How do you find the HubSpot properties nobody uses?

Export every property from HubSpot, hand the file to Claude, and ask it to sort each one into keep, merge, archive or ask someone. The export already carries each property's fill rate and where it is used, so Claude has the numbers. What it adds is reading: it spots that "Lead Source", "How did you hear about us" and "Original source (manual)" are the same question asked three times.

You still do the archiving yourself, in HubSpot, a few properties at a time. Claude's job is the list and the merge plan.

Go carefully at the last step. An archived property sits in the Archived tab for 90 days and is then permanently deleted.

Our walkthrough of keeping a HubSpot contact database clean, which is the job this hack makes faster.

Why does a pile of unused properties matter?

Every portal that has been running for a few years has them. A field someone made for one campaign in 2021. Two versions of "Industry" because the first one had the wrong dropdown options. A "Date of birth" field from a competition nobody remembers.

The cost is real. Reps pick the wrong field, so the data splits across two properties and neither report is right. Forms write to one field and workflows read the other. And the moment you point AI at your CRM, it reads whatever is there, including the dead fields. That is the first of the five checks we run before an agent goes near your CRM data.

There is an Australian reason too. If your business is covered by the Privacy Act, APP 11.2 says you must take reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information you no longer need. The OAIC's guidance on APP 11 spells that out. An old field full of birthdays or home addresses that nothing uses is exactly what that principle is about.

Step 1: export every property

1. In HubSpot, click the settings icon and go to Properties.
2. Click Export all properties in the upper right.
3. Tick the objects you want. Start with contacts, companies and deals.
4. Choose CSV from the File format dropdown and click Export. The download link arrives by email and in your notification centre.

HubSpot's guide to organising and exporting properties lists what the file contains: name, internal name, type, description, group, options, who created it, usages and fill rate, plus the last updated time for contact, company, deal and ticket properties. Fill rate is the percentage of records with a value. Usages tells you where the property is used.

The file holds property definitions and dropdown options. Your contact records are not in it. Even so, read where your data actually goes when Claude reads your CRM if your team has not agreed which Claude plan company data can go into.

Isn't this what HubSpot's data quality tools do?

Partly. HubSpot's data quality tools flag properties as duplicates, as having no data, or as unused, and that is a good starting count. They work from the numbers. They cannot tell you that two properties with different names and different internal names are asking the same question, or which of the two your sales team actually trusts. That takes reading the names, descriptions and dropdown options side by side, which is what Claude is good at.

Step 2: the prompt

Upload the CSV to Claude. CSV works as standard. If you export XLSX instead, Claude's help centre notes you need code execution and file creation turned on first.

This CSV is every property in our HubSpot portal, exported
from Settings. It includes fill rate (percentage of records
with a value) and usages (where the property is used).

We are a [size, industry] business in Australia. We use
HubSpot for [sales / marketing / service, say which].

Sort every custom property into one of four groups:

KEEP: well filled, clearly used, no near-duplicate.
MERGE: two or more properties asking the same question.
  For each group, say which one should survive and why
  (fill rate, usages, better options, clearer name).
ARCHIVE: low fill rate and no usages, or clearly a
  one-off (a campaign, an event, a test).
ASK SOMEONE: anything you are unsure about. Say what
  you would need to know.

Rules:
- Leave HubSpot default properties out of this.
- Flag any property that looks like it holds personal
  information (birthdays, addresses, ID numbers, health
  details) separately, whatever its group.
- Flag any property that looks like it is written by an
  integration (Xero, Salesforce, a form tool, an ads
  platform). Low fill rate does not make those safe.
- Present each group as a table: label, internal name, object, fill rate, usages, your reason.

Step 3: turn the list into a merge plan

For each MERGE group, the order matters:

1. Pick the survivor. Usually the one with the higher fill rate and the cleaner options. Get the sales or marketing lead to agree before you touch anything.
2. Copy the values across. A workflow with the Copy property value action moves data from the old field into the survivor. Filter it to records where the survivor is empty, so you never overwrite good data.
3. Repoint everything. The usages column tells you which forms, lists, reports and workflows touch the old field. For the detail, hover the property, click More, then Export property definition. One of the files in that ZIP lists every usage with a link to edit it.
4. Archive the old one. HubSpot will not let you archive a property still used in a workflow, form or property card, which is a useful safety net.

Then do the ARCHIVE group. Ten at a time, with a note of what went and when, so you can restore anything inside the 90 days.

What should you never archive on fill rate alone?

Integration fields. A property your accounting sync writes to can show a low fill rate because only customers have it, and archiving it breaks the sync. Anything a dashboard report filters by, even if nobody has opened that report in months. And anything the ASK SOMEONE group holds until someone answers.

If you want to go further than properties, our HubSpot portal audit guide covers the rest of the portal.

Frequently asked questions

How do I see the fill rate of every HubSpot property? Go to Settings, then Properties, and click Export all properties. The export includes a fill rate column, which is the percentage of records with a value for that property, and a usages column showing where it is used.

What happens when I archive a HubSpot property? It moves to the Archived tab and is permanently deleted after 90 days. Users with the right permissions can restore it before then. Properties used in workflows, forms or property cards cannot be archived until you remove them from those assets.

Is it safe to upload a HubSpot property export to Claude? The export contains property definitions, dropdown options, fill rates and usages. It does not include contact records. Check your own AI policy on which Claude plan company information may go into before uploading.

Does the Privacy Act affect old CRM properties? If your business is covered by the Privacy Act, APP 11.2 requires reasonable steps to destroy or de-identify personal information you no longer need. An unused property holding personal details is worth reviewing for that reason.

Sources

• Organize, delete, and export properties, HubSpot Knowledge Base, for the export columns, fill rate, usages and the 90 day archive rule.
• Chapter 11: APP 11 Security of personal information, Office of the Australian Information Commissioner, for the obligation to destroy or de-identify personal information that is no longer needed.
• Upload files to Claude, Claude Help Center, for supported file types and the XLSX setting.

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Want a second opinion on your merge plan before anything gets archived? Talk to us.