Automation Advanced Settings: Filters, Conditions and Sleep Hours

In the dashboard: Automations → open an automation → Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings decide which inspections an automation sends for, and when it should hold back. Everything here is optional. An automation with nothing set under Advanced Settings sends for every inspection, to everyone it’s addressed to, at any time of day. Use them to answer questions like:

• “Send this only for radon tests.” Use Services or the Service or Add-on Name Filter.
• “Don’t text clients at night.” Use Sleep Hours.
• “Ask for a review only if they’ve paid.” Use Send Conditions.
• “Send the report email only once, even if I publish twice.” Use Only Trigger Once.

New to automations? Start with Automation Settings: Basics, which covers the event type, delay, recipient and message.

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Open Advanced Settings

Scroll to the bottom of the Create Automation or Edit Automation page and click Advanced Settings. It is closed by default. The blue badge (for example 1 set) counts how many advanced settings are in use. If an automation behaves in a way you don’t expect, check for this badge first: something is set inside. After you change anything, click Save in the bar at the bottom of the page.

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Which settings you see depends on the event type

Most settings are shown for every automation. A few only appear for certain event types, because they only make sense there. If you don’t see a setting below, check the event type. The same list, by event type:

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When each setting is checked

This matters when something changes between booking and sending. Some settings are checked when the event happens. Others are checked again just before the message goes out, using the inspection as it is at that moment. A cancelled message stays on the inspection’s Automations page with the status Cancelled and the reason it was stopped. You can still send it by hand with Send Now, which skips every filter and condition on this page except Sleep Hours.

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Services

Limits the automation to inspections booked with the services you pick.

• Leave it empty (the default) and it runs for all services, including services you add later. This is right for almost every automation: confirmations, reminders, report emails, payment reminders.
• Pick services only when the message is about one kind of inspection, for example “How to prepare for your radon test” for Radon Testing, or new-construction warranty tips.
• The automation runs when the inspection’s service is one of those you picked. Add-ons don’t count here. To target an add-on, use the Service or Add-on Name Filter.
• Clear removes every service, so the automation applies to all services again.

Services are checked when the automation is added to an inspection. Changing the services on an automation doesn’t add it to (or take it off) inspections already booked. Changing an inspection’s add-ons makes Hive check again for that inspection.

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Contact Tag Filter

Sends only to contacts who have, or don’t have, certain tags. This box only appears once your account has at least one contact tag.

• Contains any of: send only to contacts with at least one of the tags you pick.
• Does not contain any of: send to everyone except contacts with any of the tags you pick.
• No filter: the default. Tags are ignored.

Whose tags? The tags of the person receiving the message. On an automation to the buyer’s agent, the agent’s tags are checked, not the client’s. Examples:

• A special thank-you to your best agents: Buyer Agent, Contains any of VIP Agent.
• Skip agents who asked not to get your emails: Does not contain any of Do Not Email.
• A “welcome back” message for repeat clients: Customer, Contains any of Past Client.

Good to know:

• The filter is checked when the event happens and again just before sending. A tag added or removed in between counts.
• It doesn’t apply to inspectors or to a specific email address or phone number. Those always get the message.

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Sleep Hours

Stops this automation from sending overnight. A message that would go out during sleep hours is held, then sent shortly after they end.

1. Turn on Pause sending during sleep hours. It starts at 9:00 PM to 7:00 AM.
2. Change the times if you like. The start is always PM and the end is always AM, so the window always runs overnight.

How it works:

• Times are in your organization’s time zone (Org Settings → Scheduling).
• A held message goes out within about 30 minutes after the window ends. They’re spread out a little, so they don’t all arrive at the same moment.
• Sleep hours belong to this automation only. There’s no account-wide setting, so set them on each automation that needs them. Texts are the most important.
• Send Now on an inspection also waits until the window ends, and tells you when the message will go out.

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Report Name Filter

Shown for: Additional Report Added. Sends only when the name of the additional report you upload contains this text. Capital letters don’t matter: radon matches “Radon Results”. Use it to send a different email for each kind of outside report, for example:

• Radon sends “Your radon results are in, here’s how to read them”.
• Sewer sends “Your sewer scope video is ready”.
• WDO or Termite sends the termite report email.

If a report is uploaded and its name doesn’t match, the message keeps Waiting. It sends if a matching report is uploaded later on the same inspection. Leave the box empty to send for every additional report.

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Add-on Name Filter

Shown for: Add-ons Upsell. Sends the upsell only when the client could still add an add-on whose name contains this text. “Remaining add-ons” are the add-ons on the inspection’s service that have Allow Upselling turned on and that the client hasn’t added yet. Add-ons without Allow Upselling are never offered, the same as on the client’s portal.

• A client who already booked termite never gets the termite pitch.
• It’s checked just before sending, so it uses the add-ons as they are on the day.
• Pair it with the {{{remaining_add_ons_services}}} placeholder to list what’s still available. In an Add-ons Upsell email it lists the same add-ons the filter checks.

To send one upsell per add-on (termite, septic, radon…), make one automation for each. See Send add-on upsell emails for the full setup.

