Troubleshoot records unexpectedly enrolling in workflows
Last updated: April 21, 2021
If a contact, company, deal, quote, ticket, or custom object record was unexpectedly enrolled in a workflow, it's likely due to the workflow's enrollment triggers. Below, learn about filter logic that could be unexpectedly enrolling records.
If a record was unexpectedly not enrolled in a workflow, learn about why records may not be enrolling in your workflows
Enrollment triggers include OR logic
If a workflow's enrollment triggers include OR logic, a record only needs to meet one set of the enrollment triggers to qualify for enrollment.
For example, let's say your workflow has the following enrollment triggers:
- Lifecycle stage is any of Customer
OR - has filled out Customer survey form on Any page
Learn more about AND vs OR logic.
Enrollment triggers include does not contain any of or is not equal to any of
Contact-based workflows using these filters will enroll contacts that don't have a specified value for the selected property. This means that if the property is blank, it will meet the enrollment trigger. This also applies to records associated with the contact, such as an associated company.
This can especially affect workflows that use analytics or association properties for enrollment, such as:
- Create date
- IP Country
- Original source
- Associated contacts
Analytics and association properties are processed and populated almost instantly. However, workflow enrollment may occur before HubSpot fills the property. For example, if your workflow enrolls contacts based on the trigger IP Country is not equal to any of United States, a contact with no value may enroll before HubSpot is able to set the property with the value United states.
To prevent contacts without property values from entering the workflow:
- In the enrollment trigger editor, add an AND condition underneath the doesn't contain any of filter.
- Select the same property that you're filtering for, then select the is known filter.
- Click Apply filter.
In company, deal, quote, and ticket-based workflows, these filters won't enroll records with no data by default. Learn more about excluding/including records with no data in workflow enrollment.
Enrollment triggers include is unknown
The enrollment trigger filter is unknown searches for records without a value for the specified property. Enrolled records will remain in the workflow even if they gain a value for the property after enrollment.
This can especially be an issue when using properties that are automatically populated by HubSpot. While HubSpot fills these properties almost instantly, workflow enrollment can happen before the property is filled. For example, if a workflow enrolls contacts with IP Country is unknown, a contact may enroll before HubSpot is able to fill the property with United States.
Resolve in contact-based workflows
In contact-based workflows, you can prevent this situation by setting up a one minute delay at the beginning of the workflow, then enabling an unenrollment setting. The delay creates a buffer for HubSpot to populate the property before any further workflow actions occur. The workflow setting will then unenroll any contacts that have gained a value for the enrollment property during the delay.
To set this up:
- In the workflow, click the first Plus icon + to insert an action at the beginning of the workflow.
- Select the Delay action, and set the delay to 1 minute. Click Save.
- Click the Settings tab.
- In the left sidebar, click Unenrollment and suppression.
- Under When a contact no longer meets the enrollment conditions, remove them from this workflow? select Yes, remove them from this workflow.

Resolve in company, deal, quote, and ticket-based workflows
In company, deal, quote, and ticket-based workflows, you can unenroll records that gain a value for a property by setting up a one minute delay and adding unenrollment criteria. The delay creates a buffer for HubSpot to populate the property before any further workflow actions occur. The workflow setting will then unenroll any contacts that have gained a value for the enrollment property during the delay.
To set this up:
- In the workflow, click the first Plus icon + to insert an action at the beginning of the workflow.
- Select the Delay action, and set the delay to 1 minute. Click Save.
- Click the Settings tab.
- In the left sidebar, click Unenrollment and suppression.
- Click Set unenrollment triggers.
- In the right panel, add unenrollment triggers that oppose the original is unknown enrollment triggers. For example, if an enrollment trigger is IP country is unknown, add the unenrollment trigger IP country is known.
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