How do I link related contacts, like a family member and a case manager?

Associations connect contacts to each other with a label that explains the relationship. For example, you can link two adult siblings who share care decisions, or link a case manager to the family they referred. Linked records appear on each contact so your whole team understands who is connected.

Note: only record relationships here. Never add health information to labels or contact fields.

Types of labels

• Single label: the same name on both sides, such as Sibling or Colleague.
• Pair of labels: a different name on each side, such as Referred By and Referred, or Manager and Employee.

Set up an association (account admins)

1. Go to Settings, then Objects.
2. Open Contacts and select Associations.
3. Click Create Association.
4. Choose what to link contacts to: another contact, a company, an opportunity or another available record type.
5. Choose a single label or a pair of labels and name them.
6. Under Configure Relationship, choose the relationship type, such as One-to-One or Many-to-Many, and any limits.
7. Check the preview, then click Save.

Limits control how many records can be linked under a label. If someone tries to go over the limit, they see a warning.

Link two contacts

1. Go to Contacts and open the contact.
2. Open the Associations area.
3. Click Add for the record type you want.
4. Search for and select the related contact.
5. Choose the label and confirm.

For paired labels, the matching label appears on the other contact automatically.

Remove a link

Open the contact, go to Associations, find the linked record and remove it. Neither contact is deleted.

Use associations in lists and workflows

• Smart Lists: add association columns from the columns control, and filter contacts by linked records using Contains any, Does not contain any, Is empty or Is not empty.
• Workflows: the Add Associated Records to Workflow and Remove Associated Records from Workflow actions move linked records in or out of another workflow.

Troubleshooting

• A label is missing: check that the association is set up for Contacts in Settings.
• A link is in a different column than expected: each label has its own column.

Have a question about your own account? Submit a ticket and our team will follow up.