Hi everyone,
I’m using the HubSpot Import API to import Contacts and Companies into our HubSpot account. Everything works smoothly, but I’ve encountered an issue with tracking/filtering the imported records.
In the import JSON payload, I specify a name, and I noticed that this value gets mapped to the property “Original Source Drill-Down 2” on both Contacts and Companies. However, this property cannot be used to filter records in Views, Lists, Reports, or Workflows, which limits its usefulness.
My Question:
Which contact or company property should I use (or populate) to reliably filter or segment the records that were imported using the Import API?
I want to be able to:
- Create views or lists that show only records imported by the API
- Use this in workflows and reporting as a filter
Has anyone found a good workaround for this, like tagging imported records via a custom property during import, or is there a recommended way from HubSpot?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Hey there! Great question — and you’re absolutely right: the Import API writes the import name to Original Source Drill-Down 2, but that property is read-only and not filterable in Lists, Views, Workflows, or Reports. Frustrating, I know.
Recommended Solution:
Use a custom property as a tagging mechanism during the import process. Here’s how:
How to implement:
-
Create a custom property in HubSpot:
- For Contacts: e.g., import_source (Single-line text or dropdown)
- For Companies: e.g., company_import_source
-
In your import JSON payload, include that custom property and populate it with a unique value (e.g., “api-import-july2025”).
Example snippet for a Contact record:
{ “properties”: { “firstname”: “John”, “lastname”: “Doe”, “email”: “john.doe@example.com”, “import_source”: “api-import-july2025” } }
-
Now you can filter:
-
Views: Add a filter like import_source is equal to api-import-july2025
-
Lists: Build active or static lists based on that property
-
Workflows: Trigger actions when import_source equals your tag
-
Reports: Use the custom field as a filter or breakdown
Let me know if this helps, or if you have any other questions!
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Thank you, @BrandonWoodruff, for your response. Yes, your solution works; however, I’m building a solution to import data from my product into multiple HubSpot accounts of my product customers.
Creating a custom property for each account isn’t the ideal approach for my use case. I was looking for properties that already exist in HubSpot.
I’m considering using the following existing properties:
- For the Contact object: Membership Notes (hs_content_membership_notes)
- For the Company object: Description (description)
Let me know if you see any concerns with using these.