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Service or Add-on Name Filter

Shown for: Inspection Scheduled, Event Scheduled, Inspection Rescheduled, Inspection Cancelled, Add-ons Updated. Sends only when the inspection’s main service or one of its selected add-ons has this text in its name. Capital letters don’t matter. This is the easiest way to send a message about an add-on, because the Services setting only looks at the main service. Examples:

• Pool on Inspection Scheduled sends pool-prep instructions when someone books with a pool add-on.
• Radon on Inspection Scheduled sends radon-test instructions, whether radon was booked as a service or as an add-on.
• Sewer on Add-ons Updated tells your sewer scope subcontractor when the client adds a sewer scope later.

Good to know:

• It is checked when the event happens. If the name doesn’t match, the message is cancelled.
• Only the main service and its selected add-ons are checked: the same names that {{{service_name}}} and {{{addon_services}}} show.
• Type part of the name you see under Business Tools → Services & Fees. Typing Radon matches “Radon Testing” and “Radon Test - 48 hr”.
• For add-ons ordered when booking, use Inspection Scheduled. For add-ons added after booking, add a copy with Add-ons Updated.

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Send Conditions

Sends only if the agreement or payment status matches, at the moment the message is due. If it doesn’t match then, the message is cancelled. What counts:

• All agreements signed: every agreement on the inspection is signed. An inspection with no agreements counts as signed.
• Payment complete: the inspection is paid in full, or nothing is owed. A $0 inspection counts as paid.
• Bank transfers (ACH): if Mark payment as paid only when ACH settles is on in your payment settings, a bank payment counts as complete only once it clears.

When both are set, both must match. Examples

• Review request only from clients who paid: Post-Inspection Follow-up, Payment status Only send when payment is complete.
• Two versions of the day-before reminder: one with Only send when all agreements are signed (“You’re all set, see you tomorrow”), and one with Only send when agreements are NOT all signed (“Please sign before we arrive”). Each client gets exactly one.
• Report email to the agent only once the client paid: Report Published, Buyer Agent, Payment status Only send when payment is complete.

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Custom Field Filters

Sends only when the inspection’s custom field answers match. This box only appears once your account has at least one custom field.

1. Click Add filter.
2. Pick the field in Which custom field?
3. Pick a Condition, and type or pick the value.
4. Click Add another filter for more. You can add up to 20.

Every filter must match (they are joined with AND). To send when either of two answers is true, make two automations, or use Is any of on a dropdown field. Conditions by field type Capital letters don’t matter. Numbers can include a dollar sign and commas, such as $2,500. Unanswered fields. A field nobody filled in never matches “positive” conditions: Includes, Is any of, Is checked or a number comparison. It always matches “negative” ones: Does not include, Is none of and Is not checked. Keep this in mind: “Occupied? Is not checked” also sends when the question was never answered. When it’s checked. Just before sending, using the answers as they are then. A client who answers after booking still counts. Examples

• Vacant-home utilities reminder: Pre-Inspection Reminder 48 hours before, with “Occupied? Is not checked”.
• Crawlspace access note: “Foundation Type Is any of Crawlspace”.
• Large-home heads-up to the inspector: Inspector recipient, “Square Footage Greater than 4000”.

If you delete a custom field that a filter uses, the filter can no longer match. The next time you save the automation, Hive asks you to remove that filter.

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Late-Added Contacts

Decides what happens when you add someone to an inspection after the automation’s event already happened. For example, you add the buyer’s agent after the inspection is over: should the agent still get the “Inspection Scheduled” email? Messages that can catch up like this are those for Inspection Scheduled, Send Inspection Quote, Payment Received, Agreement Signed and Report Published. The same applies to inspectors assigned late. Leave it on Smart unless you have a reason. With Smart, an agent you add after the inspection still gets the report email, but not a confirmation for an inspection that already happened. When a catch-up is held back, the message usually shows as Cancelled on the inspection’s Automations page, and you can send it with Send Now if you want to.

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Only Trigger Once

Shown for: Inspection Rescheduled, Inspection Cancelled, Add-ons Updated, Report Published, Event Scheduled. These five events can happen more than once on the same inspection: you reschedule twice, publish a second report, change add-ons again. Normally the automation sends every time. Turn on Send at most once per inspection and each person gets it only the first time. Use it for:

• Report Published, when you publish several reports (home, radon, sewer) and want the “your report is ready” email only once.
• Inspection Rescheduled, if you move times around a lot and only want one “your time has changed” message.
• Add-ons Updated, so the client gets one confirmation even if add-ons change several times.

Good to know:

• It’s per person, per inspection. A buyer’s agent added later still gets their first copy.
• For Event Scheduled, it means one message per inspection, not one per event.
• A message you cancelled on the inspection counts as “already done”, so it isn’t sent again. Messages Hive cancelled itself, or that failed, don’t count.
• Send Now is never blocked, and doesn’t count toward the limit.

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Things Hive stops by itself

You don’t need any setting for these. Hive cancels the message when the time comes if: When an inspection is rescheduled, reminders before and after it move to the new time. Any that would now be more than 15 minutes late are cancelled. A Pre-Event Reminder follows its own event instead, so it moves only when that event moves.

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Ready-made combinations

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Common questions

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Where to go next

• Automation Settings: Basics: event types, timing, recipients, messages and testing.
• Send add-on upsell emails: one email per add-on with the Add-on Name Filter.
• Auto-tag your contacts: build the tags the Contact Tag Filter uses.
• Custom inspection fields: create the fields Custom Field Filters check.
• Automations FAQ: resending, spam, placeholders and texts.