Kaizen #199: FAQs on Multi-Select Lookup (MxN) Field in Zoho CRM

Kaizen #199: FAQs on Multi-Select Lookup (MxN) Field in Zoho CRM

 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. 

Hey everybody!!!
Welcome back to another post in the Kaizen series!
In this post, we will address some of the most frequently asked questions about the Multi-Select Lookup(MxN) field from the Zoho CRM developer community forum.

1. What is a Multi-select lookup field?

A multi-select lookup field in Zoho CRM lets you create a many-to-many relationship between two modules. This means a record in one module can be linked to multiple records in another module and vice versa.
For example, using an multi-select lookup field, you can associate multiple skills with an employee.

2. How does the Mutli-Select Lookup relationship work?

When you create a Multi-Select Lookup between two modules, for example, Employees and Skills, Zoho CRM automatically creates a hidden linking module, which is also known as an MxN module. This module stores the associations between records in the two modules, enabling you to track and manage many-to-many relationships.

For instance, if you link Employees and Skills, a linking module named EmpXSkills will be created.

This linking module is accessible only via API.

Backend Flow of multi-select lookup Relationship



In the linking module, two lookup fields (lookup fields with api names - Employees and Skills) will be created. The lookup fields, one pointing to Employees and the other pointing to Skills from the linking module, establish a connection between the linking module and its associated module.

Why you cannot use a lookup field for this use case? 
In Zoho CRM, a lookup field creates a one-to-many relationship between two modules i.e. one record in the source module can be linked to only one record in the target module.

Example :
If you create a lookup field for Skills in the Employees module, each employee can be linked to only one skill. So, use a multi-select lookup field instead of a lookup field when you need to represent complex relationships like one employee - many skills and one skill - many employees.

3. How to create a multi-select Lookup field using Zoho CRM APIs?

To create a Multi-Select lookup field between two modules using Zoho CRM APIs, follow these steps:

Step 1: Identify the Module API Name
Before creating the field, you should know the API names of the Employees and Skills modules. For that, use the Get Module Metadata API.  

Request URL  : {{api-domain}}/crm/v8/settings/modules
Request method : GET



Now, search for the Employees module in the response and note its API name.

Step 2: Use the Create Custom Fields API

To establish a many-to-many relationship between two modules, in our case, Employees and Skills, you need to create a custom field of type multi-select lookup in the Employees module (parent module).  Here, we will associate multiple skills to an employee.

This custom field requires:
  • The related module you want to link to - Skills.
  • A display field from the related module
  • The linking module (EmpXSkills), which stores the actual associations.
Use the Create Custom Fields API to create custom fields.

Request URL : {{api_domain}}/crm/v8/settings/fields?module=Employees
Request method : POST

Sample input :



{
    "fields": [
        {
            "field_label": "Skills", //Name of the field in your module
            "data_type": "multiselectlookup", //Type of the field
            "multiselectlookup": { //This JSON object contains the multi-select lookup relationship details

                "connected_details": { //Details about the module and field you want to link
                    "module": {
                        "api_name": "Skills" //API name of the related module
                    },
                    "field": {
                        "field_label": "Skills" //The field in the related module to display
                    }
                },
                "linking_details": { //Details about the junction or linking module that manages the many-to-many relationship
                    "module": {
                        "plural_label": "EmpXSkills" //Plural label of the junction module
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    ]
}

4. How Do You Find the Linking Module and Field API Names?

To know the API name of the linking module:
Use the Get Modules API and search for "generated_type" : "linking" in the response to identify MxN modules. In our case, EmpXSkills.

Request URL : {{api_domain}}/crm/v8/settings/modules
Request method : GET



To know the field API names in the linking module:
Use the Get Fields Metadata API to retrieve the API names of lookup fields within the linking module.

Request URL : {{api_domain}}/crm/v8/settings/fields?module=EmpXSkills
Request method : GET

5. How do I associate records via a multi-select lookup field using the Insert Records API in Zoho CRM?

To associate records using a multi-select lookup field, you must provide the record IDs from the related module. The association is made through the linking module.

