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

    • Quotes - Freehand line items - zoho crm

      Hi, In the zoho crm quotes module is it possible to add line items that are freehand typed? We have a business need to use the quotes module but the product nams/description, quantity, price, etc. needs to be freely typed rather than from a defined list

    • TDS Payable report not Generating

      TDS Payable report for Last Quarter of FY 25-26 is not generating and giving error. Please get it rectified as soon as possble.

    • Remove Zoho Header from Portals

      I have a portal page with custom domain. But when I print directly from a webpage, the Zoho CRM header shows. It kind of kills the branding aspect. Is there a way to get rid of this?

    • Multi-column sorting

      Is multi-column sorting a planned feature for CRM? We are needing to sort by one column and then subsort by another column. I am just wondering if there is a planned feature that will allow this?

    • Clearing Fields using MACROS?

      How would I go about clearing a follow-up field date from my deals? Currently I cannot set the new value as an empty box.

    • Webinar Alert: Turn campaign leads into conversions with Zoho LandingPage and Zoho CRM

      Landing pages are great at capturing leads, but what happens after that is just as important. In this webinar, we’ll walk through how Zoho LandingPage and Zoho CRM work together to create a smooth flow from lead capture to follow-up and conversion. You’ll

    • Catch-All Address: A safety net for misdirected emails

      Email is often the first point of contact with an organization. In many cases, a simple typo in a recipient's address can quietly turn into a missed message—a customer query never reaches support, a partner’s reply goes unnoticed, and the sender has no

    • Need Assistance on Redirect URL or Button Based on Deal Stage

      Hello, I’ve developed a custom application and would like to achieve the following scenario: When a deal is moved to the Billing stage, an automatic trigger should execute and redirect to a URL that includes deal details such as Deal Name and Deal Owner.

    • Zoho IMAP Access to mail doesn't sync messages

      As stated in the topic - I have company account email address setup, and it has ( as in the picutre ) ActiveSync and Imap access enabled. However the messages does not show up while logged in in Zoho Mail however when I log in in thunderbird everything

    • 【無料／オンライン】5/21（木）開催｜Zoho ワークアウト ― ユーザー同士で作業・議論するもくもく会

      ユーザーの皆さま、こんにちは。 コミュニティグループの中野です。 5月開催の「Zoho ワークアウト」のご案内です。 本イベントは、Zohoユーザーが各自のテーマを持ち寄り、 作業を進めながら参加者同士で意見交換する「もくもく会」形式のオンラインイベントです。 「設定を進めたいけれど、一人だと手が止まってしまう」 「他社がどう活用しているのか知りたい」 「同じ課題を抱える仲間と話したい」 そんな方にぴったりのイベントです。 ▶︎ 参加登録はこちら（無料 / 残り3枠） URL：https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/6ojuA778RqqWPOWzCaCU5Q

    • i keep see there is a connetion issue connecting 3rd party api on zoho when using zia

      hi there , i have set up open ai api to zoho zia (copied and pasted to zoho zia) but I keep getting notificaiton "there is a connetion issue connecting 3rd party api on zoho" when using zia on top when click zia and try to type in word there

    • Can't access google from toppings menu

      So... When I click the manage button in toppings, nothing happens. it won't let me access the settings.

    • Marketer's Space: Bookmarks by Zoho Campaigns

      Hello Marketers, In this week's Marketer's Space, we'll look at a simple yet powerful feature that makes a big difference in your workflow: Bookmarks. Bookmarks is a built-in feature in Zoho Campaigns that enables you to create a personalized library

    • Introducing the revamped What's New page

      Hello everyone! We're happy to announce that Zoho Campaigns' What's New page has undergone a complete revamp. We've bid the old page adieu after a long time and have introduced a new, sleeker-looking page. Without further ado, let's dive into the main

    • Cliq iOS can't see shared screen

      Hello, I had this morning a video call with a colleague. She is using Cliq Desktop MacOS and wanted to share her screen with me. I'm on iPad. I noticed, while she shared her screen, I could only see her video, but not the shared screen... Does Cliq iOS is able to display shared screen, or is it somewhere else to be found ? Regards

    • Tip #71 - Exploring Technician Console: Send Clipboard Keystrokes - 'Insider Insights'

      Hello Zoho Assist Community! Say you are helping a customer remotely and need to log into a system on their machine. You have the password ready on your end, but the moment you try to paste it into the login field, nothing happens. The remote screen just

    • Tip #7: Customize the appointment confirmation page

      A confirmation page plays a crucial role in creating the first impression, as that's where customers land when booking with you. It shows your brand identity, engages your audience, and drives more conversions. Yet, this section is often overlooked when

    • Images not saved in notes

      Created noteboards and create a note, copy pasted the image, close the note and open again, image is not coming this same problem occurs in note on notebook I have attached the replication steps as video url to analyse it, and also attached the videos

    • New in Office Integrator: Apply conditional formatting to entire rows

      Hi users, We are pleased to introduce the ability to highlight entire rows based on a cell's value in Zoho Office Integrator's spreadsheet editor. For example, if your finance team tracks invoice payments in a spreadsheet, you can highlight overdue invoices

    • Zoho books - Project Module - Itemised expenses

      Hi All, I heavily use the projects function in Zoho books and can work for one client for successive weeks, providing labour and incurring the occasional general expenses.  As an example, during the one purchase, I purchase 10 widgets and of these 10, 

