Access to a source is never permanent. Sites expire it on their own schedule, and someone changing a password ends it at once. Sources is where you see that and fix it.
The 3 states
Every source card carries 1 badge:
- Healthy. We are reading it and replies work. The line underneath says when access was last verified.
- Access expiring soon. Still working, but it will stop on its own unless somebody signs in again. A Page connected with a personal Facebook login reaches this state every couple of months.
- Access lost. We cannot read the source and no reply sent from here would reach the site.
3 source cards side by side showing the Healthy, Access expiring soon and Access lost badges.
What the error on the card means
Where the site gave a reason, the card prints it. It almost always means the access was ended on their side: a password change, a security logout, an admin removing a role on the Page, or the permission being revoked in the site's own settings.
You do not need to interpret it. It is there so that the person who has to fix it can tell "somebody changed their password" apart from "somebody removed my access to the Page", which are 2 different conversations.
What still works while access is down
Quite a lot, which is the point of the state existing rather than the source disappearing.
- Every review already collected stays in the feed and stays searchable and exportable.
- Archive and assign keep working, because those are ours rather than the site's.
- Copy and mark replied keeps working, because nothing is posted.
What stops: posting a reply on the site, by a person, a rule or an agent. Cards from the affected source say it needs reconnecting before a reply can go out, and the post button is switched off.
Refresh access, step by step
Press Refresh access on the card. It takes about a minute.
The Refresh access dialog with its 3 numbered steps.
- Sign in as the account that manages the Page. It has to be an account with full control. A partial role hands back access that can read but cannot reply, and you end up back on this page in a week.
- Approve the same permissions. We ask for nothing new. Leave every box ticked, or replies come back half working and the failures show up later.
- We resync and carry on. Your rules, agents, saved views and team access are untouched.
The reviews from the gap
When access comes back we read what the site still lets us reach. Reviews written during a long gap may never arrive. That is the honest reason to fix an Access lost source the day you see it rather than the following week.
Automation does not replay the reviews collected after a gap. Rules and agents act on reviews as they arrive, so anything that came in late is yours to work through by hand in the feed. The saved view Needs a reply finds them.
Keeping it from happening
- Connect with a Business portfolio where you can. Its access does not expire.
- After anyone changes a password on an account that manages your Pages, open Sources and check the badges.
- Do not revoke the permission from the site's own settings unless you mean to. That ends access immediately and the only fix is signing in again.
- Check the banner at the top of Sources whenever you open it. It counts the sources that need attention, so you do not have to scan every card.
What this costs
Nothing. Refreshing access and reconnecting are free.