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Keyhive Help

A key set is back but still shows as checked out

In short: Almost always one of two things: nothing recorded the keys coming back, or they went out long-term and have no fob to scan. Both are put right in a couple of clicks, either with Mark as returned in the web portal or by giving the key set a fob again.

When you’d do this: The keys are on the hook, in the drawer or back in the safe, but Keyhive still lists them as out with someone, whether on the Checkouts page, on that person’s record, or as a chase for a key that’s already home.

Before you start

Check which of the two it is. Open the key set by typing its name into the search bar at the top of any page, and look at its status:

If the return was never recorded

Nothing in Keyhive noticed the keys arriving. The usual reasons:

  • They were dropped off without being scanned: left on a desk, posted through the door, or hung straight back on the hook by someone in a hurry.
  • The return was started but never finished. The flow at the Hive or on the phone was cancelled, or someone walked away before confirming it. Nothing is recorded until that last step.

Neither corrects itself, so the checkout stays open until you close it.

If the keys and their fob are in front of you, just return them normally by scanning the fob at the Hive or on the mobile app. See How to return a key.

If they’re not (you’re at a desk, the keys are in another office, or you’re tidying up days later), close it in the portal:

  1. Open the key set, or the checkout itself. On the key set’s page the open checkout sits in the Active checkout panel.
  2. Click the actions icon (the vertical dots) on that panel and choose Mark as returned.
  3. Fill in the short form and confirm. See How to return a key for what it asks.

The checkout closes, the key set goes back into a key store, and it drops off the checked-out list.

If it went out long-term

A key set out long-term has no fob. It was taken off and freed for reuse the moment the keys left. So there’s nothing to scan, and the key set carries on reading Checked out long term however many times the keys are put back on the hook.

Give it a fob again. That’s what brings a long-term key set back: assigning a fob closes the checkout in the same step, and the key set is available and ready to go out again.

If you can’t fob it up right now, you can Mark as returned in the portal, as above. The checkout closes, but the key set comes back untagged, so it still needs a fob before it can be checked out to anyone.

Don’t use Delete checkout

Sitting under the same actions menu is Delete checkout, which only managers and admins see. It’s for a checkout that never really happened, such as test data or a duplicate someone entered by mistake, and it wipes the record rather than closing it.

It won’t bring a key set back. The record disappears but the key set carries on showing as checked out, with nothing left to close and no way to clear it yourself. For keys that genuinely came back, use Mark as returned.

If none of this fits

If the key set shows as checked out but there’s no open checkout on it at all (no Active checkout panel, no Mark as returned option), nothing in the portal will clear it. Get in touch at support@keyhive.io with the key set’s name and we can put it right.

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