Kaizen #26 - Linking module and Multi-select Lookup fields

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another post in the Kaizen series!

This week, we will discuss how to add/delete values to a multi-select lookup field through linking modules via API and achieve many-to-many relationships.

Your data in CRM are often inter-related. For example, you may want to associate an account with contact. You can easily achieve this through a lookup field in the Contacts module that looks up to an account in the Accounts module.

As you can see, this is a one-to-many relationship. However, you can select only one value using a lookup field.

Now, consider a scenario where you want to associate the same contact with two accounts. Here, the lookup field is not helpful as it lets you choose only one record.

To establish many-to-many relationships, you must use the multi-select lookup field.

Example Scenario

Problem

Zylker Real Estates manages buying/renting apartments. They have two modules in their CRM—Listings and Leads.

Jack Smith is one of the leads and is interested in looking at three listings (C-807, B-196, and H-786).

Apart from Jack, three other leads—Jane, Jill, and Derek—are all interested in looking at C-807.

When you create a Lead record for Jack Smith, there must be a provision to choose from the three listings he is interested in. Also, the listing C-807 should have four leads associated with it. So there is a need to choose many values from a lookup field. A regular lookup field lets you choose only one value.

Solution

In this case, Zylker Real Estates could create a multi-select lookup field in the Leads module, as shown in the image below.

So, data in both modules would look like below.

Consider Jack Smith requests a negotiation for each listing, and the negotiated rent differs for all three listings. Now, where can this field be stored?

• It cannot be a field in Jack's record, as there are three different prices based on each house.
  
• It cannot be a field in the listing's record either, as other prospects apart from Jack may have offered different negotiations for it.
  

To manage this diversity, Zoho CRM allows you to create a Linking Module. Each association between two modules (created via a multi-select lookup field) is a record in the linking module. So, when three listings are associated with Jack, three separate records are created in the Linking Module that lets you create separate Negotiated Rent in each record.

Adding values to a multi-select lookup field through an API

When you manipulate records through the API, it is not possible to add values to a multi-select lookup field directly from the module where the multi-select lookup field is present, like how you add values to a lookup field.

Instead, you can create a record in the linking module by passing the values of both the lead and listing's IDs.

Now, let us try to add another Listing (A-101) to the lead Jack Smith.

Details required

• API name of the Linking module. You can obtain this through the Modules API. The value "linking" of the key "generated_type" indicates that this is a linking module. In our case, it is Leads_vs_Listings.
  
• API Names of the lookup fields pointing to the Leads and the Listings module. They are the fields of the Linking module. Here, they are Interested_Leads and Interested_Listings.
  
• Record IDs of the records from the two modules that you want to associate with the multi-select lookup field.
  

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v2/Leads_vs_Listings

Request Method: POST

Sample Input

{     "data": [         {             "Interested_Leads": {                 "id": "3652397000001970024" //ID of the Lead Jack Smith             },             "Interested_Listings": {                 "id": "3652397000001988001" //ID of the Listing A-101             }         }     ] }

Sample Response

{     "data": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "Modified_Time": "2020-04-02T18:27:10+05:30",                 "Modified_By": {                     "name": "Patricia Boyle",                     "id": "3652397000000186017"                 },                 "Created_Time": "2020-04-02T18:27:10+05:30",                 "id": "3652397000001987014",                 "Created_By": {                     "name": "Patricia Boyle",                     "id": "3652397000000186017"                 }             },             "message": "record added",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

In the UI, for the lead Jack Smith

 In the UI, for the listing A-101

In the UI, in the linking module

Deleting/dissociating values from a multi-select lookup field through an API

Deleting the record from the linking module deletes the association between the two modules.

Here, let us delete the association between the lead Jack Smith and the listing A-101. Pass the ID of the record that associates these two in the linking module.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v2/Leads_vs_Listings/{{record_id_in_the_linking_module}}

Request Method: DELETE

Sample URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v2/Leads_vs_Listings/3652397000001987014

Sample Response

{     "data": [         {             "code": "SUCCESS",             "details": {                 "id": "3652397000001987014"             },             "message": "record deleted",             "status": "success"         }     ] }

In the UI, for the linking module

Fetching the Related Records of a Linking Module

When you view a record's details, you can find a multi-select lookup field as a related list in the associated module. In our case, you can find Listings as a related list in the Leads module, while Leads is a related list in the Listings module.

