Create workflows

Use workflows to automate your business processes. You can automatically enroll records with enrollment criteria, then take action on your records.

For example, you can enroll all contacts that have submitted a specific form, then send a marketing email and assign these contacts to a user. You can also take action on associated records, such as updating an enrolled contact’s associated company.

After creating workflows, learn how to organize your workflows. 

Create a new workflow

You can create workflows from scratch or use workflow templates to guide you along. You can also refer to the community workflow library for ideas when setting up your workflow. The number of workflows that you can create depends on your account's subscriptions.

Create a new workflow from scratch

To create a workflow from scratch:

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Automations > Workflows. 
• In the upper right, click Create workflow > From scratch.
• In the left panel, select [object]-based to select your workflow object. This determines what type of records can be enrolled in the workflow. You can select from the following objects:

• • Contacts
  • Companies
  • Deals
  • Quotes (Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise)
  • Tickets (Service Hub Professional or Enterprise)
  • Custom objects (Enterprise only)
  • Conversations
  • Feedback submissions (Service Hub Professional or Enterprise)
  • Subscriptions
  • Payments
  • Goals
  • Leads (Sales Hub Professional or Enterprise)
  • Users
  • Tasks
• In the right panel, under Choose type, select Blank workflow. This option will be selected by default. 
• In the top left, click Next.
• To give your workflow a name and add a description:
  • At the top, click the edit pencil icon. Then, enter your workflow's name and description. 
  • Alternatively, after setting up your workflow, click Generate description to use Breeze, HubSpot's AI to generate a description for your workflow based on your workflow's triggers and actions. 
  • At the bottom, click Save.
     

Create a new workflow using templates

Use a workflow template aligned with your goals to streamline your automation processes. You can also browse through the templates to explore different workflow automation options. 

To create a workflow using a template:

• In your HubSpot account, navigate to Automations > Workflows. 
• In the upper right, click Create workflow > From template.
• From the templates library, search for a template that matches your workflow goals: 
  • To filter templates by function or objective, in the left sidebar, select a category. 
  • To search for a specific template, in the top right, enter a search keyword. 
• To review a template's details, click Preview. In the dialog box, you can check if the template is compatible with your HubSpot subscriptions. You can also review the following details:
  
  • Purpose: the purpose and goal of this workflow template. 

• • What you'll need to prepare: any assets that you'll need to prepare to populate the placeholder actions, such as marketing emails or forms. 
  • Template preview: the enrollment triggers and workflow actions that are included in this template. 

• Once you've selected your template, click Use template. In the workflow editor, the template will be displayed with placeholder actions. You can edit, add, and remove actions in the editor. 
   

Set enrollment triggers

Enrollment triggers are a set of criteria that automatically enroll records in the workflow. You can add enrollment triggers manually, use AI to generate enrollment triggers, or not add any triggers at all:

• When setting up enrollment triggers, You can use the following enrollment trigger types. Learn more about setting enrollment triggers.
  • Filter-based
  • Event-based
  • Based on a schedule
• You can also use Breeze, HubSpot's AI, to generate enrollment triggers. Learn more about using AI in workflows. 
• To enroll records manually only, leave the enrollment trigger box blank.

• In the workflow editor, click Set up triggers.
• In the left panel, select When an event occurs, When filter criteria is met, or Based on a schedule. 
• In the left panel, select a filter type for your enrollment trigger. Set up the trigger, then click Save. 
   

• By default, records will only enroll in a workflow the first time they meet the enrollment triggers. To enable re-enrollment:
  • In the left panel, click the Re-enrollment tab.
  • Click to toggle the Re-enrollment switch on.
  • Select the triggers that you want to use for re-enrollment. Learn more about adding re-enrollment triggers to workflows.
• Add more enrollment triggers if needed. When you're done, click Save.
  
  

Add actions

You can use Breeze to generate actions for a workflow or manually select and add actions. For example, you can use a workflow to send a marketing email or assign your records. Learn more about the different workflow actions available in HubSpot.

After adding an action, you can clone or move it to streamline the workflow building process. If you'd like to leave a note on a workflow action for reference, learn how to add comments to workflow actions. 

Please note: the actions available to you depend on your subscription. Locked actions locked require an account upgrade to use. 

