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List hygiene: unused/stale list archive notification

One of 565 written HubSpot workflow specs, by a collective of independent HubSpot consultants.

Professional

Seat pricing: Professional edition. To build it, a GTM Seat or an Ops Seat (an Ops Seat cannot create marketing emails or sequences). Per-hub plans: Data Hub Professional.

Contact6 stepsUpdated for HubSpot seat pricing
OutcomeMarketing ops gets a periodic report of active and static lists nobody has touched in months, instead of discovering a portal cluttered with hundreds of dead lists during an unrelated audit.
Workflow mapmarketing-ops-023
Scheduled weekly run leads to Custom code: enumerate lists via API. Custom code: enumerate lists via API leads to result_code ok?. result_code ok? leads to Yes, stale_list_count > 0: Send stale list report; Yes, stale_list_count = 0: No notification; No: Notify: check failed. Yes, stale_list_count > 0 Yes, stale_list_count = 0 No Scheduled weekly run Custom code: enumerate lists via API result_code ok? Send stale list report No notification Notify: check failed
Scheduled weekly run leads to Custom code: enumerate lists via API. Custom code: enumerate lists via API leads to result_code ok?. result_code ok? leads to Yes, stale_list_count > 0: Send stale list report; Yes, stale_list_count = 0: No notification; No: Notify: check failed. Scheduled weekly run Custom code: enumerate lists via API result_code ok? Yes, stale_list_count > 0 Send stale list report Yes, stale_list_count = 0 No notification No Notify: check failed

When to use it, when not to

Use it

  • Use once your portal has accumulated enough lists (typically several dozen or more) that finding the ones still in active use has become a real time cost.
  • Use to build the habit of periodic list cleanup before it becomes an emergency ahead of a migration, an audit, or an data quality push.
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Skip it

  • Do not use expecting a native HubSpot workflow trigger for this. Lists are not an enrollable record type in the workflow tool; there is no "list is stale" event a standard contact- or deal-based workflow can watch. This fiche uses a scheduled workaround, described below, rather than a native list-based trigger. (check in your portal: confirm current portal version has not added a native list-lifecycle trigger, this has been a recurring feature request)
  • Do not use this fiche to actually delete or archive lists automatically. It reports; a person decides and acts.
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The rest of this spec

Prerequisites · 4 items

Every property with its label, internal name, type and options, plus the assets the workflow needs.

Enrollment · 4 parts

The trigger, the criteria as ticked in the UI, the re-enrollment rule and the suppression list.

Steps · 6 numbered actions

Each action in order with its parameters, branches and delays.

Known pitfalls · 4

Traps seen in production, each with what breaks and what to do instead.

Test plan and UAT script · 4 cases, 3 variants

How to prove it works in a test portal, one case per branch, and a sign-off sheet.

Files · PDF, Markdown, JSON, CSV, code

The properties JSON creates the fields in one call. The workflow JSON documents the build. The custom coded action ships as a ready-to-paste .js file.

Install · 1 click, switched off

The installer creates the properties and the workflow, switched off, then opens a task for what it cannot create. Nothing is deleted, enabled or enrolled.

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