Example :
Associating multiple skills with an employee using the multi-select lookup field.

Request URL : {{api-domain}}/crm/v8/Employees
Request method : POST

Sample input :


{
  "data": [
    {
      "Name": "Patricia",
      "Email": "patricia@mail.com",
      "Position": "Marketing Specialist",
      "Year_of_Experience": 5,
      "Skills": [   // API name of the multi-select lookup field in the Employees module
        {
          "Skills": { // API name of the lookup field in the linking module pointing to the Skills module
            "name": "Marketing",
            "id": "5725767000002149427"  //ID from the Skills module are mandatory to establish the link
          }
        },
        {
          "Skills": {
            "name": "Social Media Marketing",
            "id": "5725767000002149476"
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}


6. How do I associate an Employee's skills using the linking module in Zoho CRM?

To establish a relationship between the Employees and Skills modules through the linking module, use the Insert Records API to create a record in the linking module, EmpXSkills.

To do this,
  • Use the appropriate lookup field API names to reference the parent module.
  • You must need the record IDs from both the Employees and Skills modules to create the associations.
Request URL : {{api-domain}}/crm/v8/EmpXSkills
Request method : POST

Sample input :


{
  "data": [
    {
      "Name": "Patricia",
      "Employees": {
        "id": "5725767000002161001"  // Record ID from the Employees module
      },
      "Skills": {
        "id": "5725767000002149476"  // Record ID from the Skills module
      }
    }
  ]
}


7. When should I use create/update operations in the Employees module vs the EmpXSkills module?

                Employees Module

               EmpXSkills (linking) Module

Use when you want to create or update an Employee and associate Skills using the Multi-select Lookup field.

Use when you want to create or remove associations between existing Employee and Skill records without modifying the actual Employee or Skill data.

Creating a new employee and assigning their skills at once.

Managing relationships between existing records i.e., linking and unlinking skills to employees.


8. How to update a record in the linking module?

To update a record in the linking module, use the Update Records API.
Request URL : {{api-domain}}/crm/v8/EmpXSkills/5725767000006269044
Request method : PUT

Sample input :


{
    "data": [
        {
            "Skills": {
                "name": "Marketing",
                "id": "5725767000002170035" //Associating another skill with the employee 
            }
        }
    ]
}
In the above sample, we have replaced an existing skill associated with an employee with another Skill in the linking module.This is done by updating the Skills lookup field in the EmpXSkills record.

Please note that in the linking module, Skills is a lookup field, so you can associate only one skill per linking record. But in the Employees module, Skills is a multi-select lookup field, so an employee can be associated with multiple skills.

9. How to unlink records from the parent module as well as the linking module?

Unlink the associated records from the parent module:

Using the Update records API, you can remove an associated skill from an employee, use the "_delete": null key within the multi-select lookup field in the Employee record update.

Request URL : {{api-domain}}/crm/v8/Employees/5725767000006269044
Request method : PUT

Sample input :

{
"data": [
        {
            "Skills": [
               {
                    "Skills": {
                        "name": "Marketing", 
                        "id": "5725767000002170035" // The Skill record you want to unlink
                    },
                    "id": "5725767000007228047", //record ID - The record created in the linking module for the employee with the Marketing skill
                    "_delete" : null 
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Replace an associated record from the linking module:

Use the Update Records API to replace an existing association in the linking module.

Request URL : {{api-domain}}/crm/v8/EmpXSkills/5725767000007228035
Request method : PUT

Sample input :


{
    "data": [
        {
            "Skills": {
                "name": "Java",
                "id": "5725767000005259075" //replacing a new skill 
            }
        }
    ]
}
In the above sample, we have replaced the existing skill with Java.

