Manipulating Multi Select Lookup fields (MxN) using Zoho CRM APIs
Hello everyone!
Welcome back to another week of Kaizen. In last week's post in the Kaizen series, we discussed how subforms work in Zoho CRM and how to manipulate subform data using Zoho CRM APIs.
In this post, we will discuss how to manipulate a multi-select lookup fields using Zoho CRM APIs.
Multi-select lookup field
The Multi-Select Lookup Field enables you to establish a many-to-many relationship between two different modules in CRM. It allows you to associate multiple records with each other, from two different modules.
These associations are stored in an individual module called "Linking Module". Consider there are two modules, Employees and Skills. The Employees module contains details regarding Zylker's workforce, and the Skills module contains details regarding various skills like Social Media Marketing and Content Marketing.
We want to associate multiple skills to an employee. So, a multi-select lookup can be created in the Employees module. When doing so, similar multi-select lookup field will be automatically created in the Skills module, along with the EmpXSkills linking module by Zoho CRM. The underlying data model is described in the below image.
The above chart shows the data model representation when you create a multi-select lookup field in a module. Here, there are two lookup fields—one pointing to the Employees module and the other pointing to the Skills module. How to associate an employee's skills while creating an Employee record through the Insert Records API
API names you need before invoking the API
- The API name of the multi-select lookup field in the modules you want to insert data.
- API names of the lookup fields in the linking module. Eg: here the API Name of the linking module is "EmpXSkills" and the corresponding lookup field api names are "Employees" & "Skills". You can use the Fields Metadata API for Employees and Skills to get these details.
Step 1
Know the API name of the multi-select lookup field in the module (In our case, Skills is the multi-select lookup field in the Employees module)
To know the API names of the multi-select lookup fields, make a GET - Fields Metadata API call. Among all the Employee's fields, multi-select lookup field can be identified by the json key data_type with the value multiselectlookup. The corresponding connected module can be found from the json connected_module. Below is the API call & response for such a multi-select lookup field.
Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/v6/settings/fields?module=Employees
Request Method: GET
Sample Response:
The above highlighted keys are the details of the Multi select lookup field. The corresponding keys are explained below:
"multiselectlookup": { "display_label": "Skills", //Display label of the MxN field in the Employees module "linking_module": { "api_name": "EmpXSkills", //API name of the linking module "id": "5725767000002166520" ... "lookup_apiname": "Employees", //API name of the Employee lookup field in the linking module "connected_module": { "api_name": "Skills", //API name of the connected module "id": "5725767000002165263" }, "api_name": "Skills_In_Related_List", //API of the related list of the connected module Skills in the Employees module. "connectedfield_apiname": "Employees", //API Name of the multi-select lookup field in the connected module (Skills) "connectedlookup_apiname": "Skills", //API name of the Skills module lookup field in the linking module. "id": "5725767000002166655" //Related List ID }, ... |
Step 2
Using the api_name of the linking module, make a GET Fields metadata API call to get the list of fields (along with their api_name) present in it. It lists all fields of the linking module in the response.
Sample Request and Response
Search for the "data_type": "lookup" in the response. The lookup fields represent the connected modules in association with the linking module.
For example, in our case, the response will have two lookup fields. One of the lookup fields (with api name Employees) points to the Employees module, and the other one (with api name Skills) points to the Skills module.
Step 3
Associate records via the Multi-select lookup field using the Insert Records API
To associate records via the MxN field, you need to know the IDs of the records in the Skills module. Here is the input body to insert the skills in the Employee module with the multi-select lookup field Skills.
Here is the input body to insert a new Employee record and associate a Skills record to it using the MxN field.
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/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 Employee module { "Skills": { //API Name of the lookup field pointing to the Skills module in the linking module "name": "Marketing", "id": "5725767000002149427" //Record ID in the Skills module } }, { "Skills": { "name": "Social Media Marketing", "id": "5725767000002149476" } } ] } ] } |
How to disassociate an employee & skills relation while updating an Employee record through the Update Records API
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/Employees
Request Method: PUT
Sample Input:
{ "data": [ { "id": "7890710000097291", "Name": "Patricia", "Email": "patricia@mail.com", "Position": "Marketing Specialist", "Year_of_Experience": 5, "Skills": [ { "Skills": { "name": "Marketing", "_delete": null, //This association will be deleted "id": "5725767000002149427" //Skills record id } } ] } ] } |
How to associate an employee's skills via "Linking Module"
You can associate the relationship between Employees and Skills module by creating records in the Linking module (EmpXSkills). Use the API names for the corresponding lookup fields, Employee (API Name: Employees) and Skills (API Name: Skills) in the input body.
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/EmpXSkills
Request Method: POST
Sample Response
The id in the above response is the Primary Key ID of an Employee-Skill association record in the linking module. This ID can later be used to do specific operations like association update or deletion via API.
