Skip to content
Keyhive Help

A key set is lost or missing

In short: Check what Keyhive already knows about the key set, including its status, who’s holding it and where it should hang, before you write it off. If it really has gone, how you record it depends on whether it’s out with someone: close its checkout as won’t be returned, or delete the key set from its own page.

When you’d do this: A set of keys isn’t where it should be, not on its hook and not in the safe, or someone who took keys tells you they’ve lost them.

Start with what Keyhive knows

Four quick checks, in the web portal:

  • Search for the key set in the search bar at the top of any page. The result shows its status and, if it’s out, who’s holding it. A set you thought was in the office may simply be checked out.
  • Look at its recent checkouts for who last had it and when it came back. See How to see the checkout history of a key set.
  • Check its key / hook number to be sure you’re looking at the right hook, drawer or slot.
  • Check the overdue list if it’s out and past its date. See How to view overdue checkouts.

If it’s checked out and can’t be found

The keys are recorded as out with someone, and neither of you can produce them.

Don’t mark it as returned. That would put a key set you’ll never see back on your available list as though it were ready to go out again.

If it should be in the office but isn’t

Keyhive says the key set is available and sitting in a key store, but the keys aren’t there. Before treating it as lost, rule out the usual explanations:

  • It went out without being scanned. Ask around, because a set taken straight off the hook leaves no record at all.
  • It came back but never made it onto the hook. Check its last checkout: if it was returned recently, the keys are somewhere between the reader and the hook.
  • It’s at another key store. If you keep keys in more than one place, check whether it was transferred.
  • Its fob is on a different key set now. If scanning that fob brings up other keys, the link is wrong rather than the keys missing. See An unexpected key set came up when I scanned.

If none of those explain it and the keys really have gone, delete the key set from its page. The option sits in the actions menu (the vertical dots), below the rest, and needs Manager or Admin access. Its fob is freed and its checkout history is kept, but the key set itself can’t be brought back, so only do it once you’re sure. See Archiving vs deleting: what’s the difference.

If the keys are there but the fob has gone

A fob that’s fallen off or broken leaves keys that can’t be scanned. The keys aren’t lost; the link to them is.

  • If the key set is in the office, unassign the old fob in the portal, then put a new one on at the Hive or on the mobile app. See How to unassign a fob and How to assign a fob to a key set.
  • If the key set is checked out, there’s a step first: a fob can’t come off a key set that’s out with someone. Mark the checkout as returned in the portal, as in How to return a key, then unassign the old fob and assign a new one.

Good to know

  • A key set out long-term has no fob by design. It was freed when the keys went out, so there’s nothing missing. Giving the key set a fob again is how it comes back.
  • Both routes delete the key set. Closing a checkout as won’t-be-returned and deleting the key set from its page end the same way. What differs is whether there’s an open checkout to close first, and that deleting from the key set’s page needs Manager or Admin access, while closing a checkout doesn’t.
  • The history survives either way. Every checkout of that key set stays on record, so you can still see who held it and when. The key set’s own page goes, so you’ll find those checkouts through the Checkouts page or on the person who had them.
  • If the whole asset is gone, not just one set of keys, archive the asset instead. That deals with all of its key sets at once and can be undone.