Bi-directional sync with Salesforce

[spaul]

Currently our instance does not have sync between SFDC and Hubspot in both directions so a large number of our leads/contacts cannot be segmented on as they only reside in SFDC. I would like to change this and create a true bi-directional sync of all our leads and contacts into Hubspot.

My concern is that with all the workflows in place I'm afraid that contacts could enter any workflow if they meet its criteria. Is there a way to prevent this from happening or is this not a concern at all?

Thanks.

[bradmin · Accepted solution]

Take your inclusion list, and add two OR conditions at the end: 

[all your existing inclusion list criteria]

OR

Salesforce Lead ID is known

OR

Salesforce Contact ID is known

As long as you're adding Salesforce records to HubSpot via import or auto-add, this logic will work fine. The initial import pulls in the Salesforce lead or contact ID, so the contact will be added to the inclusion list (regardless whether it's a lead or contact in Salesforce) and stay there. 

[RubenBurdin · Accepted solution]

Hi @spaul 

This thread is pretty dated, and a lot has changed since 2018. In 2025, HubSpot’s Salesforce integration gives you more flexibility, but the same principle still applies: every Salesforce record that syncs into HubSpot will be evaluated against your workflows.

The safe way forward is not to remove inclusion lists entirely but to explicitly define who should enter automation. For example, you can still use Salesforce Lead/Contact ID as part of your enrollment logic, but add exclusion criteria so that records syncing “just for segmentation” don’t trip nurturing or marketing flows

(https://knowledge.hubspot.com/salesforce/create-a-salesforce-inclusion-list )

If your concern is workflows firing the moment a Salesforce contact lands in HubSpot, one practical approach is to gate workflows with a dedicated “Sync source” or “Lifecycle managed by” property.

HubSpot lets you create custom properties and use them as filters, so you can clearly separate operational sync records from those that should enter marketing/sales automation. That way, you can run a full two-way sync while maintaining control over who actually flows into campaigns.

(https://knowledge.hubspot.com/workflows/set-your-workflow-enrollment-triggers )

For 2025 setups, most teams running serious bi-directional sync between HubSpot and Salesforce don’t rely only on inclusion lists anymore, they build in property flags, event triggers, and even intermediate layers to prevent workflow chaos. If consistency between Salesforce and HubSpot is the ultimate goal, Stacksync handles two-way sync in real time while letting you layer in these guardrails so you don’t spend time chasing misfired workflows.

[bradmin]

Hi, @spaul. Can you say more about the specific things you'd like to accomplish? It sounds like you want to import any leads or contacts in HubSpot but not in Salesforce. 

If that's the case, I can't say for certain whether your Salesforce-side automation will fire. In a perfect world, the answer is 'no, nothing will happen'. 

Let's say you take Salesforce leads and contacts, and create a .csv of emails for import into HubSpot. Let's assume there's no inclusion list in HubSpot; or, if there is, you've included values on your import which will allow those records to join the inclusion list on import in HubSpot. 

When that happens, the HubSpot contact will trigger the sync, and look for Salesforce leads or contacts with a matching email. When it finds one, any data on the contact in HubSpot will sync to Salesforce, based on the matching rules you've defined in HubSpot for field mappings. 

If you're importing a .csv of emails only into HubSpot, they exactly match your Salesforce leads and contacts, and no duplicate leads or contacts (on email) exist in your Salesforce org, then there shouldn't be much which causes Salesforce workflow rules to fire - there won't be any data changes coming from HubSpot to trigger them. 

There is the chance you've mapped properties which could only be populated by HubSpot. If that's the case, and you're automating off of those in Salesforce, temporarily disable those specific workflows in Salesforce, until the import has finished processing and records have finished syncing. Otherwise, with a minima of data on the HubSpot-side import, your Salesforce workflows shouldn't fire. 

[spaul]

@bradmin - Thank you for the response and I apologize for the lateness in my response. I don't think I explained myself well enough. What I'm trying to do is have all my SFDC leads, contacts, flow to Hubspot and vice versa. Currently there is an inclusion list in place which prevents all leads/contacts from syncing to Hubspot.  I would like to remove this list and have everything pass through. I'm not  worried about the SFDC workflows but I'm concerned about the Hubspot workflows that are in place as I assume that any new contacts/leads from SFDC, if they meet the criteria, will enter the workflows in Hubspot I have already created. 

I hope I explained my self better. Thank you again.

[bradmin · Accepted solution]

Take your inclusion list, and add two OR conditions at the end: 

[all your existing inclusion list criteria]

OR

Salesforce Lead ID is known

OR

Salesforce Contact ID is known

As long as you're adding Salesforce records to HubSpot via import or auto-add, this logic will work fine. The initial import pulls in the Salesforce lead or contact ID, so the contact will be added to the inclusion list (regardless whether it's a lead or contact in Salesforce) and stay there. 

[Mawghan]

@spaul and @bradmin wanted to also share with you a possible simple fix for your issue which would be checking out www.piesync.com as we are a premier partner of Hubspot and many of the Hubspot users are usings PieSync for this exact issue of 2-way real time filtered syncing. Let us know if you need help or have additional questions and here is a quick Video showing HubSpot and PieSync. 

[bradmin]

Good to know about your product, but the use case the original poster described isn't specifically resolved with your software; it just contains the word "real-time". The specific issue is a function of configuration.

[Mawghan]

@bradmin We do offer a bi-directional sync between HubSpot and Salesforce so I believe we are indeed able to help. 

[bradmin]

The question was about getting all Salesforce records to sync, which in this case was a function of the poster's inclusion list in HubSpot. 

[roisinkirby]

Hey @Mawghan are you able to share further details r.e. how PieSync can solve for this specific use case?

[Mawghan]

Hi @roisinkirby @spaul, with PieSync you can easily create a full bi-directional sync between your SFDC and Hubspot. By using our intelligent rules and best practices of @bradmin, it's relatively easy to prevent contacts/leads to enter your existing Hubspot Workflows. 

As you already know, it's a real-time solution so any new contacts will be up to date in both applications. Not only new but also existing contacts will get synced. This means that you won't lose any data from your current database inside SFDC. And most important, you don't have to worry about manually updating both apps. 

How does it work? First, we will match your current databases to make sure we don't create any duplicates. If the contact/lead already exists we will just update it. If it doesn't exist, we will create it. By using our if-then rules, you can specify which contacts you'd like to keep in sync but also make sure they won't enter workflows by using specific properties.

Below you can find some screenshot on how it looks like. At the moment, we only have a full bi-directional sync with the Contact type. I want you to know that we will also support a full bi-directional sync with Leads type really soon (weeks, currently already available internal). And for that reason, I'm happy to share our new UI for the first time. This will help you to sync leads and contacts from SFDC to Hubspot and vice versa. 

Current UI (Including Contacts)New UI (including Leads/Contacts)New UI Rules (including Leads/Contacts

Let me know if you have any further questions.