Workflows | Frequently Asked Questions

Find answers and general information about the workflows tool in HubSpot.

General

How do I troubleshoot workflow errors?

If you're encountering errors when reviewing your workflow history, learn more about common workflow errors and the steps you can take to resolve these issues. 

Can I set a workflow to automatically turn off?

Yes, you can schedule a workflow to turn off automatically after a specified date and time in your workflow settings. Learn more about automatically turning off a workflow. 

Can I pause my workflow?

While there isn't a general pause button for your workflow, you can set up pause dates so that actions don't execute on specific days. On pause dates, actions will reschedule to the next available day. This is especially useful for managing campaigns that overlap with holidays and other sensitive dates.

Learn more about setting up pause dates.

What happens when a record is deleted?

Deleted records are automatically unenrolled from workflows. Even if the record is deleted then restored while in a delay, the restored record will not resume and continue the workflow.

To add previously deleted records back to a workflow, ensure that re-enrollment is enabled, then manually enroll the record. 

Why was my action skipped because of an "infinite loop"?

When reviewing your workflow history, you may see that an action was skipped to prevent an infinite loop: The enrolled deal was created by this workflow, so this action was skipped to prevent an infinite loop. 

This indicates that your workflow has an action to create a record that also meets the enrollment criteria for the same workflow:

• If the record was created, it would enroll into the same workflow.
• This would lead to the same Create record action that creates a new record.
• The new record would enroll into the same workflow as well.
• This would result in an "infinite loop" and the workflow continuously and endlessly creating records.

HubSpot prevents this action from occurring so that the workflow will not create records indefinitely. When you encounter such an error, review your workflow to ensure that new records created do not meet the enrollment criteria of the workflow.

How many workflows can I create?

The number of workflows you can create depend on your HubSpot subscriptions:

• If you have a Marketing, Sales, or Service Hub Professional subscription, you can create up to 300 workflows. 
• If you have a Marketing, Sales, or Service Hub Enterprise subscription, you can create up to 1000 workflows. 
• If you have an Operations Hub Professional subscription, you can create up to 400 workflows. 
• If you have an Operations Hub Enterprise subscription, you can create up to 1100 workflows. 
• If you have the Business units add-on, you can create an additional 100 workflows. 

If you have multiple subscriptions, your limit will be determined by the subscription with the highest workflow limit. For example, if your account has a Marketing Hub Professional and a Sales Hub Enterprise subscription, you would be able to create up to 1000 workflows.

Which workflows count towards my HubSpot account limits?

Only customized workflows created from the workflows tool will count toward your account limits. Embedded workflow tools with preset triggers do not count toward your workflow limits. This includes the following:

• Simple workflows created from the ads tool, marketing email tool, and forms tool.
• Automation from CRM settings such as deal pipeline settings or ticket pipeline settings.
• Automation from other tools such as sequences, forecasts, quotes, surveys, etc.

How long does HubSpot store my workflows data?

HubSpot will store workflow action logs data within the below time periods:

• 90 days: all workflow action log data will be stored. This includes high level action log data such as object ID (which contact, company, deal, etc.), event type (enrollment, unenrollment, etc.), and action type will be stored.
• 6 months: historical data of enrollments will be retained in our system to enable workflow-based filters.

Enrollment triggers

Why aren't existing records that meet a workflow's enrollment triggers being enrolled in the workflow after turning it on?

When turning on a workflow, under the These contacts already meet the trigger criteria. Do you want to enroll them when this workflow turns on? option, you can choose whether or not to enroll existing contacts that currently meet the trigger criteria. 

If this option is set to No, only enroll objects which meet the trigger criteria after turning the workflow on, then any existing contacts, companies, deals, quotes, or tickets will not be enrolled automatically even if they currently meet the criteria. Only records that change to meet the enrollment triggers after the workflow is turned on will be enrolled. 

When you change the enrollment triggers in any active workflow, a dialog box will appear for you to choose to immediately enroll any existing records that meet the updated enrollment triggers.

Learn more about enrolling existing records that meet the enrollment triggers.

Why aren't previously enrolled records that meet a workflow's enrollment triggers again being re-enrolled in the workflow?

By default, records are only enrolled in a workflow the first time they meet the workflow's enrollment triggers or are enrolled manually. Learn how to add re-enrollment triggers to allow records to be re-enrolled in a workflow.

