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.

A platform shows as “Coming Soon” and I can’t connect it - why? That platform isn’t included in your plan yet; it’s controlled per account, not a global switch. Only the five social platforms can show this - HubSpot, Mailchimp and Google Analytics never do. 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? Platform access tokens expire periodically, and also stop working if the account’s password changes or access is revoked 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. See YouTube.

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? Facebook requires a separate permission to read Page statistics, and HIVE’s access to it is still being reviewed by Facebook. Until it’s granted, Facebook contributes nothing to reach or engagement anywhere in Analytics. Your follower count is unaffected. Once it’s granted, reconnect your Facebook Page to switch the figures on. See Analytics.

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.

What happened to the KPI tab in Analytics? It’s been replaced by Measures, which shows your Success Measures instead of the old KPI view. 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, YouTube 5,000. See Social publishing.

How many images or videos can I add to a post? Up to 10 images per post; Reels and Stories take a single image or video, so a new pick replaces the last. See Social publishing.

My scheduled post failed - will HIVE try again? No. A failed post is left as failed (not retried) so you can fix it and repost. 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 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; on Facebook and LinkedIn it shows a Replying to note instead. See Unified inbox.

Why did some rows fail when I imported employees from a CSV? Each row is checked on its own - a row missing a name, email or job role, or one whose email already belongs to an active employee, is skipped while the rest import. See Getting Started.

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 Employee” 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 the server rejects the change too (“Only admins or superadmins can update user roles”). 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 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 default address is used. See Internal.

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 are signed and 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 administers one. 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; the message names which succeeded and which didn’t. See Social publishing.
• “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.
• “YouTube: Title required” / “YouTube: Privacy required” - set a title and a visibility before publishing to YouTube. See YouTube.
• TikTok “spam filter” or “posting limit reached” - TikTok’s own limits rejected the post; wait a while and try again. See TikTok.

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.