How to disassociate an employee & skills relationship via "Linking Module"
Use the Delete Records API to delete the record which corresponds to the specific relation between Employee and Skills module in the EmpXSkills module. You can get the record ID for the specific association using the Get Records API for the linking module.
Use the Delete Record API to delete the specific record, thereby deleting the specific association between the Employee and Skills record. Please note that only the association is removed, and not the individual records.
Sample Request and Response
When to use create/update operation in Employees/EmpXSkills module?
Use "Employees" module: When you want to create/update records in the Employees module, and associate the record with a Skills record in a single API call.
Use "EmpXSkills" module: When you want to associate/disassociate the relationship between existing Employees and Skills records.
Retrieve data via COQL API and Bulk Read API
There may be situations where you need to fetch records based upon certain conditions.
For example, Zylker's HR team wants to retrieve the list of employees having more than 4 years of experience and are experts in Social media marketing. In this case, they can use Zoho CRM's COQL API or Bulk Read API. Let's see how to achieve this.
Retrieving MxN data via COQL API
We know that both the Employees and Skills modules' association data is maintained in the linking module. In order to retrieve data from the linking module, query using the API name of the lookup fields in the linking module.
Request URL: {{api-domain}}/crm/v6/coql
Request Method: POST
Sample Input:
{ "select_query" : "select Employees.Name as employee_name, Employees.Year_of_Experience as employee_experience, Skills.Name as skill_name from EmpXSkills where Employees.Year_of_Experience > 4 and Skills.Name like '%Social%'" } |
From the SQL perspective, above COQL can be interpreted as
select emp.Name as employee_name, emp.Year_of_Experience as employee_experience, skill.Name as skill_name from EmpXSkills left join Employees as emp on EmpXSkills.Employees = emp.id left join Skills as ski on EmpXSkills.Skills = ski.id where emp.Year_of_Experience > 4 and ski.Name like '%Social%' |
Sample Response
Retrieving MxN data via Bulk Read API
Bulk Read API allows you to fetch a large set of data i.e., you can fetch a maximum of 200,000 records in a single API call.
To export linking module records, use its API name.
Request URL: https://www.zohoapis.com/crm/bulk/v6/read
Request Method: POST
Sample input to export linking module's records:
{ "callback": { "method": "post" }, "query": { "module": { "api_name": "EmpXSkills" //API name of the linking module }, "file_type": "csv" } } |
Export linking module records that meet the specified criteria
To export linking module's records based on the given criteria above (similar to the COQL API).
{ "callback": { "method": "post" }, "query": { "module": { "api_name": "EmpXSkills" }, "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" } } } |
As the API is an asynchronous API, the response will not be available instantly; the bulk read job is scheduled, and the status can be checked. Once the job is completed, you will be notified in the callback URL. The records are available in a downloadable CSV file or ICS file (for events). See the Bulk Read API document to know how to view the status of the scheduled job and download the file, along with more sample requests and responses.
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!
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Previous Kaizen Post : Kaizen #124 - Manipulating Subform using Zoho CRM APIs
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cheers!
Additional Reading:
Kaizen Posts:
- Kaizen #26 - Linking module and Multi-select Lookup fields
- Kaizen #77 - Multi-select Lookup Fields in API V4
- Kaizen #80 - COQL API - Part I
- Kaizen #81 - COQL API - Part II
API Documentation - Linking Module APIs
Access your files securely from anywhere
New to Zoho Recruit?
Zoho Developer Community
New to Zoho LandingPage?
Zoho LandingPage Resources
New to Zoho Survey?
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho CRM Plus?
Deliver unforgettable customer experiences
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Zoho Marketing Plus?
Everything you need to run your marketing
New to Bigin?
Topic Participants
Subramanian K
Andres
Haiku Technical Support
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 FAQsKaizen #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
New to Zoho TeamInbox?
Zoho TeamInbox Resources
Zoho CRM Plus Resources
Zoho Books Resources
Zoho Subscriptions Resources
Zoho Projects Resources
Zoho Sprints Resources
Qntrl Resources
Zoho Creator Resources
Zoho CRM Resources
Design. Discuss. Deliver.
Zoho Show Resources
Get Started. Write Away!
Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.
Zoho CRM コンテンツ
-
オンラインヘルプ
-
Webセミナー
-
機能活用動画
-
よくある質問
-
Ebook
-
-
Zoho Campaigns
- Zoho サービスのWebセミナー
その他のサービス コンテンツ
Nederlandse Hulpbronnen
ご検討中の方
Recent Topics
User marked as SPAMMER. Mail Fetch has also been disabled for any active POP accounts.
