topic Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them? in Tips, Tricks & Best Practices

Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

SpencerHodgson — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 16:00:14 GMT

I've found workflow automations to be VERY helpful, and sometimes they can create tasks in bulk and streamline processes in a way that saves a LOT of time! But sometimes those tasks end up needed to get deleted in bulk too, otherwise the workflow just CREATED something which will take a lot of time. Any idea on if it's possible to use a workflow to mark qualifying tasks as completed?

Thanks!

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

ConnorSlivensky — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 17:36:20 GMT

There isn't a way to mass delete tasks as far as I know. Activities are tricky since they don't behave like objects. If you wanted you could use the associated Deal. Then you could have a custom property to flag things to delete but I don't see anything that allows you to set Activity properties like you can Objects.

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

karstenkoehler — Wed, 16 Jun 2021 17:40:12 GMT

Hi @SpencerHodgson,

At this stage it's not possible to edit the status of a task in workflows. (It might be possible with custom code in workflows, requiring Operations Hub Professional.)

There is a related request in the HubSpot Ideas section of the community which you might find interesting: Allow workflows to delete or mark tasks complete

Hope this helps!

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

JNeal7 — Mon, 17 Apr 2023 21:53:07 GMT

I am having the same issue. Send out an email workflow - create tasks for those contacts in that group. If the next task is to send another email workflow, I would not be going into each contact to check off each task. I'm getting a contact with several tasks that look outstanding, but have really been completed. Has anyone found another way to accomplish this so that we don't end up with 10 outstanding tasks for the same contact? Thanks

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

kvlschaefer — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 10:06:10 GMT

Hi @JNeal7,

Are you still experiencing this issue? If so, I would like to invite you to create a new post in our Community to ensure it gets full visibility among our Community members.

Please make sure to include examples of your workflows and tasks, screenshots, and any other pertinent information for the Community to be able to assist. Thank you!

Best,

Kristen

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

JNeal7 — Tue, 18 Apr 2023 17:48:52 GMT

I found another post that was similar with lots of others having the same issue.

You can’t close “tasks” or change Lifecycle status without having to open each contact record and do it manually. There’s no workflow or automation ( that I’ve found) to handle this. Fine if you have 20 active prospects. Not ok if you’re managing 100’s

Thanks.

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

zach_threadint — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 06:39:44 GMT

Hi @SpencerHodgson 👋

I've created an app that suits at least some of the use cases you've described, called Utilities for HubSpot.

As per the app's Usage Guide, installing the app makes available a number of custom workflow actions within your HubSpot portal, including "Delete Associated Tasks" and "Mark All Tasks as Complete". I'm also very open to developing new features for the app that would suit your use cases.

Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

BrettloweAUS — Mon, 11 Sep 2023 01:06:50 GMT

This is very cool.

I am just in the process of moving my CS team from GainSight to HS (which we have always used). We now need to replicate more of the CS-type workflows.

Tasks play a huge part in what we do. Do you have any ideas to add workflow steps around the status of a task - can't seem to work out why HS has this in some views (table view in sales > takes) but you can't edit or view it anywhere else.

The idea, at any given time a CSM has a number of tasks generating for them. Most are triggered by a customer activity or event (poor usage, turned a product off, has become a good lead candidate)

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

zach_threadint — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 06:40:10 GMT

Hi @BrettloweAUS 👋

Unfortunately, it's currently very difficult to effectively use Task statuses in any kind of HubSpot automation logic. This is due to a number of factors, including:

Tasks (which falls under the umbrella HubSpot object-type "Activity") currently cannot be used as a workflow object-type.
As per this HubSpot Knowledge Base article, it's not possible to use Activities (including Tasks) as workflow re-enrollment triggers.
Very limited data relating to Tasks is stored on an associated record of another object-type (e.g. Contact, Company, Deal, Ticket).
HubSpot App Developers cannot currently "listen" for changes to Activities (including Tasks). This makes custom solutions relating to your described use case even more difficult.

Unfortunately, all of the above significantly limits what can be achieved when designing programmatic/automated solutions that rely heavily on HubSpot Activity data.

Please let me know if you have any follow-up questions.

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

BrettloweAUS — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 03:28:56 GMT

@zach_threadint

That all makes sense. I might go down the path of custom objects then.

Can you point me to any community/forums focused on Customer Success within HubSpot? I find most forums learn more towards sales/rev ops and not as much just on CS.

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

zach_threadint — Tue, 05 Mar 2024 06:40:26 GMT

Hi @BrettloweAUS 👋

You might be interested in the following HubSpot Community Discussion Groups:

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

BrettloweAUS — Tue, 12 Sep 2023 22:43:21 GMT

Can you explain what you are trying to achieve here?

It sounds like you have a series of emails to send to the customer. What are the tasks for?

There might be another way to achieve what you're trying to do.

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

jditmer0 — Mon, 18 Mar 2024 03:49:22 GMT

I could really use this ability too. We need to be able to change task status or delete a tast based on whether a previous task has been completed

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

bbmillbrook — Tue, 15 Oct 2024 17:56:53 GMT

this is still an issue for us. Any way to do it programmatically via API or 3rd party app like Zapier?

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

karstenkoehler — Fri, 08 Nov 2024 05:34:12 GMT

Hi @SpencerHodgson and everyone,

Good news, HubSpot has introduced task workflows!

Workflows
Task workflows
November 7, 2024

What is it?

Users can now create task-centered workflows.

Why does it matter?

Enhance task automation with greater flexibility and efficiency. Trigger automation directly from changes in tasks, like creation, status updates, or overdue notifications. Establish standard, automated processes for task management. For example, alert a sales manager when specific tasks complete or become overdue, or automatically create tasks in other project management tools when you start tasks in HubSpot.

How does it work?

To create a task workflow:

From the workflows tool homepage, click "Create workflow" and select "From scratch"
Choose the task object on the object select page
Choose the trigger based on task events or properties
Add actions as usual

Who gets it?

Marketing Hub Pro, Marketing Hub Enterprise, Operations Hub Pro, Operations Hub Enterprise, Sales Hub Pro, Sales Hub Enterprise, Service Hub Pro, Service Hub Enterprise

You can find this beta here:

You can now enroll tasks based on criteria of your liking and use the 'Edit record' workflow action to set a task status to completed:

If you want to make it easier for others to find this update, you can help them by accepting my reply as a solution. I'd appreciate it, too.

Have a great day!

Re: Workflows can create tasks, any way to complete them?

DFickes — Thu, 01 May 2025 20:07:04 GMT

What is the status of this beta? I can't seem to find either the beta or the completed item.