Opening Problem Statement
Meet Anna, a marketing operations manager juggling multiple CRM data sources. Every week, Anna spends hours manually importing CSV files of contacts, companies, deals, and tickets into HubSpot. The painful part? She faces constant field mismatches, missing properties, and repeated errors causing incomplete data entries. This leads to inefficiencies, bad reporting, and lost sales opportunities. Anna needed a foolproof way to automate this import workflow, validate data integrity, and keep her HubSpot properties up to date without spinning her wheels daily.
What This Automation Does
This n8n workflow automates the entire process of importing CSV data for various HubSpot CRM objects while ensuring data integrity and replay safety. Here’s what happens when you run this automation:
- Automatically fetches and updates the list of current properties for each HubSpot CRM object (companies, contacts, deals, leads, tickets).
- Clears and syncs these properties into a Google Sheet, serving as a live reference and mapping source.
- Uploads a CSV file via a web form, reads its headers, and checks if all fields are defined in the HubSpot property list.
- If fields don’t match, dynamically generates a form for manually mapping CSV headers to HubSpot properties.
- Transforms CSV data according to the mapping and imports each record into HubSpot through API calls.
- Confirms successful import with a completion message via a form response node.
By automating this complex process, this workflow saves hours weekly, eliminates manual errors, and guarantees CRM data quality.
Prerequisites ⚙️
- n8n cloud or self-hosted account (for running the workflows).
- HubSpot account with API access and configured OAuth2 credentials for the HubSpot API node.
- Google Sheets account with OAuth2 configured for reading/writing property lists.
- Basic CSV files of CRM data with headers compatible with HubSpot properties.
Step-by-Step Guide
1. Start the Workflow with Manual Trigger or Form Upload
Navigate in n8n to the “Start here to update your field list” Manual Trigger node to initiate updating HubSpot properties. Alternatively, use the “File upload form” node to upload a CSV file for import. You should see the form prompting for a CSV file and the type of import (companies, contacts, deals, leads, tickets). Common mistake: Uploading CSV files without correct delimiters or headers.
2. Erase and Prepare Google Sheet for Property Sync
The “Erase Google sheet” node clears the existing Google Sheet to store fresh HubSpot property data. This ensures your Google Sheet always contains current property metadata. Expected output: An empty “Properties for Hubspot” sheet ready for new data.
3. Define CRM Objects Array
In the “Define array of objects” set node, specify the list of HubSpot objects for which properties should be fetched: [“companies”,”contacts”, “deals”, “leads”, “tickets”]. This array drives the API fetch loops.
4. Fetch Properties from HubSpot API
The “Fetch properties from Hubspot” HTTP Request node calls the endpoint https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/properties/{{ object }} for each object. It requires OAuth2 credentials. It outputs detailed property metadata, including name, label, type, description, and more. Errors often arise from missing or incorrect credentials.
5. Filter and Annotate Properties
The “Remove hidden and starting with hs_ props fields” Filter node removes system-hidden properties or those starting with “hs_” to keep only relevant custom fields. Then, the “Define crm_type” Code node adds the CRM object type to each property record for clarity.
6. Save Properties to Google Sheet
The “Transforms the results” Code node prepares data, then the “Append to Google sheet” node writes the property list to the “Properties for Hubspot” Google Sheet sheet. This sheet acts as a reference catalog for the imported CRM properties.
7. Upload and Extract CSV Data
When users upload a CSV via the “File upload form”, the “To get the first line of file” node extracts headers from the CSV to identify the fields. Meanwhile, “Get the content of file” extracts full rows converting CSV into JSON objects for processing.
8. Validate Uploaded Fields Against HubSpot Properties
“Get the fields from the sheet” reads the Google Sheet property data filtered by the chosen CRM type. Then, the “Check if all fields from input are defined” Code node checks the CSV headers against the properties retrieved. If all align, the workflow proceeds; if not, it triggers a user form for manual mapping.
9. Create and Display Correspondance Form for Field Mapping
If the CSV contains fields not existing in HubSpot, the “Creates the correspondance table” Code node dynamically builds a form with dropdowns allowing users to map CSV headers to existing HubSpot properties. “Form to set the correponding field for each input field” node displays this for user input.
10. Apply Field Mapping to CSV Data
The “Set the values for each field1” Code node applies the user-defined correspondences, aligning CSV data to the expected HubSpot field names, ensuring data consistency.
