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

    • Add Ability to Reset Help Center User MFA in Zoho Desk

      Hello Zoho Desk Team, First of all, thank you for recently adding support for Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) in the Zoho Desk Help Center. We’re very happy to see this enhancement go live, especially since this was a highly requested security feature.

    • Upgraded sentiment analysis model for more accurate detection

      Hello everyone! Sentiment Analysis in Zia is being upgraded to a newer model to improve how customer sentiment is detected and interpreted. This transition is aimed at getting better contextual understanding across all supported channels. As part of this

    • Integrate QuickBooks with Bigin and streamline your sales and accounting!

      If your business relies on Bigin for customer management and QuickBooks for accounting and invoicing, this new integration is here to make your operations more efficient. By connecting these two platforms, you can now manage your CRM and financial processes

    • Very limited support for MCP

      Has anyone else noticed how limited the MCP support for Zoho People currently is? Right now only a small set of read-only actions (exactly 15) seem to be available. At the same time Zoho CRM supports over 700+ functions. It makes it almost impossible

    • How has Zoho still not resolved Daylight Savings Time?

      According to these forums Zoho has been working on DST for 12 years. Totally unacceptable. Am I missing something? Why are other customers who observe DST not screaming for this to be fixed? Are there reasonable workarounds? This is a must-have for us. 

    • ZOHO Desk attachments support

      Hi I just setup MCP with claude, it works well, but it can't read attachments... which makes it kind of useless... Will you be adding attachment capabilities anytime soon?

    • HOW I CAN GET BETA VERSION FOT TESTING

      HI. ZOHO I AM INTERESTED IN YOUR BETA SOFTWARE TO EXPERIENCE NEW FEATURES.

    • How to Generate Separate Labels for Each Invoice SKU Line Item in Zoho Books?

      Hi everyone, I’m trying to implement a requirement in Zoho Books where separate labels need to be generated for each SKU/item from an invoice. Scenario: One invoice can contain multiple products/SKU items Each item/box should have its own separate label

    • HTML PDF Templates / Build From Scratch option not visible for Custom Modules

      Hi everyone, I am working with Zoho Books Custom Modules and trying to create a custom 4x4 package label PDF template using HTML/CSS. According to the official Zoho Books documentation for HTML PDF Templates, there should be an option like: Settings →

    • Updating Sales orders on hold

      Surely updating irrelevant fields such as shipping date should be allowed when sales orders are awaiting back orders? Maybe the PO is going to be late arriving so we have to change the shipment date of the Sales order ! Not even allowed through the api - {"code":36014,"message":"Sales orders that have been shipped or on hold cannot be updated."}

    • Direct Integration Between Zoho Cliq Meetings and Google Calendar

      Dear Zoho Team, We’d like to submit the following feature request based on our current use case and the challenges we’re facing: 🎯 Feature Request: Enable meetings scheduled in Zoho Cliq to be automatically added to the host's Google Calendar, not just

    • billable_expense_id in Invoice API does not set invoiced=true on bill line items — causes duplicates in Projects > Create Invoice

      Hi Zoho Community, We are running an automated batch invoicing system using the Zoho Books API and have hit two critical bugs that are causing duplicate invoice risk in production. Raising this here for visibility alongside a support ticket already filed.

    • New fields : radio button

      Hi, when customizing a module (eg: Candidates), we are able to select different types of fields (check box, currency, list, ...). However there is no "radio-button" component. This type of fields is often used in Web pages and will be certainly a plus-value

    • Huge confusion in zoho crm and zoho analytics

      Context => We have reporting based hierarchy in zoho crm and basically there will be one sales head and couple sales managers and 10 pre sales excutives divided between 2 sales managers we have maintained that in zoho crm and there is complex reporting

    • Huge confusion in zoho crm and zoho analytics

      Context => We have reporting based hierarchy in zoho crm and basically there will be one sales head and couple sales managers and 10 pre sales excutives divided between 2 sales managers we have maintained that in zoho crm and there is complex reporting

    • Import KB template OR Export template for zoho desk?

      Greetings. Can you tell me if there is a way to get an EXPORT of my KB articles? OR is there a template you supply for importing KB articles into my zoho desk? I am looking for a method of understanding what fields can be imported, and what their possible

    • Choice Availability Reset

      If an entry is deleted which included a response to a field with choice availability enabled does that increase the number of remaining times the choice can be selected?

    • Rich Text Type Format for Notes Field

      Has it been discussed or is there a way to insert a table in the notes field? We sometimes receive information in a table format, and it would be beneficial to have it in the same format as a note on a record.