This related list will also display details of the Linking Module, if you have chosen to create one, as in the below image.

To fetch the related list details from a module, you need

• The API name of the related list. You can obtain this through the Related List Metadata API.
  

To fetch the related records associated with the Listings module, the request URL must contain the module name, the ID of the record whose related records you want to fetch, and the related list API name.

Let us now fetch the related records associated with the Listing H-786.

Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v2/Listings/3652397000001978027/Leads3

Request Method: GET

Sample Response

{     "data": [         {             "$approval": {                 "delegate": false,                 "approve": false,                 "reject": false,                 "resubmit": false             },             "Owner": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "3652397000000186017",                 "email": "p.boyle@abc.com"             },             "Modified_Time": "2020-04-02T17:54:05+05:30",             "Email": null,             "$currency_symbol": "Rs.",             "Interested_Leads": {                 "name": "Jack Smith",                 "id": "3652397000001970024"             },             "Interested_Listings": {                 "name": "H-786",                 "id": "3652397000001978027"             },             "Created_Time": "2020-04-02T16:12:27+05:30",             "$review_process": null,             "$editable": true,             "$orchestration": null,             "Name": "10004",             "Last_Activity_Time": "2020-04-02T17:54:05+05:30",             "Modified_By": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "3652397000000186017",                 "email": "p.boyle@abc.com"             },             "$review": null,             "$state": "save",             "$process_flow": false,             "Negotiated_Rent": "4500",             "id": "3652397000001980020",             "Created_By": {                 "name": "Patricia Boyle",                 "id": "3652397000000186017",                 "email": "p.boyle@abc.com"             },             "Secondary_Email": null,             "Email_Opt_Out": false,             "$approved": true         }     ],     "info": {         "per_page": 200,         "count": 1,         "page": 1,         "more_records": false     } }

In the UI,

We hope you found this post useful. Write to us at support@zohocrm.com if you have any questions, or let us know in the comment section.

Cheers!

• Topic Participants

• Shylaja S

  

• Lorenzo

• Sticky Posts

• Kaizen #197: Frequently Asked Questions on GraphQL APIs

  🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Kaizen #198: Using Client Script for Custom Validation in Blueprint

  Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – 1 More to the Big Two-Oh-Oh! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Celebrating 200 posts of Kaizen! Share your ideas for the milestone post

  Hello Developers, We launched the Kaizen series in 2019 to share helpful content to support your Zoho CRM development journey. Staying true to its spirit—Kaizen Series: Continuous Improvement for Developer Experience—we've shared everything from FAQs

• Kaizen #193: Creating different fields in Zoho CRM through API

  🎊 Nearing 200th Kaizen Post – We want to hear from you! Do you have any questions, suggestions, or topics you would like us to cover in future posts? Your insights and suggestions help us shape future content and make this series better for everyone.

• Client Script | Update - Introducing Commands in Client Script!

  Have you ever wished you could trigger Client Script from contexts other than just the supported pages and events? Have you ever wanted to leverage the advantage of Client Script at your finger tip? Discover the power of Client Script - Commands! Commands

• Recent Topics

• Whatsapp Limitation Questions

  Good day, I would like to find out about the functionality or possibility of all the below points within the Zoho/WhatsApp integration. Will WhatsApp buttons ever be possible in the future? Will WhatsApp Re-directs to different users be possible based

• Create a draft in reply to an email via Emails API

  Hi, I’d like to use the outgoing webhook to automatically create a draft reply to incoming mail. How can I use the Emails API to create a draft reply that is linked to an existing email thread? I couldn’t find the relevant method in the documentation.

• India Tech Support

  Is there no phone tech support number for India? And no chat facility either?

• Billing Management: #1 Billing a Universal Business Routine

  Hello, As the saying goes, "Do the hardest job first." We started with the complex subject of finance and revenue management, which is considered the backbone of any business. Now, let's shift our focus and take a deep dive into this Billing Management,

• Show/ hide specific field based on user

  Can someone please help me with a client script to achieve the following? I've already tried a couple of different scripts I've found on here (updating to match my details etc...) but none of them seem to work. No errors flagged in the codes, it just

• What is a a valid JavaScript Domain URI when creating a client-based application using the Zoho API console?