What happens when I edit an active list used in a workflow's enrollment triggers? (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

When you edit the filters in an active list used in an active workflow's enrollment triggers, then attempt to save the list, a dialog box will appear for you to choose if existing contacts that meet the newly updated list criteria should be enrolled in the workflow.

How many enrollment triggers can I add to a workflow?

You can add up to 250 enrollment triggers to a workflow. If your workflow requires more enrollment triggers, create multiple workflows instead. 

Why do I receive an error when saving my number property as an enrollment trigger? 

If you're using a number property for your enrollment trigger in a contact-based workflow, you can only use whole numbers.

If a value with a decimal is used, an error will display and the enrollment trigger will not be saved. This applies to both formatted and unformatted number properties. For example, you cannot set Employees is any of 0.98.

Why is the number of contacts shown when I review my workflow different to the number of contacts in my list?

If you have a Marketing Hub Starter, Professional, or Enterprise account, in contact-based workflows, t he number of contacts displayed in the review page is an estimate and not an exact measure of the number of contacts. To view the exact number of records, click Use lists to see these contacts. 

Why has an [object] enrolled in my workflow even though I selected No, only enroll [objects] which meet the trigger criteria after turning the workflow on?

When this option is turned on, objects will be enrolled if they did not meet the enrollment criteria before and change to meet the enrollment triggers for the first time after the workflow is turned on
or if they change to meet the enrollment criteria again and re-enrollment is turned on. Learn more about re-enrollment triggers.

Actions

Why are my workflow actions not executing at the expected time?

When a large number of records enroll in a workflow or execute an action at the same time, the workflow may be throttled. When a workflow is throttled, actions will not execute immediately, but in a queue as records are processed.

In Specific date or Contact date property contact-based workflows, this may cause contacts to miss the first action if it's scheduled shortly after they're enrolled in the workflow. To avoid this, you can enroll your contacts in advance, or schedule the first action at a later time relative to the date or date property.

What happens to enrolled records when I add more workflow actions?

Adding actions to an active workflow can impact records that are enrolled and active in the workflow:

• Any records that haven't yet made it to the new action will be scheduled for it when they reach that action.
• Any records that have already proceeded past that point will not complete the new action.

For example, in a workflow with two actions, when a new action is added between the first action and second action:

• The contact Pablo the Cat is currently scheduled for the first action. Because the new action comes after the action they're scheduled for, they'll then be scheduled for the new action after they execute the first action. 
• The contact Tito the Cat is scheduled for the original second action (now third action). Because the contact has already proceeded past the point where the new action was added, they will not be scheduled for the new action.

What happens to enrolled records when I remove workflow actions?

Removing actions from an active workflow will affect records currently scheduled for that action. When you remove an action that has scheduled records, the records will not execute that action. The records will proceed to the next step of the workflow and continue in the workflow.

For example, if the action is scheduled to only execute on weekdays, the record will not move to the next stage until it is a weekday or until the scheduled time has passed. An error will also appear for that action in the workflow history. 

When records are scheduled for an action, the action will show a count of those records, such as 1 contact in this action. 
 


 

Why is the rotate leads action in my workflow delayed for 10 minutes for new contacts?

If the Assign company owner to contact by default setting is enabled, the following error will display when you add a Rotate leads action to a contact-based workflow: New contacts will take about 10 minutes to be processed because the contact and company owner sync is enabled.

When a new HubSpot contact is created, and ownership is synced between contacts and companies, it may take some time for the contact to be associated with a company, and then for the company's owner to sync to the contact. As a result, new contacts will be delayed for 10 minutes before executing the Rotate leads action, to allow sufficient time for the contact-company association to take place and ownership to sync.

Why can't I send my marketing email in a workflow? (Marketing Hub Professional and Enterprise only)

Only marketing emails that have been saved for automation can be sent in workflows. If a marketing email is a draft or has been previously sent to a list of recipients, it will not appear for selection in the Send email action.

Delays

What happens to records waiting in a workflow delay when the delay is deleted?

When you delete a delay, records waiting in the delay will immediately skip the delay, then proceed through the rest of the workflow.

Learn more about editing workflow delays.

What happens to records waiting in a workflow delay when the delay timing is changed?