10. Why am I seeing the error "DUPLICATE_LINKING_DATA"  in the Update Records API? 

This error occurs when you try to associate records with the parent record that are already linked with the Multi-select lookup field. To resolve this, check the records you are trying to link and make sure your association is only with records that are not already linked.

Know your existing linked records:

Before the Update Records API, use the Get Related Records Data API and search for the multi-select lookup field. In our case, Skills is the multi-select lookup field created in the Employees module. This will return all records already associated.

Example :


The response returns all Skills already linked with that Employee.

Using this way, compare the IDs from the API response with the new records you are about to link, and only proceed with non-duplicate IDs. This avoids duplicate entries and prevents the "DUPLICATE_LINKING_DATA" error.

11. What happens if I delete a record in the linking module?

When you delete a record in the linking module, it only removes the association between the related records in the Employees and Skills modules.

Note :
  • Deleting a linking module record removes only the relationship between two records from the Employees and Skills modules.
  • Deleting an Employee or Skill record deletes all corresponding entries in the linking module as well.

12. How do I query linked records?

Use the COQL API to query multi-select lookup data by specifying the corresponding linking module's API name directly in your query. The linking module is treated as a separate module in Zoho CRM, so you can retrieve associated records by querying it like any other module.

Sample query :


{
  "select_query": "select Skills.Name as skill, Employees.Name as employee from EmpXSkills where Skills.Name like '%Marketing%'"
}

Use the Get Module Metadata API to know the linking module's API name.

13. How do I export multi-select lookup records using the Bulk Read API?

To export multi-select lookup data, linking module records efficiently, use the Bulk Read API with the linking module’s API name.

Request method : POST

Sample Request :


{
    "callback": {
        "method": "post"
    },
    "query": {
        "module": {
            "api_name": "EmpXSkills" //API name of the linking module
        },
        "fields": [
            "Employees.Name",
            "Employees.Year_of_Experience",
            "Skills.Name"
        ],
        "criteria": {
            "group": [
                {
                    "field": {
                        "api_name": "Employees.Year_of_Experience" 
                    },
                    "comparator": "greater_than",
                    "value": "4"
                },
                {
                    "field": {
                        "api_name": "Skills.Name"
                    },
                    "comparator": "contains",
                    "value": "Social"
                }
            ],
            "group_operator": "AND"
        }
    }
}

14. Can I import my linking module's data using the Bulk Write API?

Yes. Like the Leads and Contacts modules, you can also import linking module's data into Zoho CRM using the Bulk Write API by directly specifying the linking module’s API name.

If you are importing data that involves both a parent module, Employees and its associated MxN linking module, follow these steps:

1. Create separate CSV files:
  • One for the parent module - Employees
  • One for the linking module - EmpXSkills
2. Zip the files into a single ZIP file.
3. Upload the ZIP in a single Bulk Write API request.
4. Ensure accurate field mappings are provided in the API request body.

Refer to Kaizen #131 - Bulk Write for parent-child records using Scala SDK for more details on handling parent-child records.


15. Can I receive notifications if a multi-select lookup field in a module is modified or updated?

Yes, you can receive notifications when a MxN field is updated using the Notification API. To enable instant notifications for actions performed in a module, use the respective API names of the linking module in the input body.

Request method : POST

Sample input :


{
    "watch": [
        {
            "channel_id": "10000",
            "events": [
                "EmpXSkills.all"  //EmpXSkills represents the API name of the linking module
            ],
            "return_affected_field_values": true  
        }
    ]
}

16. Can I use criteria-based filtering when accessing multi-select lookup data using the Search API?

Yes, you can filter multi-select lookup data using the criteria parameter in the Search API's URL.

Here is an example that fetches records from the EmpXSkills linking module.

Request URL : {{api-name}}/crm/v8/EmpXSkills/search?criteria=((Secondary_Email:equals:patricia@mail.com)and(Skills:equals:Content_Marketing))
Request method : GET

Sample response :



                                                                                                                               x-----------------------------x


We trust that this post meets your needs and is helpful. Let us know your thoughts in the comment section or reach out to us at support@zohocrm.com 

Stay tuned for more insights in our upcoming Kaizen posts!