I am the administrator for joelles.com One of our accounts has been blocked saying this: User marked as SPAMMER. Mail Fetch has also been disabled for any active POP accounts. I cannot change the disabled account in the control panel as it says that itMy domain did not activate
Hi, my domain (apsaindustrial.com.ar) did not activate, and the phone verification message never arrived. Please would you solve this problem? Thanks.ME SALE ESTE ERROR: No fue posible enviar el mensaje;Motivo:554 5.1.8 Email Outgoing Blocked
Ayuda!! Me sale este error al intentar enviar mensajes desde mi correo electronico de Zoho! Tampoco recibo correos pues cuando me envia rebotan. Ayuda, Me urge enviar unos correo importantes!! Quedo atenta MAGDA HERNANDEZ +5731120888408Is there a way to sync Tags between CRM and Campaigns/Marketing Hub?
I wonder if there is a way to synch the tags between CRM and Marketing-Hub / Campaigns?how to see if a specific contact opened an email in zoho campaign?
how to see if a specific contact opened an email in zoho campaign?Revenue Management: #8 Revenue Recognition in Educational & Training Institutions
Educational Institutions and training centres typically collect course fees at the time of enrolment, sometimes for a one-day workshop and sometimes for a year-long certification course. You might also charge separately for course materials or evaluation.How to Customize Task Creation to Send a Custom Alert Using JavaScript in Zoho CRM?
Hello Zoho CRM Community, I’m looking to customize Zoho CRM to send a custom alert whenever a task is created. I understand that Zoho CRM supports client scripts using JavaScript, and I would like to leverage this feature to implement the alert functionality.how to use validation rules in subform
Is it possible to use validation rules for subforms? I tried the following code: entityMap = crmAPIRequest.toMap().get("record"); sum = 0; direct_billing = entityMap.get("direct_billing_details"); response = Map(); for each i in direct_billing { if(i.get("type")Using files from Zoho CRM in Gemini/ChatGPT/Claude
Hi all, I’ve got subscriptions to Gemini and a few other AI tools which I use for tasks like data enrichment, email composition, etc. In our workflow, we often receive various documents from clients — such as process workflows, BRDs/requirement documentsEnhancements to the formula field in Zoho CRM: Auto-refresh formulas with the "Now" function, stop formula executions based on criteria, and include formulas within formulas
Dear Customers, We hope you're well! By their nature, modern businesses rely every day on computations, whether it's to calculate the price of a product, assess ROI, evaluate the lifetime value of a customer, or even determine the age of a record. WithMaximum file limit in zoho people LMS
Dear Team, I am having approximately 4.9 GB of material, including PPTs and videos for uploading in zoho people LMS course. May I know what is the maximum limit limit for the course files Thanking you, With regards, Logeswar V Executive _ OperationsDynamically prefill ticket fields
Hello, I am using Zoho Desk to collect tickets of our clients about orders they placed on our website. I would like to be able to prefill two tickets fields dynamically, in this case a readonly field for the order id, and a hidden field for the sellerOptimize your Knowledge Base for better visibility by allowing search engine crawling and indexing
All you need to know about no-follow and no-index in KB. What are article crawlability and indexability? Crawlability and indexability are vital for making an article visible and accessible to search engines. When a search engine crawls an article, itHas anyone created a public ASAP Guide that I can check out?
I am thinking of adding an ASAP guide to my web application, but I have noticed that the ASAP widget itself can be really slow to load sometimes. Has anyone created a public ASAP Guide that I can check to see how performant it is? I don't want to spendZoho Desk Partners with Microsoft's M365 Copilot for seamless customer service experiences
Hello Zoho Desk users, We are happy to announce that Zoho Desk has partnered with Microsoft's M365 to empower customer service teams with enhanced capabilities and seamless experiences for agents. Microsoft announced their partnership during their keynoteWhat’s New in Zoho Analytics – September 2025
Hello Users!! In this month’s update, we’re raising the bar across multiple touchpoints, from how you bring in data, plan and track projects to how you design and brand your dashboards. We’ve added the all-new Gantt chart for project visualization, expandedZoho MCP has no tools for Creator or 3rd Party Apps?
I don't see a Zoho MCP community forum so putting this here. Two big problems I see: 1) Although Zoho advertises "over 950 3rd party apps" as available through their MCP, when I go to "Add Tools" there are ZERO 3rd party apps available to choose from.Zoho Forms - Zoho Drive connection - Shared Drives not supported
Hello i am stuck with Google Drive Connection There is no supported shared drives Connection is not support shared drives boolean Query Parameters - supportsAllDrives=true&supportsTeamDrives=true to activate fetch files from the shared drives. Ahat needCan't create package until Bill created?
I can't understand why we cannot create a package until a Bill is created? We are having to created draft Bills to create a package when the item is received, but we may not have received a Bill from the supplier. Also, Bill # is required, but we normallyWhats the Time out Limit for API Calls from Deluge?
