Kaizen #87 Multi-user Lookup in API V4

Kaizen #87 Multi-user Lookup in API V4

Hello everyone!

Welcome to another week of Kaizen! In this post, we will discuss multi-user lookup fields and how to handle them in API.

What is multi-user lookup?

    Multi-user look up is a lookup field that lets you add multiple users to a module record. It allows you to establish many-to-many relationships between modules and users in CRM.

     For instance, consider the example of a real estate firm - Zylker Real Estates. Zylker Real Estates uses Zoho CRM for managing properties, buyers, sellers, etc.  The real estate agents in Zylker Real Estates are added as users . We might have one or more agents managing a single property. A multi-user lookup field in the property module allows multiple agents to have read/write access to one property record.

      You can add a multi-user lookup field to a module through the module builder. Go to Setup > Customization > Modules and Fields > {Module}. This field can be added in all modules except the Calls, Tasks,Meetings and Linking Modules. You can add only 1 multi-user lookup field in a module that can include up to 10 users. In the screen-shot below, multi-user lookup field "Associated Agents" is added with full record accessibility. 



      When you enable 'Allow Record Accesibility', users selected in the multi-user lookup field will be able to 'Edit', 'Delete', 'Change the owner' of that respective record. You can also grant different levels of permission to the users. You can choose from Read only, Read/Write, Full access.

Handling multi-user lookups through API

 Let us see how to handle multi-user lookup fields through API. Note that, we have used the V4 API in examples, here.

Inserting value to multi-user field 


You can use Insert Records API to add a record with multi-user lookup. This support is available only from CRM API version 2.1 and up.
For example, for Zylker Real Estates a new property "Villa" can be added with the below API request. Two associated agents are also added.
Details Required : 
  • ID of the users that you want to add to the multi-user field. You can get this from Get Users API In this example 431581000000278001 is the ID of the user J Smith and 431581000000258001 is the ID of the user Patricia Boyle.
  • The connectedlookup_apiname and api_name for the multi-user field that you want to add. You can obtain these details from the multi-user field's json object in the response of Field Meta Data API of the Properties module. 
Sample Response to field meta data API

Request URL :  {api-domain}/crm/{version}/settings/fields?module={module_api_name}
Request Method: GET

{
    "fields": [
        {
            .
            .
            "display_label": "Associated Agents",
            .
             .
            "api_name": "AssociatedAgents",
            .
            .
            "multiuserlookup": {
                "display_label": "Users",
                "linking_module": {
                    "api_name": "Properties_X_Users",
                    "id": "431581000000701218"
                },
                "lookup_apiname": "userlookup221_7",
                "connected_module": null,
                "api_name": "Users7",
                "connectedlookup_apiname": "Agents",
                "id": "431581000000701345",
                "record_access": true
            },
            .
            .

        }
    ]
}

Sample Input to add a record with multi-user lookup

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/{version}/{module_api_name}
Request Method: POST

{
    "data": [
        {
            "Property_Name": "Villa",
            "AssociatedAgents": [//api_name
                {
                    "Agents": {//connectedlookup_apiname
                        "id": "431581000000278001"
                    },
                },
                {
                    "Agents": {//connectedlookup_apiname
                        "id": "431581000000258001"
                    },
                }
            ],
        }
    ]
}

This is what the record looks like in UI.



Sample Response

{

    "data": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "Modified_Time": "2023-05-25T12:52:03+05:30",
                "Modified_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "431581000000258001"
                },
                "Created_Time": "2023-05-25T12:52:03+05:30",
                "id": "431581000000697288",
                "Created_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "431581000000258001"
                },
                "$approval_state": "approved"
            },
            "message": "record added",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
}

Fetching the value of multi-user field


You can use Get Records API to fetch details of your multi-user lookup field. Note that it is returned in the response only when you fetch a specific record. Let us see how to fetch details of a record.

