Managing App Integrations

[ACarr1]

My company has recently run into an issue where app integrations have stopped working whenever a previous admin has left the company. We could add a task to our offboarding doc to reinstall all apps previously integrated by a departing team member, but it seems like a better process exists out there. Let me know if you have any suggestions for avoiding this issue in the future.

Thanks,

Allen

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @ACarr1,

Most apps rely on an integration user - if that person leaves, the integration might fail, at the latest when an re-authentication is due.

The best solution here, in my opinion, is to have one user in HubSpot from IT that signs up with a shared address such as it@yourcompany.com. This inbox would persist even if the team behind it changes or if someone leaves.

IT typically likes this because it also means that they have an overview of tools that are being used / integrated.

Best regards!

[RubenBurdin · Accepted solution]

Hi, and this is a Good question @ACarr1 ,
You’re right that the weak spot is when integrations are tied to a person’s account rather than to infrastructure.

Karsten’s advice about using a shared IT account is the quick fix, but the long-term pattern is to decouple integrations from individual users entirely.

In HubSpot, most apps authenticate with OAuth tied to whoever first connects them. That means if that user leaves, you’ll eventually hit a re-authentication failure. HubSpot doesn’t yet offer true “service accounts” for integrations (only for private apps you build https://developers.hubspot.com/docs/guides/apps/private-apps/overview 

So the common workaround is to use a persistent admin account owned by IT. That way, the connection outlives individual employees (see also HubSpot’s integration management overview: https://knowledge.hubspot.com/marketplace/install-apps-from-the-hubspot-marketplace

For what it’s worth, we’ve seen a lot of teams go beyond this and adopt a system-level integration layer.

That way, connections are authenticated and managed independently of any single employee.

Tools like Stacksync handle this by using enterprise-grade authentication and system tokens that rotate automatically, so integrations stay online even if admins churn.

It eliminates the “dirty plumbing” of re-installing apps every time roles change and keeps data consistent across systems long term.

Curious if that direction could fit your setup. Hope this clears things up.

[CEnoch]

Issue with Outlook–HubSpot Email Integration

Our support team has been experiencing issues with the integration between Outlook and HubSpot. When we respond to a customer email via Outlook, only the initial email sent by the customer appears in HubSpot. The full email thread remains visible in Outlook but does not sync to HubSpot.

We are currently using the free version of HubSpot, but we’d like to understand whether this is a limitation of the integration itself, or if it’s specific to our current setup. If we were to upgrade to a paid version, would this issue be resolved — or is it unrelated to the subscription level?

We’d appreciate any clarity or solutions you can offer to help ensure full email visibility across both platforms.

Kind Regards, 

Caitlynn 

[Akash_Vi_R]

+1 to @karstenkoehler .

The easiest way would be to create a shared email and have your admins make any big changes through that. So even when they're offboarded, nothing breaks on HS.

[karstenkoehler · Accepted solution]

Hi @ACarr1,

Most apps rely on an integration user - if that person leaves, the integration might fail, at the latest when an re-authentication is due.

The best solution here, in my opinion, is to have one user in HubSpot from IT that signs up with a shared address such as it@yourcompany.com. This inbox would persist even if the team behind it changes or if someone leaves.

IT typically likes this because it also means that they have an overview of tools that are being used / integrated.

Best regards!