Other FAQs in the Kaizen series :


    • Sticky Posts

    • 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.

    • Kaizen #226: Using ZRC in Client Script

      Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. In today's post, lets see what is ZRC (Zoho Request Client) and how we can use ZRC methods in Client Script to get inputs from a Salesperson and update the Lead status with a single button click. In this

    • Kaizen #222 - Client Script Support for Notes Related List

      Hello everyone! Welcome to another week of Kaizen. The final Kaizen post of the year 2025 is here! With the new Client Script support for the Notes Related List, you can validate, enrich, and manage notes across modules. In this post, we’ll explore how

    • Kaizen #217 - Actions APIs : Tasks

      Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In last week's post we discussed Email Notifications APIs which act as the link between your Workflow automations and you. We have discussed how Zylker Cloud Services uses Email Notifications API in their custom dashboard.

    • Kaizen #216 - Actions APIs : Email Notifications

      Welcome to another week of Kaizen! For the last three weeks, we have been discussing Zylker's workflows. We successfully updated a dormant workflow, built a new one from the ground up and more. But our work is not finished—these automated processes are

    • Recent Topics

    • Parent & Member Accounts (batch updating / inheritance)

      Hello, I find the Parent Account functionality very useful for creating custom views and reports, but was wondering if I can also carry out batch editing on all members (aka children) of a Parent Account at the same time. Alternatively, can I set members to automatically inherit the values of the parent? For example: We have a chain of supermarkets that buy our products. These supermarkets are all members of a Parent Account in our CRM. We release a new product and all of the member stores wish to

    • Edit Legend of Chart

      I would like to edit the legend of the chart. Every time I enable the legend, I get a very unhelpful (1), and when I try to type to change to what I would desire, nothing happens, which is very frustrating. I've gone through your online tutorials and nowhere can I find a legend settings button. This seems a simple fix, where can edit the legend? Thanks.

    • Extended timeouts for APIs beyond 40secs for to accomodate LLMs

      A 40 second max response time for API calls is fine when connecting to most services, however is unsuitable when dealing with LLMs (ChatGPT/Claude/Gemini) where the response timing is very uncertain. Is there any way to increase this? It would be great

    • Deletion of Zoho Account

      To whom it may concern, Good day, My account has been created incorrectly in Zoho and I am not able to join my Company's Zoho account - attached screenshot for your kind reference Alphatronmarine - Portal Kindly advise procedure to delete this current

    • Workflow for deposit to bank account

      Hello, Is it possible to make a workflow when a deposit is made to your bank account which is coupled to Zoho books? I want Zoho to sent an email each time a deposit is made to our bank account via a workflow. Regards, Steven

    • Marking Retainer invoice paid through Deluge

      Hey Everyone, We have a scenario where we are collecting deposit payments on our website. Now, in zoho books, we need to create a retainer invoice and mark it as paid automatically using deluge just like we can mark normal invoices as paid. I have tried

    • Create a new record in custom module vi custom button

      I have zoho books premium plan . I have 2 custom modules in zoho books. 1. Goods Receipt 2. Delivery Order, I need to select multiple records from Goods Receipt and create a new Delivery order from these multiple records. (like multilple sales order into

    • Profile date settings

      At present I have "EEE, MMMM dd, yyyy" but this takes an exessive amount of column space, we should be able to input our own format. I would like to use "EEE, MMM dd, yy" - a much shorter version of the above but with the same abbreviated info, requiring

    • Delivery Method Field in Sales Order Module

      In Books and in Sales orders, the "Delivery Method" field seems to allow for anything to be entered and it seems to store those entries for future use.  When you chose to convert a sales order to a purchase order, the related field is now called "Shipment

    • Editing / Removing stages for pipeline

      Hello, I'm trying to create a new pipeline. I created a new stage and made an error when entering the probability. How can I edit fields in stages that I created? Can I delete these stages from "Add Stages" list?