To add actions to a workflow:

• In the workflow editor, click the + plus icon.
• In the left panel, select an action. Learn more about choosing your workflow actions.
• After setting up the details of the action, click Save. Or, if you're adding the action as a placeholder, click Save without filling out the action details. Placeholder actions must be filled out before you can turn on the workflow. Learn more about placeholder actions.

Use the data panel when adding actions

Depending on the selected workflow action, you can also use the data panel to use data from various object sources. For example, you can use data from a contact record and its associated deal to send an in-app notification to the deal owner. 

The data panel functionality can be used with the below workflow actions:

• Send internal email notification
• Create task

• Send in app notification
• Value equals branch
• Set property value (when setting text properties)
• Copy property
• Create record (when setting text properties)
• Send Slack notification (requires Slack integration)

• Integration actions that allow data passing (such as with Google Sheets or Asana)

• Custom code (Operation Hub Professional or Enterprise only)

• Format data (Operation Hub Professional or Enterprise only)

• Send a webhook (Operation Hub Professional or Enterprise only) 
   

• After selecting your action, in the Available data section, click Edit available data. 
• In the right panel, click + Add data source.
• Click the Choose a record type dropdown menu and select a data source.
• Configure the data source details, then click Add.
• After adding your data sources, use data from a specific source:
  • In the left panel, click on the field that you'd like to use the data with.
  • In the Insert data panel, click the View properties or action output from dropdown menu and select a data source. 
  • After selecting your source, click to expand the data type that you'd like to use, then click on the property to use in the field.
    • The property will be automatically inserted into the field.
    • Custom event properties can be used for actions that are supported by the data panel. The available custom event properties will be displayed under the name of the custom event in the data panel.

Review the workflow minimap

• In the upper left of the workflow editor, click Show minimap panel.
  
  

• With the minimap open, you can hover over workflow actions to view the action name, and click an area of the minimap to navigate there.
• To close the minimap, click the X icon in the top right of the minimap.

• If your workflow requires any changes before it can be published, the action will be highlighted in yellow. Click the link in the alert and review the changes that need to be made.
   

Undo or redo changes

When editing your workflow you can undo or redo changes made to the workflow in the previous 30 days. You cannot undo or redo certain changes such as, but not limited to:

To undo or redo an action:

• To undo an action, click the undo undo icon in the top left. Changes will undo one at a time.
• To redo an action, click the redo redo icon in the top left. Changes will redo one at a time.
   

Manage settings

To manage your workflow settings:

• In the top left, click the Settings tab to manage the workflow's execution and notification settings. Learn more about managing your workflow settings.
• In the top left, click Edit > Edit enrollment trigger to manage the workflow's enrollment, unenrollment, and re-enrollment settings. 
  
  

Turn on your workflow

After you turn your workflow on, you can view the workflow history to monitor the records that are enrolled. If you've saved any placeholder actions, they must be completed before you can turn on the workflow.

Please note: the number of existing contacts displayed on the review page is an estimate. To view an exact number of contacts, create a static list of contacts that meet the criteria by clicking Use lists to see these contacts.

To review and turn on your workflow:

• In the upper right corner, click Review and publish.
• In the right panel, review your workflow details:
  • See all contacts in lists: if you have a Marketing Hub Starter, Professional, or Enterprise account, in contact-based workflows you can view a static list of contacts that meet the enrollment criteria. The list will automatically be saved and can be accessed from your lists dashboard.

• • Do you want to enroll contacts that currently meet the enrollment criteria when the workflow turns on: Choose to enroll records that currently meet the enrollment triggers or only enroll records that meet the triggers in the future.
    • Yes, enroll existing [objects] which meet the trigger criteria as of now: enroll all existing records that meet the enrollment triggers.
    • No, only enroll [objects] which meet the trigger criteria after turning the workflow on: only enroll records that meet the enrollment triggers after the workflow is turned on. When this option is selected: 
      • If the [object] changes to meet the enrollment triggers for the first time after the workflow is turned on, the [object] will be enrolled.
      • If the [object] changes to meet the enrollment criteria again and re-enrollment is turned on, the [object] will be enrolled. Learn more about re-enrollment triggers.

• • At the bottom, click Next. You can review your workflow's Timing & Notifications, Connections, and Workflow details. Or, click Skip to turn on. 
  • At the bottom, click Turn on workflow.