Cannot delete template folder: Folder appears empty but error says it contains templates

Marketing & Content Hub Email Marketing Tool
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Hi everyone,

I am on the Free tier (Admin) and trying to clean up old email templates to stay within our 5-template limit.

When attempting to delete a template folder, I get this error:

“Cannot delete this folder. You can not delete a folder that still has templates in it.”

However, opening the folder shows that it is completely empty—no templates are visible.

Steps already tried with Support:

  • Cleared all filters and search parameters

  • Retried in Incognito/private window

  • Cleared browser cache and cookies

Support mentioned there may be “ghost” or private templates inside created by another user that aren’t visible on the Free plan. Could someone on the technical team assist in removing these hidden templates or force-deleting the folder from the backend?

HubID: [ID]

Thanks!

Moderator note: For information, the HubSpot Community is a public space. I have therefore edited your content for security & confidential reasons.

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Hi @juliaudroc and welcome back, we are so glad to see you again on the HubSpot Community!

Thanks for reaching out and for testing with the first troubleshooting steps! :orange_heart:

For information, private templates can only be deleted by their original creator or a Super Admin with a paid seat. Template visibility can also depend on your account’s subscription and the seat assigned to the user.

You can find more details here: Create and send message templates.

Could you ask the original template creator, or a Super Admin with the appropriate Sales or Service seat, to check the template library? It would be helpful to review the owner and sharing filters to see whether any templates are still associated with that folder.

If no templates appear, can you please share the following details:

  • The folder name and location

  • The number of templates shown compared with those actually visible (we already have the screenshots with the error from the ticket you raised, thank you!)

Then we can investigate on this if needed, thanks!

I’d love to hear from our Top Experts: Hi @danmoyle, @DanielleTebo and @CarolinaDeMares do you have suggestions to help @juliaudroc, please?

Thanks so much and have a lovely day!

Bérangère, HubSpot Community Manager

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Hello Berangere,
thank you for your reply! I saw already that other users had my same issue when migrating from a paid to a free plan. I am the super-admin of the account, but I don’t think it makes much difference on a free plan.
I saw that for other users you were able to purge all the templates “on your side”, freeing up the space to create 5 new ones (included in the free tier), and for that you needed the account ID.

Would you be able to help me with this?
Thank you,

Giulia (TechOps)

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Hi @juliaudroc, thanks for the additional information!

Let me take a look and see what’s possible. I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Thanks for your patience!

Bérangère, HubSpot Community Manager

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Thanks for the tag @Berangere. I’d be stumped as well, @juliaudroc. If you can guarantee that there have been no other users who have created templates - deactivated or deleted users - then I don’t know why it would tell you there’s a template in an empty folder. I guess for me if I was in your shoes, my thought would be to leave the folder and just delete templates.