    • Dynamically Filter User Lookup in CRM Subform

      We have a subform called Pricing Calculator in the Zoho CRM Opportunity module and need some assistance. Current Setup: First column: Picklist (Level) Second column: User Lookup field When a Level is selected, we want the User lookup to display only users

    • change time zone

      can't seem to figure out how to change the time zone of the project

    • Bigin iOS app update: Built-in telephony and RingCentral support

      Hello everyone! We are excited to introduce Built-In Telephony and RingCentral support in the latest iOS version(v1.11.13) of the Bigin mobile app. Once the integration is completed on the Bigin desktop site(bigin.zoho.com), you can choose the Built-In

    • Add Image or Update Image API - for Items Module

      I am trying to add new Items to Zoho Inventory from Zoho Creator. I achieved this using Zoho Inventory Create Item API, but how to add or update the item image from Zoho Creator to Zoho Inventory Item Module?

    • Introducing Booking Pages—a topping for your Calendar Scheduling needs!

      Greetings, We're here with a new topping for Bigin! Let's dive into the details. What does this topping do? Scheduling appointments with customers is one of the most common challenges small businesses face on a daily basis, as it often involves frequent

    • Debugging `try` blocks : Tip

      I find it annoying that if one line inside a `try` block has an error, the Deluge arser points the beginning of the block to the location of the error. BUT, if you temporarily comment out the initial `try {`  The parser goes through the whole block and

    • Use approval workflow comments in record scripts

      Greetings, i'm running an approval workflow for my records, during approval/rejection there is a step where comments are entered. i want to add there comments to the record and to use them in various deluge scripts like sending emails and so on.  how

    • ZOHO Store

      Not able to make a payment We are using Zoho One, and we are from India. The payment currency, which shows for us, is in USD. But the system says we can choose Country/Region India if it shows INR only. Attaching screenshots for more info.

    • Support Migration into Aliases in Zoho Mail

      Hello Zoho Mail Team, How are you? We are in the process of migrating some of our users from Google Workspace (Gmail and Google Drive) to Zoho. During this process, we noticed that Zoho Mail currently only supports migration into a primary mailbox and

    • API for Z Workdrive Flow Make-Integromat ?

      We are zoho workdrive fans Also we would like to have an api to work with Zoho Flow or with Make better known by its old name INTEGROMAT Is it planned and when? 3 months -6 months or more?

    • Apps Pane no longer visible

      I have read all the info and help and nothing works, I do not have a "show apps" anywhere and I can no longer see my Apps pane in the left hand side of mail, please advise how to get this back

    • 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(8/21)

      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。 8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。 ▷▷参加登録はこちら：https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/eVOEnBsSQ2uvX4WN5Z5DeQ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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

    • New in Zoho Forms: Inline OTP Verification

      Hello form builders, We are excited to announce the launch of Inline OTP Verification in Zoho Forms, a smarter way to ensure the authenticity of the contact details you collect. Until now, OTP Verification in Zoho Forms worked as a pre-access step: respondents

    • Zoho Mail : Associate emails with Meeting records and allow multiple emails to be assocaited at once

      Is there a workaround that would allow either of these? I want to associate emails with Meeting records. I also would like to be able to select multiple emails at once for association with a record.

    • Create task from email

      Is there a way on mobile to create a task from an email? I use this feature a lot and when traveling now I read email on mobile. By the time I get to my office I forget about them since I didn't add it to a task. Is this feature missing on moble?

    • Zoho Socials - Unable to view Channels and SmartQ

      Hi, The channel Facebook has been added by the admin, however, it is not visible on the User level (employee). Other channels are visible. Also, we have the premium account, and SmartQ is not working. Can anyone help? Regards, Priyanka

    • Eliminating Manual Consolidation: Automating Currency Field Sync from Task to Project

      Hello Everyone, A Custom function is a user-written set of code to achieve a specific requirement. Set the required conditions needed as when to trigger using the Workflow rules (be it Tasks / Project) and associate the custom function to it. Requirement:

    • We want to set the "Converted from Lead" value in Deals using a Workflow or via a Deluge script. How?