  No idea what this is. Can't see what it is explained anywhere.

• 5名限定 課題解決型ワークショップイベント Zoho ワークアウト開催のお知らせ (9/25)

  ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。Zoho ユーザーコミュニティチームの藤澤です。 9月開催のZoho ワークアウトについてお知らせします。 今回はZoomにて、オンライン開催します。 諸事情につき、今月の開催回は中止となりました。 次回は10/31（金）14時からの開催を予定しています。 ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Zoho ワークアウトとは？ Zoho ユーザー同士で交流しながら、サービスに関する疑問や不明点の解消を目的とした「Zoho ワークアウト」を開催します。 Zoho

• Zoho Calendar not syncing correctly with personal Google Calendar

  Coming to this forum as Zoho Calendar support team is not responding, any more. For the past 8 weeks, I have been having an issue with Zoho Calendar not syncing with my personal Google Calendar correctly. I subscribed to Zoho Calendar iCal in my personal

• Introducing Assemblies and Kits in Zoho Inventory

  Hello customers, We’re excited to share a major revamp to Zoho Inventory that brings both clarity and flexibility to your inventory management experience! Presenting Assemblies and Kits We’re thrilled to introduce Assemblies and Kits, which replaces the

• Customer Parent Account or Sub-Customer Account

  Some of clients as they have 50 to 300 branches, they required separate account statement with outlet name and number; which means we have to open new account for each branch individually. However, the main issue is that, when they make a payment, they

• need a packing list feature

  In our business, goods listed on an invoice are packed in separate boxes and shipped off. for e.g. an invoice may have 10 items. each item could then be packed in different boxes depending on qty of each item. this packing list is as important as the invoice for purposes of shipping documents.  Request you to add this feature asap.

• Workdrive 5.0 / API Documentation Workflows

  Hi Zoho, When will the API documentation of the workflows be published? We are interested in using it to trigger manual workflows from an external application. Greetings, Justin

• How to keep track of bags, cans, drums of inventory?

  We buy and sell products that are packaged in bags 🛍️, cans🥫, drums🛢️, etc. with batch numbers. When we get a shipment of one of the products, how do we track we received (say) 10 cans each of 5L of a product and maybe we received 10 cans of another

• Zoho Error: This Operation has been restricted. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details

  Hello There, l tried to verify my domain (florindagoreti.com.br) and its shows this error: This Operation has been restricted. Please contact support-as@zohocorp.com for further details. Screenshot Given Below -  please check what went wrong. Thanks

• How many ZOHO-Sites does the ZOHO-One Suite allow for?

  The free version of ZOHO-Sites allows for two sites, but it seems that the professional version (which is included in the ZOHO-One Suite) only allows for two websites. Is that correct? How many sites can I have within one ZOHO-One account?

• Webhook from Zobot to Zoho Flow fails

  I'm trying to connect from zobot to zoho flow. When testing in zflow, I am receiving all entered data from the connector correctly. The SalesIQ connector's "outputreaction" is {} (is this normal or is there a problem?). But as soon as I try my chat bot

• Transition from Sole Proprietorship to GmbH (Limited Liability Company) – Best Approach in Zoho Books / Zoho One

  Hello everyone, I am currently operating under a Zoho One plan with a sole proprietorship in Switzerland. As of January 1st, 2026, I will be incorporating a new legal entity – a GmbH (Swiss equivalent of a Limited Liability Company). While the business

• Best way to display complex Bookings Consultation Descriptions on Zoho Site?

  I am a new user so apologies if this has been asked before. I couldn't find any answers in the forum. We offer 18 complex Consultations to our subscribers. Our current platform lets me put detail on these Consultations thoroughly (200-300 words) during

• DKIM cannot be enabled for the domain as no verified default selector present

  Hi Support Team, For Domain DKIM record trying to enable status. but showing error "DKIM cannot be enabled for the domain as no verified default selector present" So, please resolve the issue. Thank you.

• Issue Connecting My Domain to Zoho Sites Despite Purchasing It from Zoho

  Hello, I am facing an issue connecting my domain to my website on Zoho Sites. Details of the issue: I purchased the domain directly from Zoho. I am already using the same domain successfully with Zoho Mail. However, when I try to assign this domain to

• Insert auto number from main form into subform rows

  Hello. I'm trying to take from my main form "order number" which i have setup as an auto generated number into every line created in my subform. So when a row is created in my subform i want the "order number " from the main form to be inserted automatically.