Details Required : ID of the record for which we need to fetch the multi-user field's value

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/{version}/{module_api_name}/{record_id}

Request Method: GET

Sample Response 

{
    "data": [
        {
            "AssociatedAgents": [
                {
                    "Agents": {
                        "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                        "id": "431581000000258001"
                    },
                    "id": "431581000000697290"
                },
                {
                    "Agents": {
                        "name": "J Smith",
                        "id": "431581000000278001"
                    },
                    "id": "431581000000697289"
                }
            ],
            "id": "431581000000697288",
            "$canvas_id": null,
            "$has_more": {
                "AssociatedAgents": false
            }
        }
    ]
}

Here the highlighted IDs are the IDs of the linking modules created for the multi-user fields. Unlike linking modules for multi-select lookups, these are not exposed in the UI. 

Disassociating users from the multi-user lookup field


You can use Update Records API with the key _delete to disassociate users from a multi-user lookup. You can refer to the sample input below for the same.

 Details Required : ID of the module records and ID of the linking module of multi-user lookup. These can be obtained from the GET Record Response.

Sample Input

Request URL : {api-domain}/crm/{version}/{module_api_name}/{record_id}  
Request Method: PUT



{
    "data": [
        {
            
            "AssociatedAgents": [
                {
                    
                    "id" : "431581000000697061" ,
                    "_delete" : null
                }
            ]
        }
    ]
}

Here the highlighted ID inside the AssociatedAgents array is the ID of the linking module record. You can obtain the ID from the Get Records API response

Sample Response


{
    "data": [
        {
            "code": "SUCCESS",
            "details": {
                "Modified_Time": "2023-05-24T15:15:28+05:30",
                "Modified_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "431581000000258001"
                },
                "Created_Time": "2023-05-24T14:30:23+05:30",
                "id": "431581000000697060",
                "Created_By": {
                    "name": "Patricia Boyle",
                    "id": "431581000000258001"
                }
            },
            "message": "record updated",
            "status": "success"
        }
    ]
}


We hope you found this post useful and it has given you a better understanding of multi-user lookups. We will meet you next week with another interesting post. 

If you have any questions,  let us know in the comment section or write to us at support@zohocrm.com 

    Access your files securely from anywhere







                            Zoho Developer Community




                                                  • Desk Community Learning Series


                                                  • Digest


                                                  • Functions


                                                  • Meetups


                                                  • Kbase


                                                  • Resources


                                                  • Glossary


                                                  • Desk Marketplace


                                                  • MVP Corner


                                                  • Word of the Day


                                                  • Ask the Experts



                                                            • Sticky Posts

                                                            • 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
                                                            • Kaizen #152 - Client Script Support for the new Canvas Record Forms

                                                              Hello everyone! Have you ever wanted to trigger actions on click of a canvas button, icon, or text mandatory forms in Create/Edit and Clone Pages? Have you ever wanted to control how elements behave on the new Canvas Record Forms? This can be achieved
                                                            • Kaizen #142: How to Navigate to Another Page in Zoho CRM using Client Script

                                                              Hello everyone! Welcome back to another exciting Kaizen post. In this post, let us see how you can you navigate to different Pages using Client Script. In this Kaizen post, Need to Navigate to different Pages Client Script ZDKs related to navigation A.
                                                            • Kaizen #210 - Answering your Questions | Event Management System using ZDK CLI

                                                              Hello Everyone, Welcome back to yet another post in the Kaizen Series! As you already may know, for the Kaizen #200 milestone, we asked for your feedback and many of you suggested topics for us to discuss. We have been writing on these topics over the


                                                            Manage your brands on social media



                                                                  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

                                                                                      • CRM Community Learning Series

                                                                                        CRM Community Learning Series


                                                                                      • Kaizen

                                                                                        Kaizen

                                                                                      • Functions

                                                                                        Functions

                                                                                      • Meetups

                                                                                        Meetups

                                                                                      • Kbase

                                                                                        Kbase

                                                                                      • Resources

                                                                                        Resources

                                                                                      • Digest

                                                                                        Digest

                                                                                      • CRM Marketplace

                                                                                        CRM Marketplace

                                                                                      • MVP Corner

                                                                                        MVP Corner







                                                                                          Design. Discuss. Deliver.