      For use in Zoho Analytics, we need the field "Converted from Lead" filled in our deal records. This field is empty everywhere, because we do not create deals directly when converting a lead to a contact. We want to do that using the API or a workflow

    • Sales Orders: Quoted_Items + items in another subform -> into Ordered_Items ?

      hello, When creating Sales Orders, is it posible to inherit/fill the Ordered_Items with all the items from Quoted_Items + all the items from a customized subform with similar fields? Since you can create a sales order in different ways (convert, new -

    • How to cancel the GSTR1 pushed to GSTN

      How to cancel the GSTR1 Pushed to GSTN, some rectifications to be done in HSN & SAC code

    • Zoho Books API — Invalid Operation Type / Scope does not exist

      Hello Team, We are unable to use the Zoho Books API from our registered application. We’ve already: Created a client in Zoho API Console using (Admin in Books) Generated the OAuth code and token successfully Used the correct scopes: ZohoBooks.fullaccess,ZohoOauth.userinfo.READ

    • Minimum order quantity

      Is there a way to enforce a minimum order quantity - ie has to have a minimum of 250?

    • 【Zoho CRM】ポータル機能のアップデート：UIとポータルの作成フローの変更

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの藤澤です。 今回は「Zoho CRM アップデート情報」の中から、ポータル機能のアップデートをご紹介します。 目次 概要 ユーザーグループの作成フローの変更 ユーザーグループ詳細画面内のタブについて 「タブと権限」タブについて 「設定」タブについて 概要 UIとポータルの作成フローが変更されました。ポータルの新機能に先立ち、UIを一部変更しました。タブやオプションの配置を見直し、機能へよりアクセスしやすくなっています。 また、「ポータルユーザーの種類」は今後、「ユーザーグループ」と呼称され、ページ上のボタンも「ユーザーグループを作成する」に変更されます。

    • Tax on Imported goods charged by Shipping Company

      Hi Folks, I imported goods from outside Canada, for better understanding I will give an example data. imported goods value: 2000$ The shipping company sent me an invoice containing the following information: Custom duty on imported goods: 400$ Administration

    • Zoho Webinar via Social Media

      Hello, is it possible to stream a Zoho Webinar via Social Media like Linkedin or Facebook?

    • OAUTH2 isn't working with Power Automate and N8N (Zoho Desk)

      Hello, I am trying to set up an OAuth2 connection to the Zoho Desk API, but the authentication flow fails immediately. I am experiencing this issue in two separate platforms: Microsoft Power Automate (using a Custom Connector) and n8n. Instead of being

    • Kit Items Breaking Automations - "Provide mapped components for all kit items"

      This has been brought up in other threads, but I believe this issue warrants its own topic. Whenever a sales document (Estimate, Sales Order, Invoice) is created or manipulated programmatically, trying to include a Kit as an Item throws this error: "Provide

    • Show item Cost value on Item screen

      The Item screen shows Accounting Stock and Physical Stock. It would be very helpful if value information could be displayed here as well, for instance Cost Price. Currently, to find the Cost Price (as used for inventory valuations) from inside the item

    • Mark shipment as delivered via api

      Hellloooo again Zoho guys !! More help required if you would be so kind, pleeeezz..... var options =        {         'method' : 'post',         'contentType' : 'application/json',         'muteHttpExceptions' : true       }; var myPackNo  = encodeURIComponent('###################');

    • Setting Alternative units for an item.

      Hello Team, How to create alternate units for an item. We are placing orders for stocks in boxes. One box contain 24 items. At the time of selling we have two categories of buyers wholesalers and retailers. So the sales will be in PCS and in boxes also.

    • Next Page