11. Split Data Records and Prepare Upload Payload
The “Split all records to import” node splits data into individual records, then “Define properties” wraps each record into a JSON object ready for API import. This is necessary for batch processing through the HubSpot API.
12. Upload Data to HubSpot via API
The “Uploads to Hubspot” HTTP Request node posts each record to https://api.hubapi.com/crm/v3/objects/companies or appropriate HubSpot endpoint using OAuth2 credentials. Successful submissions will create or update CRM objects in HubSpot.
13. Confirm Completion to User
Finally, the “Form response” node sends a success message “Your Data has been imported successfully” to notify users of a completed process.
Customizations ✏️
1. Expand Supported HubSpot Objects
Modify the “Define array of objects” node to add or remove CRM object types you’ll import. For example, adding “products” or “customObjects” if supported by your HubSpot API plan.
2. Adjust CSV Parsing Parameters
In the “Get the content of file” node, change the delimiter or encoding if your CSV uses different formatting (e.g., commas instead of semicolons).
3. Customize Field Filtering Logic
Tweak the “Remove hidden and starting with hs_ props fields” filter conditions to include/exclude additional system fields based on your use case.
4. Add Additional Data Validation
Enhance the “Check if all fields from input are defined” code node to flag type mismatches or required missing fields for higher data accuracy.
5. Use Google Sheets for Pre-Import Edits
Allow your marketing or sales team to edit field mapping or property names directly in the synced Google Sheet before importing, providing a manual control layer.
Troubleshooting 🔧
Problem: “401 Unauthorized” fetching HubSpot properties
Cause: Incorrect or expired OAuth2 credentials.
Solution: Re-authenticate HubSpot OAuth2 credentials in n8n by navigating to the credentials manager and refreshing the token.
Problem: Empty CSV data or header missing
Cause: Incorrect delimiter or file encoding settings in the “Get the content of file” node.
Solution: Adjust delimiter settings (e.g., semicolon vs comma) and encoding to UTF-8 to correctly parse the CSV content.
Problem: Form to map missing fields not appearing
Cause: All fields are detected as mapped or logic error in the “If all fields are defined” node.
Solution: Verify that the “Check if all fields from input are defined” node correctly outputs false when unmapped fields exist, then ensure proper connections from the IF node.
Pre-Production Checklist ✅
- Verify HubSpot OAuth2 credentials are correctly connected and authorized.
- Ensure Google Sheets OAuth2 credentials have read/write access to the target spreadsheet.
- Test CSV file format: headers match expected properties and use correct delimiters.
- Run the “Start here to update your field list” manual trigger to refresh property listings.
- Test an import with a small CSV sample to confirm mapping logic and API upload success.
Deployment Guide
Activate your workflow in n8n once all connections are verified. Set the workflow to run on manual triggers or form submissions as needed. Monitor logs for errors especially during initial runs. Use n8n execution history to rollback failed imports or trace issues. Consider scheduling periodic updates of HubSpot properties via the manual trigger to keep Google Sheet reference data fresh.
FAQs
Q: Can I use this workflow with other CRMs instead of HubSpot?
A: The workflow is tailored to HubSpot API endpoints and property structure, but you could adapt it for similar CRMs with REST APIs, adjusting the HTTP request URLs and payloads.
Q: Does this workflow consume HubSpot API calls quickly?
A: It does make API calls per object and record, so for large data volumes, keep an eye on your HubSpot plan limits.
Q: Is my data safe during transfer?
A: Yes, all data is transmitted over HTTPS with OAuth2 secured API calls. Your credentials are stored securely within n8n.
Q: Can I modify this workflow to handle additional file types?
A: Currently, it supports CSV with semicolon delimiters. You could customize the file parsing node to accept other formats.
Conclusion
By setting up this n8n automation, you have transformed a tedious, error-prone HubSpot data import process into a streamlined, error-resilient flow. You have automated fetching property definitions, validated incoming CSV data, handled inconsistent headers through dynamic forms, and seamlessly uploaded records to HubSpot. This saves hours weekly, reduces mistakes, and ensures up-to-date CRM data that your marketing and sales teams can rely on.
Next, consider expanding this workflow to automate export syncs or Zapier-like triggers for real-time updates. You might also build reporting dashboards from the Google Sheet syncing step or automate reminders for CRM data audits.
With n8n, such powerful CRM automations are accessible for everyone—let’s keep refining your processes!