                                                                                          Create visually engaging stories with Zoho Show.

                                                                                          Get Started Now


                                                                                            Zoho Show Resources

                                                                                              Zoho Writer

                                                                                              Get Started. Write Away!

                                                                                              Writer is a powerful online word processor, designed for collaborative work.

                                                                                                Zoho CRM コンテンツ



                                                                                                  Nederlandse Hulpbronnen


                                                                                                      ご検討中の方




                                                                                                              • Recent Topics

                                                                                                              • Function #8: Add additional charges to invoices

                                                                                                                Here goes one of the highly sought-after custom functions in Zoho Books. If you find yourself needing to apply additional charges to customers on their invoices (say credit card surcharges, or fuel charges applicable to customers from a certain region,
                                                                                                              • Taxes Payable Adjustment

                                                                                                                I am from Canada and I need to make an adjustment to my Taxes Payable (HST) account.  Basically I need to take a portion of the amount within Taxes Payable and expense that portion to another account.  The adjusting entry would like like the following:
                                                                                                              • ASAP Widget Not showing "My Tickets"ed

                                                                                                                Hello Team, I have created a ZOHO ASAP Widget and embedded to my portal app.clearvuiq.com , widget renders ok and I can open tickets from widget. However I want my opened tickets to be visible in the widget. How can I achieve that?
                                                                                                              • Bug Causing Major Sync & SO Access Failures in Zoho POS

                                                                                                                We are experiencing critical and recurring issues in Zoho POS that all trace back to role-permission handling defects in the latest POS app version. These issues directly affect syncing, login ability, and Sales Order access for role-restricted users
                                                                                                              • Add Zoho Forms to Zoho CRM Plus bundle

                                                                                                                Great Zoho apps like CRM and Desk have very limited form builders when it comes to form and field rules, design, integration and deployment options. Many of my clients who use Zoho CRM Plus often hit limitations with the built in forms in CRM or Desk and are then disappointed to hear that they have to additionally pay for Zoho Forms to get all these great forms functionalities. Please consider adding Zoho Forms in the Zoho CRM Plus bundle. Best regards, Mladen Svraka Zoho Certified Consultant and
                                                                                                              • How to view CRM Sales Orders in Desk

                                                                                                                What's the usual way to view all CRM sales orders linked to a contact, when viewing a ticket in Desk? I don't want to have to open a new tab to see the order in CRM. And the Desk CRM sidebar doesn't seem to be configurable. Would I have to use an extension
                                                                                                              • Kaizen #219: Actions API - Webhooks APIs - Part 1

                                                                                                                Hello all!! Welcome back to a fresh Kaizen week. In the previous weeks, we covered Workflow Rules APIs, Actions APIs - Email Notification APIs, Tasks Update API, and Field Update API. This week, we will continue with another Actions API - Webhooks API
                                                                                                              • Zoho Books Extension: What Happens If Custom Fields Already Exist?

                                                                                                                When developing Zoho Books extensions, what happens if the target Zoho Books organization already has a custom field with the same API name as one defined in the extension? I’m asking because we originally created an on-Books version of this functionality,
                                                                                                              • Zoho Books Extension: What Happens If Custom Fields Already Exist?