Hi Creator Devs, We are making API calls to third party server via Deluge. Getting this error message: Error at line : 24, The task has been terminated since the API call is taking too long to respond. Please try again after sometime. Whats the defaultHow to get the authorization code for domain transfer from Zoho?
I have transferred my domain from zoho to godaddy, and that needs a authorization code. I haven't got any mail containing that. How to get the authorization code from domain transfer? Thanks, ArunCommunity Digest Agosto 2025 - Todas las novedades en Español Zoho Community
¡Hola, Zoho Community! Agosto llega a su fin y septiembre nos trae aire fresco a la comunidad: más inteligencia con IA, actualizaciones que elevan la productividad y la recta final hacia Zoholics España 2025. Aquí tienes lo más destacado del mes paraI have error AS101 when I try to add paypal@mydomain.com to Zoho
Please help me with this. I tried to call the help line 4 times but don't get any response.Tip #3: How to change your booking page language
Displaying your booking page in your target audience's language can greatly increase customer satisfaction. By speaking their language, you will help customers feel more comfortable scheduling with you and create a stronger connection with them. Let'sHow can I optimize a Zoho Site page for SEO when embedding external menu or restaurant links?
Hi everyone, I’m experimenting with building small content hubs on Zoho Sites and want to make sure I’m doing it in an SEO-friendly way. For example, I tried creating a page that highlights restaurant menu items and linked out to a resource like this:Diff signature for compose new email and replies
Hi, How do i have different signature for replies and new emails. its inconvenient to have one large signature for replies. Usually on Outlook we have the option to keep separate signatures for new emails and for replies.Zoho Website Site Speed Up & Setting
We are experiencing slow loading speeds on our Zoho website and would like assistance in optimizing its performance. Kindly review the site and suggest or implement necessary improvements to enhance speed, especially related to: > Caching mechanisms >Clickjacking: Zoho Vault's Response
Issue: Password manager browser extensions are found to be vulnerable to clickjacking security vulnerabilities that could allow attackers to steal account credentials, TFA codes, and card details under certain conditions. Reported by: Marek Toth, IndependentRefund
Hi There, Please refund me asap possible, because of no support given. Thank youNo option for pick up in Zoho Books / Inventory but yes on commerce
Is it planned to release soon on books/inventory?Accessing Zoho form enteries via API
Hi As a user I can view enteries to a form at: https://forms.zoho.com/<myOrganisation>/report/<myReportName>/records/web How do I access these entries via API? I don't have any problem with scope and getting tokens. But I have no idea what the API callZoho Books - France
L’équipe de Zoho France reçoit régulièrement des questions sur la conformité de ses applications de finances (Zoho Books/ Zoho Invoice) pour le marché français. Voici quelques points pour clarifier la question : Zoho Books est un logiciel de comptabilitéBlueprint Issue - Being able to set a subform field as mandatory
I'm creating a blueprint. My record involves a subform which is only shown once field is set but the field gets set in step two of the process. My problem - I can't save the record as the subform field is set to mandatory - If I unset the mandatory field,Blueprint - Mandatory file upload field
Hi, File upload (as we as image upload) field cannot be set as mandatory during a blueprint transition. Is there a workaround? Setting attachments as mandatory doesn't solve this need as we have no control over which attachments are added, nor can weZoho Books - Include Quote Status in Workflow Field Triggers
Hi Zoho Books team, I recently tried to create a Workflow rule based on when a Quote is Accepted by the customer. This is something which I thought would be very easy to do, however I discovered that Status is not listed as a field which can be monitoredZoho Books - Show Related Sales Orders on Quotes
Hi Books team, I've noticed that the Quotes don't show show the related Sales Order. My feature request is to also show related Sales Orders above the Quote so it's easy to follow the thread of records in the sales and fulfilment process. Below screenshotAdd VAT/Tax line to bank adjustments
When categorising transactions and matching bank feeds with transactions such as customer payments, we use the "Add Adjustment" to add things like fees/bank fees. It would be useful to choose a VAT/Tax rate here. Whilst there is a bank charges option when adding a payment, this goes into the default bank charges account. We use the adjustments so that we can choose the account and separate our fees. We use different card providers and Worldpay charges VAT so we are stuck. We cannot integrate withNew Menu Layout Feedback
I'd really like to see the banking item back on the top of the menu. I'm sure part of it is just because that's what I'm accustomed to. However, for a bookkeeping program, I think there's a logic to having banking be on top. Not a giant issue, but somethingHow to use Rollup Summary in a Formula Field?
I created a Rollup Summary (Decimal) field in my module, and it shows values correctly. When I try to reference it in a Formula Field (e.g. ${Deals.Partners_Requested} - ${Deals.Partners_Paid}), I get the error that the field can’t be found. Is it possibleForm Accessibility
Hi, is there an update on the accessibility standard of Zoho forms? Are the forms WCAG 2.1 AA compliant?Next Page