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Linking & Relationships

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Linking records connects them so you can move between related information and see the full picture around any record.

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How linking works

Links give you a complete view of a record’s connections and let you navigate between them. They appear in the Related subtab on every record.

Navigating to Related Tab in Contact — The screenshot shows a contact record for A.P. Chekhov in Insightly CRM, with a cursor hovering over the “Related” tab. This tab allows users to view associated records linked to the contact, such as opportunities, projects, or other connections.

When adding a link, you can search by keyword. Insightly autocompletes matching record names as you type.

Linking Records Using Keyword Search — A user has typed “track” into the Add New Link field, triggering a dropdown with two matching record suggestions. This illustrates how Insightly’s autocomplete feature helps users quickly find and connect related records without needing exact names.

The link form includes a Role field and a Details field for documenting the nature of the connection.

Add Link Form With Role and Details — The screenshot shows a form for linking a contact or organization to a project, with fields for the link name, role (set to “Buyer”), and additional details. This helps users understand how to document a contact’s role and relevant notes when associating them with a specific project or opportunity in Insightly.

Hovering over a linked record displays a popup card with key details without requiring you to navigate away.

Contact Relationship Hover Card in Insightly — Hovering over a related contact (Olga Knipper) on A.P. Chekhov’s record displays a popup card with her email, address, and background notes such as “Married to Anton Chekhov.” This feature helps users quickly view key details about linked contacts without navigating away from the current record.

To edit or remove an existing link, use the dropdown that appears on the linked record row.

Editing a Contact Link in Insightly CRM — The image shows a Contacts panel with two linked contacts, where a dropdown menu has appeared offering “Edit Link” and “Delete Link” options for Denison Cabral’s contact relationship. This illustrates how users can modify or remove an existing relationship link between contacts directly from the contacts list.

Most records can be linked with a free-text description of the connection in the Role field. Contacts and organizations additionally support defined link relationships, which is how you record structured connections rather than describing them by hand each time.

Because a relationship describes a link between two records rather than being a field within a record itself, it isn’t included in exports or reports.

Selecting a Relationship Type for a Contact Link — A dropdown menu is open showing relationship options such as “is a colleague of,” “is a customer of / is a supplier to,” and “is a friend of” when linking a contact named John Webster. This helps users understand how to define the nature of a relationship between two contacts when adding a new link in Insightly CRM.

Relationship types are managed in System Settings. Navigate there by opening the profile menu in the top-right corner and selecting System Settings, then choosing Relationships in the Data Administration section of the sidebar.

Navigating to Relationships in System Settings — The screenshot shows a user opening the profile menu in the top-right corner of Insightly CRM and selecting System Settings, with an arrow pointing to the Relationships option in the Data Administration section of the left sidebar. This helps users locate where to manage relationship settings within their CRM account.

The Relationships configuration table lists all forward and reverse relationship labels, shows whether each applies to Contacts, Organizations, or both, and provides an Add New Relationship button for creating custom types.

CRM Relationship Types Configuration Table — This image shows a table of relationship types in Insightly CRM, listing forward and reverse relationship labels (such as “is a colleague of” and “is a customer of”) along with checkmarks indicating whether each relationship applies to Contacts or Organizations. An “Add New Relationship” button at the bottom allows users to create custom relationship types beyond the defaults shown.

When adding a custom relationship, you specify both the forward and reverse descriptions (for example, “is the teacher of” / “is the student of”) and indicate which object type the relationship applies to.

Adding a Teacher-Student Relationship in Insightly — A dialog box shows the configuration for a new contact relationship, with “is the teacher of” and “is the student of” as the forward and reverse descriptions, along with titles “Teacher” and “Student.” The “Relationship Is For Contact” checkbox is checked, and the user is about to click “Save Relationship” to finalize the setup.

ℹ️ The default relationships included with Insightly cannot be changed or deleted. You can add your own custom relationships to the list, but only custom relationships can be edited or removed.

Lookup relationship fields with custom objects

The Related tab behaves differently on custom objects than on standard ones, and lookup relationship fields are how custom object connections are configured.

Lookup relationship fields aren’t limited to custom objects. They can be created for standard objects too, and are set up like any other custom field from System Settings > Objects and Fields. When configuring the field, the Related To setting determines which object type the field appears in the Related tab of.

Custom Transport Object Record in Insightly — This screenshot shows a custom object record named “Boeing 737” under a Transport category in Insightly CRM, owned by Jason Ng, with the Related tab open displaying a message that no lookup relationships have been configured. This is relevant to readers learning how to create and link custom objects using lookup relationship fields.

When adding a custom field, select the Lookup Relationship field type to connect one object to another with a one-way link.

Selecting Lookup Relationship Field Type in Insightly — The image shows a “Choose a Field Type” screen in Insightly CRM, with the “Lookup Relationship” option highlighted in a red box. This field type allows users to connect one object to another with a one-way link, which is important when setting up relational data between records in the CRM.

The configuration form lets you set the field label, name, related list name, description, and visibility for the lookup relationship.

Lookup Relationship Field Details Configuration Form — This form allows users to configure a custom lookup relationship field in Insightly CRM, linking a record to a Contact object with options for field label, name, related list name, description, and visibility settings. It would matter to readers who are learning how to create custom fields that relate two objects together within their CRM.

Once configured, related records appear in the Related tab of the linked object.

Custom Orders Related Tab in Delivery Record — A Delivery record dated 8-27-18 in Insightly CRM displays the Related tab, showing one linked Custom Order named “James - Round 8” with Record ID 370. This illustrates how custom orders appear as a related list within a delivery record, with a red arrow highlighting the Custom Orders count badge.

The reverse side of the link (the related record appearing on the other object) is visible from that record as well.

Linked Delivery Record in Custom Order — A custom cake order for James Martin in Insightly CRM shows a delivery record dated 8-27-18 linked within the Deliveries field, highlighted by a red arrow. This illustrates how a related delivery object appears on a custom order record, which is useful for understanding how to navigate or verify linked records in the system.

ℹ️ You cannot create new records from a lookup relationship field on the Details tab. From there you can only search for and connect with records that already exist. A record can, however, be created from the Related tab of a record that has the lookup relationship field.

Linking multiple items at once

A link can be added to multiple items in a list in one action, rather than opening each record.

Adding a Link to Selected CRM Contacts — The screenshot shows a contact list in Insightly CRM with two contacts selected (A.P. Chekhov and Leo Tolstoy), and a red arrow pointing to the “Add Link” button in the toolbar above. This feature allows users to create associations or links between multiple selected contacts and other records in the CRM.

After selecting the records and clicking Add Link, the Add Link window opens. Search for the item you want to link to by typing it in the Name field and selecting it from the results, then optionally set a role or title and details. Clicking Add This Link creates the link between that record and all of the selected items at once.

Add Link Dialog Box in Insightly CRM — This image shows a modal dialog box used to create a new link between records in Insightly CRM, featuring fields for Name, Role/Title, and Details along with Cancel and Add Link buttons. Users would encounter this when linking related contacts, organizations, or other records together within the system.

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