                                                                                                                When developing Zoho Books extensions, what happens if the target Zoho Books organization already has a custom field with the same API name as one defined in the extension? I’m asking because we originally created an on-Books version of this functionality,
                                                                                                              • Pricing Strategies: #3 Services never Stop with just Plans

                                                                                                                "Hey, while you're here, could you also take a look at the vegetable patch?" Aaron hears that line almost every week. He runs a small gardening service, the kind where customers subscribe to a simple monthly plan that includes basic maintenance, mowing,
                                                                                                              • Cropping Photos for Zoho Sites

                                                                                                                Hi, I'm wondering if there is a built in crop tool for zoho sites for my photos so I can crop them and see what the crop looks like on the site?
                                                                                                              • Deluge scripts

                                                                                                                Why is there not a search function to make it easier to find the script of interest when modifications are required.
                                                                                                              • bulk edit records and run internal logic

                                                                                                                hi there is few logics in manner "it this than that" logics work well when i edit entry openning it one by one (via workflow "on add/edit - on success" , for custom field "on update/on user input") but when i try bulk edit records - logic does not work.  how can i turn on logic to work as programmed - for mass editing records via bulk edit?
                                                                                                              • WebDAV / FTP / SFTP protocols for syncing

                                                                                                                I believe the Zoho for Desktop app is built using a proprietary protocol. For the growing number of people using services such as odrive to sync multiple accounts from various providers (Google, Dropbox, Box, OneDrive, etc.) it would be really helpful
                                                                                                              • Possible for first Signer of Sign Form to specify the next signer in the sequence

                                                                                                                We have many use cases where multiple signers need sign the same document. We'd love to be able to use sign forms, where the a signer who uses the Sign Form link can specify the name and email address for the next person in the sequence.
                                                                                                              • BUG: Can't copy-paste data outside Sheet

                                                                                                                Currently I can't paste data copied from inside any of my Zoho Sheet files to any other app. Copy-paste works inside the sheet It does NOT work between two different sheets These sheets are built from automation templates Everything works fine if I create
                                                                                                              • Zoho CRM Community Digest - November 2025 | Part 1

                                                                                                                Hello Everyone! Here’s what came through in the first half of November: new updates and a few helpful community discussions with real, notable solutions. Product Updates: Android App Update: Inctroducing Swipe Actions You can now swipe left or right on
                                                                                                              • Upload own Background Image and set Camera to 16:9

                                                                                                                Hi, in all known online meeting tools, I can set up a background image reflecting our corporate design. This doesn't work in Cliq. Additionally, Cliq detects our cameras as 4:3, showing black bars on the right and left sides during the meeting. Where
                                                                                                              • The Social Wall: November 2025

                                                                                                                We’re nearing the end of the year, and the holiday season is officially kicking in! It’s that time when sales peak and your social media game needs to be stronger than ever. We’re back with exciting new updates across AI, analytics, and the mobile app
                                                                                                              • Truesync for Linux

                                                                                                                Is Truesync available on linux ?
                                                                                                              • Hidding/excluding specific picklist options from filter

                                                                                                                Hi. Is it possible to hide/exclude specific picklist options from this filter? I don't want them to be shown when someone tries to filter in the leads module
                                                                                                              • Subforms to Capture Multi-Row Data in Job Sheets

                                                                                                                Subforms transform your job sheets from simple checklists to powerful, data-rich forms. In field service work — whether maintenance, inspection, installation, or repair — a single job can involve multiple repeatable entries: readings, parts used, activities
                                                                                                              • 年内最後のユーザー向けイベント: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 (12/18)

                                                                                                                ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。コミュニティチームの中野です。 12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(無料) https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/QHn6kJAcRs-znJ1l5jk0ww ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 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。
                                                                                                              • Add "Fetch Composite Item" Action for Inventory

                                                                                                                I want to make a Flow that uses information returned in the GET call for Composite Items, and it's not currently available in Zoho Flow. Please consider adding this functionality.
                                                                                                              • Adress Labels for sending of the oder und barcode

                                                                                                                We want to print with my address labels to stick on the order of the ware can. there are these options?
                                                                                                              • printing individual labels - Dymo LabelWriter

                                                                                                                I am trying to print individual labels to my Dymo LabelWriter - has anyone done this? Latest Update (December 2025): The Canvas Print View is now available! We encourage you all to try it out and share your feedback with us. Learn more here: Zoho CRM
                                                                                                              • Zoho Creator for Agriculture