• Dark Mode - Font Colors Don't Work

  When editing a document in Dark Mode and selecting font colors, they don't show up on screen.  Viewing/editing the same document in Light Mode shows them just fine.

• Integrate Bunq with ZOHO Bookes

  We are new users of ZOHO Books, and our bank (BUNQ, in the Netherlands) isn't listed on the bank integrations. Is there a way to handle this?

• Access Denied

  I am iOS Developer and updating our clients project and shifted ZohoDeskPortalCore SDKs from cocoapods to SPM and changed few lines of code but now i am get access denied, the help center app is unavailable. please contact administrator.

• Using Zoho Desk to support ISMS process

  Hi, I am evaluating using Zoho Desk for security incident management. This seems to be aligned with Zoho Desk purpose as its just another type of incident. However in security incident management, ideally I can link incidents (tickets) with a risk from

• Bin Locations

  Dear all, I am wondering if someone has the ability to develop the bin locations option for zoho inventory (integrated with zoho books) Regards, Ryan

• TaxJar vs Avalara

  Hi, I'm evaluating adoption of a sales-tax service for US based business. Anyone else have experience with TaxJar and Zoho Books? I am a Zoho One subscriber so anticipate needing to use Flow to make this work. It seems like Avalara are simply too expensive

• How to check Leads with no Task (open activity)

  Hi everyone, I was wondering if there’s a way to view leads that don’t have any tasks assigned or open activities linked to them.

• What can we do on our end to improve the Answer bot answers?

  Hi, I'm using the Answer bot card in the Codeless bot builder. I've input several questions and their answers in the FAQ section to feed the Answer bot. The text is all in French, as this is the language our customers communicate in. I've tried testing

• Taxes for EU B2B Transactions

  Currently, ZC doesn't seem to have a procedure for validating VAT numbers of businesses purchasing in another EU state, and removing local VAT is valid.  This is essential for all inter EU B2B trade.

• How to upload file to Connect using API?

  Hi there. I looked at the API documentation and nowhere did it mention how to use the API method to upload a file even though it is mentioned that it is possible to be done so. Please help.

• Items Landed Cost and Profit?

  Hello, we recently went live with Zoho Inventory, and I have a question about the Landed Cost feature. The FAQ reads: "Tracking the landed cost helps determine the overall cost incurred in procuring the product. This, in turn, helps you to decide the

• Group Tax in Service Line Items

  Hi FSM Team! I noticed that when you update a tax in the service line item the group tax is not showing up as an option. Let me know what can be done thank you!

• FSM Improvement Idea - Show an Import button when there is no data

  I am setting up FSM for a client and I noticed that there is no option to import data, see screenshot below. Even when you click Create Contact there is only an option to Import from Zoho Invoice. It is only after you add at lease 1 record that the Import

• Zoho FSM API Delete Record

  Hi FSM Team, It would be great if you could delete a record via API. Thank you,

• OAUTH_SCOPE_MISMATCH Error for Marketing Automation APIs with CRM Plus Account

  I'm trying to integrate Marketing Automation journey triggering via API but getting OAUTH_SCOPE_MISMATCH errors. I need clarification on API access for CRM Plus users.

• Access token generate from the refresh token not working for API

  Dear Sir/Madam, When I use my refresh token to obtain new access_token, that token return INVALID_TOKEN when the same API is called. I made sure that my api site is correct and match the auth web site. However the original access_token work fine.

• Function #4: Schedule Customer Statements

  Regularly sending statements to customers is an imperative part of many business processes as it helps foster strong customer relationships and provides timely guidance on payments. While you can generate the statement of accounts and have it sent over

• Limiting search or dependencies with an asterisk "*".

  I have a form with several dependency fields with options still developing for each field. Since these options were developing and not yet ready to be a selection in the field, I placed a filter for the dropdown field. In this filter, I selected fields

• Cross Data Center Support for 1:1 Chats with External Users

  Hello Zoho Cliq Team, We hope you're doing well. We appreciate the recent enhancement that enables cross data center collaboration in external channels, which has already improved communication across distributed teams. However, we’ve noticed that this

• Next Page