” - you changed a scheduled post’s time to one that has passed. See Tracking your posts.
“This draft was scheduled for a time that has already passed. Open it and pick a new time, or clear the date to publish now.” - pick a future time under Schedule for Later, or choose Publish Now. See Publishing a draft.
“YouTube: Title required” / “YouTube: Privacy required” - open YouTube Settings in the composer and set a title and who can watch the video before publishing to YouTube. See Limits and known behaviours.
TikTok “spam filter” or “posting limit reached” - TikTok’s own limits rejected the post; wait a while and try again. See TikTok.
“The TikTok title must be 90 characters or fewer.” - shorten the optional Title in TikTok Settings. It’s refused rather than trimmed. See Photo posts.
“A TikTok photo post needs at least one image.” - a TikTok Post went out with no media attached. See Photo posts.
“A TikTok photo post cannot include a video.” - remove the video, or publish it as a Reel instead. See Photo posts.
“Couldn’t load alerts” (on your dashboard) - the Risk & Reputation strip couldn’t read your alert count just then. It does not mean you have no alerts. Reload the page, and raise a ticket if it keeps happening. See Risk & Reputation.
“Reply failed” with “The account you chose to reply as is not connected to your workspace any more. Choose another account and try again.” - the account under Replying as was disconnected, by a teammate for example. What you wrote stays in the box, so pick another account and send it again. See Replying.

Roles & access

“Permission denied. Editor role required.” - creating or sending content is limited to Editors. See Getting Started.
“Permission denied. Admin access required.” - connecting platforms and managing people are admin-only. See Raising a ticket.
“Read-Only Mode” / “View Only” (Social publishing) - you’re not an Editor, so you can view the planner but not create or publish. See Social publishing.
“License limit reached…” - all of your plan’s editor licences are in use. See Getting Started.

Signing in, account & data

“Too many attempts. Please wait 15 minutes and try again.” - too many sign-in, code or reset attempts; wait 15 minutes. See Raising a ticket.
“Your company is inactive. Please contact support.” - your organisation’s account is inactive; contact support to reactivate it. See Raising a ticket.
“Session expired” / “Please log in again.” - your session ended or your access changed; sign in again. See Raising a ticket.
“Something went wrong” - a general error; try again, and raise a ticket if it keeps happening. See Raising a ticket.