How to restore deleted contacts, companies, deals and tickets in HubSpot

A normal delete in HubSpot doesn't remove a record for good. Contacts, companies, deals, tickets and other CRM records go to the recycle bin, and you can restore them for up to 90 days from the object's index page, as of October 2026. After 90 days, or after a permanent delete, they can't be brought back.

So first check when the record was deleted and how. If it was a normal delete in the last 90 days, open the index page for that object, click the three vertical dots in the upper right and choose Restore records.

How to restore deleted records

1. Check your permissions. HubSpot requires Account access and Add and edit users permissions for the restore tool. If you don't have them, ask a Super Admin to do the restore.
2. Open the restore page. Go to the index page for the object, for example contacts or deals. Click the three vertical dots icon in the upper right and select Restore records. The page opens in a new tab.
3. Filter the list. Pick a date range, up to 90 days back. You can also filter by user, or by a workflow that used the Delete contact action.
4. If a workflow deleted them, turn it off first. Otherwise it can delete the restored contacts again, and you end up in a delete loop.
5. Clear email conflicts for contacts. A deleted contact can't be restored while an active contact uses the same email as its primary or secondary address. Change the active contact's primary email to a placeholder, or delete the matching secondary email, then restore.
6. Select and restore. Tick the records, or click Select all records in this date range. Click Restore and type the number of records to confirm. The tool shows and restores up to 10,000 records at a time, so large batches take more than one pass.
7. Export a copy if you want one. The Export button on the same page saves every deleted record shown there as a CSV, XLS or XLSX file.

What comes back with a restored contact

Restoring a contact within 90 days brings back its property values, associations and supported activities, according to HubSpot's article on deleting records. HubSpot's breakdown of what a delete affects adds form submissions, conversations, bounces and unsubscribes, and the lifecycle stage to that list. Two things need attention afterwards:

• Workflows. A deleted contact is unenrolled from its workflows and isn't re-enrolled when you restore it. If it was partway through a nurture or onboarding workflow, enroll it again by hand.
• Segment membership. HubSpot lists list membership as deleted along with the contact and doesn't include it among the things restored. Check any static segments the contacts belonged to.

HubSpot publishes this level of detail for contacts. For other objects, open a few restored records and check their associations before you tell the team it's fixed.

What can't be recovered

Permanent deletes

When you delete a contact from its record, HubSpot asks whether to delete it with the option to restore within 90 days, or to erase it for good, along with its content, under privacy rules. Permanent deletes, which HubSpot used to call GDPR deletes, never go to the recycle bin. They can't be restored, and the user who made one gets an email confirming it. A separate Permanently delete contacts permission controls who can do this.

Anything older than 90 days

After 90 days the record and its data are deleted for good. If the same person contacts you later, HubSpot creates a new contact with no history. The only way back is an export you made earlier, imported as new records, and that file only holds the property values you exported. The import errors article covers getting that import right.

Merged records

A merge isn't a delete. HubSpot says merged records can't be unmerged, so the restore tool won't separate them. See duplicate contacts for how to recover from a wrong merge.

Other things HubSpot keeps for 90 days

• Activities. Notes, calls, meetings and tasks deleted from a record can be restored from that record through Actions and Restore activity. Email activities are restored from their index page instead.
• Workflows. Deleted workflows sit on the Deleted tab of the workflows tool. HubSpot restores a workflow as a new, inactive copy, without its history or past versions.
• Segments. Deleted segments, previously called lists, are on the Recently deleted tab and come back with the same ID.
• Properties. Archived properties are on the Archived tab in property settings and are deleted after 90 days.

How to stop it happening again

• Deleting from an index page needs both the Delete and Bulk delete permissions. Give those to the people who clean data, and keep Permanently delete contacts with one or two admins (permissions guide).
• Review every workflow that uses the Delete contact action and read its enrollment triggers closely. On Professional and Enterprise, workflows can delete contacts. They can't delete deals, companies or other objects.
• Export the records before any bulk cleanup, so you still have a copy once the 90 days are up.

From client work

At Mission Mobile Medical, active client records were going missing. I traced the loss to an inactivity workflow that was deleting them, stopped it and restored the records. When I cleaned up the pipeline at Frontline Facility Partners, the owner approved every removal first.

If records keep disappearing and nobody knows why, I can audit your workflows and permissions and find the cause.

Questions

Can I restore a contact deleted more than 90 days ago?

No. After 90 days the contact and its data are deleted permanently. You can only import it again from an export, as a new record.

Will a restored contact go back into its workflows?

No. HubSpot unenrolls a contact from workflows when it's deleted and doesn't re-enroll it on restore.

Can I see who deleted a record?

The restore records page lets you filter deleted records by user and by workflow, which usually answers it. Contacts deleted by a workflow show up under that workflow's filter.

Can I restore a deleted deal or ticket?

Yes, if it was deleted in the last 90 days. Open the deals or tickets index page and use Restore records from the three dots menu.