    • [Bug] WebAuthn passkey registration blocked on rpIds with TLDs longer than 6 characters (.accountant, .technology, etc.) — isValidDomain regex too strict

      Hi, Filing on behalf of an enterprise customer where Zoho Vault is deployed across the company. The Chrome extension blocks WebAuthn passkey registration on legitimate sites whose Relying Party ID (rpId) has a TLD longer than 6 letters. This affects every

    • [Heads Up] Upcoming update to field values in Zoho Books - Zoho Analytics integration

      Hello Users, We'd like to inform you of an upcoming update to the Account Type field values in the Zoho Books integration for Zoho Analytics from June 1, 2026. What's Changing? The following values under the Account Type field are being renamed to align

    • Important update: Migrate to the new SalesIQ live chat widget before May 15, 2026

      The old SalesIQ live chat widget will be deprecated on May 15, 2026. This is a final reminder to migrate to the new SalesIQ live chat widget before this date. After May 15, 2026, the old widget will no longer be maintained, which can lead to slower performance

    • Zia Agent built in ChatKit UI does not render markdown

      Hi, You have a major shortcoming in the Zia Agent UI. The test UI that is embedded in agents.zoho.com allows you to test the agent has full support for rendering markdown, but your ChatKit UI does not have support for rendering markdown. If I embed it

    • Team folder not created when creating project using zoho flow

      When I try to automate project creation using zoho flow, and I have enabled workdrive integration to automatically create team folders to attach to the project, this only works when I create a new project through the UI. But I am trying to automate project

    • Zoho Projects - Email notification relabelling of modules not present on default templates

      Hi Projects Team, I noticed that in the default email template notification, the word "bug" was not renamed to the lable I am using in my system. As many users may used the Bugs modules for various purposes including Changes, Revisions, Issues, etc...

    • GLM 5 not available

      Hello, I am trying to setup a Zia Agent using agents.zoho.com. The settings says that GLM5 is among the list of free zoho hosted models available. However, when I try to setup an agent and pick a model from the list only GLM 4.7 Flash is available. How

    • Set Custom Icon for Custom Modules in new Zoho CRM UI

    • Can not send or reply to mails

      Hello, I can not send mails or reply. If I try to send a mail i get "Unable to send message;Reason:553 Replaying disallowed. Invalid Domain - invata-programare.ro" Can you help me, please? Thank you!

    • Kaizen #241: Automating Deal risk escalation using Workflow APIs, Connected Workflows, and Functions

      Hello everyone! Welcome to another Kaizen week. In many organizations, sales teams work in Zoho CRM, finance teams manage invoices in Zoho Books, and support teams handle customer issues in Zoho Desk. Now consider this scenario: A sales representative

    • 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

    • Allow Super Admins to Edit Task “Created By” and Issue “Reporter” Fields

      Hello Zoho Projects Team, We hope you are doing well. We would like to submit a feature request regarding the ability to manage and correct system ownership fields in Zoho Projects, specifically: Task → Created By Issue → Reporter / Reported By Current

    • The Social Wall: April 2026

      Hello everyone, This month, we’re excited to bring you a set of new updates for Threads in Zoho Social, designed to make publishing, monitoring, and managing your content much easier Threads updates You’ll now see a few useful improvements in the compose

    • Sort or filter CRM report by count value

      Hi there, I'm trying to create a report that will show me high frequency bookings (leads) coming through within a time period for any particular account - this is so we can proactively reach out to these accounts. I have a report that shows the information

    • Error when changing user permission from read only to user.

      Hi there, Ive tried to change one of my users to be able to edit, however i kept getting the error user license exceed.

    • Marketing Tip #30: Promote your brand differently on each social platform

      Not all social platforms work the same way. Posting the same content in the same way across every channel can limit your reach. Each platform has its own discovery system, and understanding what it prioritizes can dramatically improve how your brand is

    • 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

    • **Building Role-Appropriate Accountability Layers in Zoho Projects - Looking for Real-World Experience**

      We're a small ISP/telecom operator on Zoho One and I'm trying to solve what I think is a common organizational problem. Would love to hear from others who've tackled it. **The Core Problem** Staff will only consistently use a project management system

    • Duplicate entries for contacts birthdays

      Good morning I have recently started to use my Zoho calendar and noticed that there are multiple birthday events showing for some of my contacts. I have checked my contacts and there were duplicates for some contacts which I have now rectified but the

    • Using IMAP configuration for shared email inboxes

      Our customer service team utilizes shared email boxes to allow multiple people to view and handle incoming customer requests. For example, the customer sends an email to info@xxxx.com and multiple people can view it and handle the request. How can I configure

    • What's New in Zoho Billing | March 2026

      March is here with a fresh wave of updates to Zoho Billing. From making compliance easier, reporting more flexible, to making day-to-day workflows smoother across the board. Here's everything that's new this month. Introducing Usage-Based Billing Reports

    • Subforms in Creator-Lookup Price

      I've got a modular called Price List with items and prices. Ive got another module called Estimates with a subform that looks up that Price List. I am trying to get the "Price" to auto-enter based on the Lookup field of the item name. Anyone know how

    • Next Page