# Can't create workflow triggered by custom event

**URL:** <https://community.hubspot.com/t/cant-create-workflow-triggered-by-custom-event/145605>\
**Category:** CRM\
**Tags:** workflows\
**Created:** [January 30, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/cant-create-workflow-triggered-by-custom-event/145605 "2026-01-30T13:10:17Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![JamesMH](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/dbc845/32.png) [@JamesMH](https://community.hubspot.com/u/JamesMH)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 1:10pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/cant-create-workflow-triggered-by-custom-event/145605/1 "2026-01-30T13:10:17Z")

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I want to trigger a workflow off a change to a Line Item property value. I discovered you can’t do this with workflows.

So I tried creating a custom event, which is tracking the change. I understood you can trigger workflows on custom events, but when I try to do this, I just get an error:

 ![JamesMH_0-1769778585656.png](https://d2qpr2jzcazej7.cloudfront.net/original/3X/2/c/2cadc33591dd67f491c008d579a86b6a050a7971.png)

Am I trying to get it do something it can’t do, or is there an issue?

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**Author:** ![Victor\_Becerra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@Victor\_Becerra](https://community.hubspot.com/u/Victor_Becerra)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/cant-create-workflow-triggered-by-custom-event/145605/2 "2026-01-30T16:30:40Z")

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Hey @JamesMH Thanks for your question!

I want to share with you this community thread that has a workaround for your issue (Check @karstenkoehler’s comments) [https://community.hubspot.com/t5/Lists-Lead-Scoring-Workflows/Trigger-Deal-workflow-if-a-line-item-is-modified/td-p/543038](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/Lists-Lead-Scoring-Workflows/Trigger-Deal-workflow-if-a-line-item-is-modified/td-p/543038)

I also want to tag other community experts that can help us find a solution. Hey there @EugeneAtKiwi @RomyFuchs1 [@Jonathan\_Vaz](https://community.hubspot.com/t5/user/viewprofilepage/user-id/1029261) Happy Friday! Do you have any insights that can help us out here?

Thanks

Victor

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**Author:** ![RomyFuchs1](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/romyfuchs1/32/65996_2.png) [@RomyFuchs1](https://community.hubspot.com/u/RomyFuchs1)\
**Post date:** [February 2, 2026, 8:14am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/cant-create-workflow-triggered-by-custom-event/145605/3 "2026-02-02T08:14:20Z")

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Hi @JamesMH

You’ve run into two separate limitations/quirks here:

1. **You’re right: you currently can’t trigger a workflow directly from a Line Item property change.**  
Workflow event triggers cover contacts, companies, deals, tickets, and some integrations – but not line items as a first‑class event source. The “Property value changed” trigger is only available for CRM records, not for individual line items attached to them.

2. **Custom events can be used as workflow triggers – but only in specific ways.**

So:

- **Conceptually, what you’re trying to do is allowed** (triggering a workflow on a custom event), but
- **You still can’t make that event “about” a line item object in a way that HubSpot will treat as a Line Item workflow trigger** , and
- The error you see when choosing the custom event as a trigger is almost always due to a mismatch between:
  - the workflow type (e.g. contact vs deal workflow), and
  - the custom event’s target object and properties, or missing prerequisites (like the record not existing at the time of the event).

Regards