                                                                                                                Greetings, I am starting to work on  Zoho Creator specifically for the agricultural field, any recommendations, tips or ideas that might be helpful ? Also, if you are interested by any means in working on such project, kindly contact me. The project is
                                                                                                              • Custom Print Layout

                                                                                                                I would like to create a custom print layout of a Lead or Contact. Is there a way to do that? What I mean is that if I'm viewing a specific lead or contact I'd like to be able to print or export that lead/contact and only print and/or export certain information.
                                                                                                              • Print View

                                                                                                                Nothing happens when I'm in a module , ie; Contacts, and I hit the Print View Button. Even when it does come up and say "loading", nothing loads
                                                                                                              • Get Holiday ready with Zoho Mail's Offline mode

                                                                                                                With the holiday season right around the corner, this is the perfect time to get ready to unplug, relax, and enjoy a well-deserved break. In addition to preparing yourself, you can also make sure your organization members are set for their time away from
                                                                                                              • Zoho CRM Kiosk issues

                                                                                                                Firstly this is for a system on the AU servers if that makes a difference. Issues are as follows (For Kiosk): 1. Re-ordering fields in the screen builder is broken. The fields seem to be re-ordering themselves, unless you order everything by moving the
                                                                                                              • Zoho Books emails suddenly going to Spam since 11 Nov 2025 (Gmail + now Outlook) — anyone else?

                                                                                                                Hi everyone, We migrated to Zoho Books in July 2025 and everything worked fine until 11 Nov 2025. Since then, Zoho Books system emails are landing in customers’ Spam (first Gmail, and now we’re seeing Outlook/Office 365 also starting to spam them). Impacted
                                                                                                              • Email Template Edits Not Saving

                                                                                                                I can make an edit, click save, and see the blue bar annimation at the top, but the edits don't actually save. Important, because my email templates are now broken and clients are receiving bad emails. Tried on Chrome, Firefox and IE.
                                                                                                              • Default Ticket View - Table?

                                                                                                                Guys, We mostly use the table view to queue tickets. Maybe I am missing it - but how can I set that view as 'default" for all our agents? Thanks JV
                                                                                                              • Can I have different users see different pick list values for Potential Stage?

                                                                                                                We have some users focusing on new business and others focusing on existing business, and they follow different sales processes/cycles, so we would like them to see different pick list values for Stage (eventually leading up to Closed Won/Lost in both cases).   And just to keep it interesting - some of these users will of course do a combination, so would need to see one pick list for their New business potentials and a different pick list for their Existing business ones.   Salesforce does this
                                                                                                              • Tracking Snippet not working in Zoho Marketing Automation!

                                                                                                                First off, the fact that you have to wait about 12-24 hours for every response is terrible. How are we supposed to conduct business? Second, we have been trying for several days to get the Tracking Code Snippet in marketing automation to work, to no avail.
                                                                                                              • Is there any way to send an Excel received by email to Dataprep?

                                                                                                                Every day I receive an email alert with an Excel file that I want to process through a Dataprep pipeline. To do this, I need to: -Save the file to disk -Open the pipeline -Run the pipeline -Update the source -Several clicks to select and open the saved
                                                                                                              • Recruit paid support?

                                                                                                                Hi all, Could anyone who has paid support package advise if it provides value for money with regards to support response times? Exploring the idea as unfortunately when we have faced issues with Recruit it has been a 7+ day timescale from reporting to
                                                                                                              • Custom Fields Not Showing Up in Invoice PDF Template Document Information

                                                                                                                I have added 2 custom fields under Sales > Invoices > Manage Custom Fields. They are set to show in all PDFs. However when I am editing my Invoice PDF template, i do not see the custom fields under Document Information.
                                                                                                              • Hotmail is blocking the zoho mail IP

                                                                                                                Greetings, Since last Tuesday (5 days ago today) I wrote to Zoho support and I still haven't received a single response (Ticket ID: 2056917). Is this how you treat people who pay for your email service? I am making this public so that those who want to
                                                                                                              • Next Page