    • How to get REST API of extension function in CRM

      I create a an extension using ZOHO Sigma for integrate ZOHO CRM and XERO and established two way sync but when I public my extension it's standalone function are not provide any type of access so I can't get REST API Key of standalone functions without

    • A few Issues when using "Pay Bill via Check"

      We have quite a bit of issues with how paying for Bills via Check works. Would love some feedback from the Zoho team in case we are doing something incorrectly. 1. When we go from a vendor and select "Pay Bill via Check" option, we see ALL the outstanding

    • Show backordered items on packing slip

      Is it possible to show a column on the Packing Slip that shows number of backordered items when a PO is only partially filled? I would also like to see the Backordered column appear on POs after you receive items if you didn't get ALL of the items or partial amounts of items. And lastly, it would be nice to have the option of turning on the Backordered column for invoices if you only invoice for a partial order. -Tom

    • Elevate your Radar experience: Best practices part 1

      In the Spotlight: Zoho Desk's Radar app Think about RADAR (Radio Detection and Ranging)? The system used to track and identify aircraft, ships, and vehicles using electromagnetic waves. Imagine what a similar “Radar” experience looks like for customer

    • Mise à jour de Zoho Books – France

      Chers clients, Merci pour votre patience et votre soutien continu. Avec les évolutions réglementaires à venir en France nous introduisons de nouvelles fonctionnalités dans Zoho Books pour les clients français. Ces mises à jour ont été conçues pour répondre

    • Automation Series: Auto-update Budget When Time is Logged

      In Zoho Projects, Summary fields enable instant budget sync by capturing Actual Cost and showcases it at project-level when a time log is added. This allows real-time budget visibility and helps teams stay within financial thresholds. Consider an event

    • Preferred Name and Email Formats: Bring consistency to user identity

      A user's display name and email address are often the first identifiers that colleagues, partners, and customers see. Maintaining a consistent format across the organization helps reinforce a professional identity and avoids the confusion that comes from

    • [Webinar] Solving business challenges: Standardizing document operations across your organization

      Hi Writer users, Every organization struggles with document inconsistency due to issues like multiple templates, outdated content in client-facing docs, and the lack of a standard review process. Zoho Writer streamlines the entire lifecycle with capabilities

    • Auto-sync field of lookup value

      This feature has been requested many times in the discussion Field of Lookup Announcement and this post aims to track it separately. At the moment the value of a 'field of lookup' is a snapshot but once the parent lookup field is updated the values diverge.

    • Account name not populating when importing contacts

      When importing a csv file to add contacts the account name is blank? Every other filed gets mapped and imported correctly, i.e contact name, phone number. However not the account name which I have mapped to "company" field in my csv file

    • Requirements using Zoho Projects

      Is there a seperate Zoho application for Requirements (Requirements Repository) or a way to use Zoho Projects to store, track and organize software requirements

    • Control who sees Timeline and Interactions in Zoho CRM through Profiles

      The feature has been enabled for all DCs (except US, EU, and IN DCs). We will be rolling it out to the other DCs in the upcoming days. Dear All, In a CRM, not all users would require access to the history of a record. For instance, a Marketing Operations

    • Billing Management: #3 Billing Unbilled Charges Periodically

      We had a smooth sail into Prorated Billing, a practice that ensures fairness when customers join, upgrade, or downgrade a service at any point during the billing cycle. But what happens when a customer requests additional limits or features during the

    • Hide chart series by default (unchecked in legend)

      Hi, I’m working on a dashboard in Zoho Analytics and ran into a limitation I can’t figure out. Is there a way to have certain columns (series) in a chart hidden by default via the legend (i.e., unchecked), but still available so the user can enable them

    • Zoho CRM - Restrict Login based on work hours

      Hi there, I'm wondering if we can restrict users to login during works - For example the users would be able to login from 8am to 5pm. I have seen the IP address restriction - the only downfall is what if the customer has dynamic IP. thanks Jiri

    • ZDK.Client.showConfirmation() and showAlert() silently fail on Boolean/checkbox field onChange - anyone else?

      Hi community, I've been trying to show a message pop-up when a checkbox field is ticked. I'm using the onChange event on the Opporutnities create page. function onChange(value) { if (value === true) { ZDK.Client.showMessage( "Note: Message goes here.",

    • Tip #22 Three ways you can split your text into columns

      When you're working with large datasets, you often have the problem of messy, inconsistent formatting, which makes analysis difficult. This is especially true when the data is being collected elsewhere and then imported to the spreadsheet, which can result

    • CRM Timeline History Permissions ?

      Hello, I am curious about this. in Zoho CRM on the Timeline Tab everyone knows that it displays the history of edits and such for that particular Lead record. What if I wanted to Hide some of the History Events from CRM Users? For example, I have a workflow

    • Zia Emails Summary: Instant context from past emails

      Hello all, Reading all of the past emails associated with a specific record can be tedious, which in turn makes it difficult to understand the context quickly, as these messages often include irrelevant details that waste time. This is true for everyone

    • Custom Display Field for Lookup Dropdowns in Zoho CRM

      Could Zoho CRM support changing the display field in lookup dropdowns, like Zoho Creator does? This would make it much easier to select the right record by showing a more useful field instead of only the default one. It would improve speed, clarity, and

    • Next Page