Associate records

In HubSpot, there are CRM objects that represent different parts of your data model. To keep track of the relationships within and between objects, you can associate their records together. Associations are always two-way (i.e., if record A is associated to record B, record B is also associated to record A) and can be viewed in each record in the right sidebar. You can associate records of different objects (e.g., companies and tickets) or same objects (e.g., contacts and contacts).

Please note: your account may use personalized names for each object (e.g., account instead of company). This document refers to objects by their HubSpot default names.

Examples of when you'd associate records include:

• When making a sale, you communicate via email to three individuals at the same company. In HubSpot, you associate the deal to the three contact records and their company record. You can also associate the contacts to each other as colleagues, or you can label one of the contacts as the others' manager.
• When handling a customer complaint, you communicate via email to two individuals. These individuals are also in the middle of a sale with your company. In HubSpot, you can associate the ticket record to the two contact records and the deal record.
• A contact is an advisor at one company and an employee at another company. In HubSpot, you can associate the contact with both companies. You can set the employer as their primary company, and you can label them as an advisor for the other company.

You can also associate the activities in a record's timeline to appear in another record. If the records are already associated together, some activities will automatically be associated to the associated records. If you're using a mobile device, learn how to manage associations in the HubSpot mobile app.

Please note: the number of records you can associate per object pair depends on your HubSpot subscription. Learn more in the HubSpot Products & Services Catalog.

Associate records

Add associations to a record

To add associations on an individual record:

1. Navigate to your records:
   • Contacts: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Contacts.
   • Companies: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Companies.
   • Deals: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Deals.
   • Tickets: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Tickets.
   • Appointments (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Appointments.
   • Courses (if activated):In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Courses.
   • Listings (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Listings.
   • Services (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Services.
   • Custom objects: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM, then select the custom object. Before you can associate custom object records, you need to define the association.
2. Click the name of the record for which you want to add associations.
3. In the right sidebar, click +Add [object] in that object's association card (e.g., the Contacts card to add contact associations. If the object's card isn't displayed, you can customize the right sidebar.
4. To create and associate a new record, in the right panel:
   • Click the Create new tab.
   • Enter property values for your new record. If you want to set an association label, you'll need to set the label after the record is created.
   • Click Create, or to create and associate another record, click Create and add another.
5. To associate existing records, in the right panel:
   • Search for the records you want to associate, then select the checkboxes.
   • If you're associating additional companies to a record, click Next, then you can do one of the following:
     • To set the primary company, select Set as [record]'s primary company under the company you want to be primary. Learn more about how the primary company is set and used.
     • To replace the existing primary company with a company you're associating, select the Replace [company] as [record]'s current primary checkbox. The previous primary company will still be associated with the record, but will no longer be labeled as primary.
   • To label the association, click Next. Click +Add association label to set labels that describe the relationship between the records.
   • Once you're done, click Save.

You can now view the associated records on the record's right sidebar, Overview tab, and as a column on the object home page. Once records are associated, learn how to edit your associations.

Associate records in bulk

There are multiple ways to associate records in bulk:

• Associate records via an import, which includes the option to import association labels. The records in your import can be either new or existing records. Learn how HubSpot identifies and deduplicates existing records.
• Associate records via API. 
• Turn on the setting to automatically associate contact and company records based on the company domain.
• Associate records via workflows.

View, edit, or remove associations on a record

To view, update, or remove associations while on a record:

1. Navigate to your records:
   • Contacts: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Contacts.
   • Companies: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Companies.
   • Deals: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Deals.
   • Tickets: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Tickets.
   • Appointments (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Appointments.
   • Courses (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Courses.
   • Listings (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Listings.
   • Services (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Services.
   • Custom objects: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM, then select the custom object.
2. Click the name of the record for which you want to view or edit associations.
3. In the right panel of the record, navigate to the association card. There are default associations cards for each object, but you can also create custom association cards to display specific properties or set up a custom sort order.
4. To edit or a remove an association, hover over the associated record, then click the three horizontal dots dropdown menu:
   • Set as primary (Companies only): for associated companies, select to make the company association primary. In the dialog box, select the checkbox if you're replacing another company, then click Update. 
   • Remove as primary (Companies only): select to remove the company association as primary. To select a new primary company, in the dialog box, click the dropdown menu and select the company, then click Update. The original primary company will still be associated to the record, but will no longer be labeled as primary.
   • Edit association labels: select to update the association label. In the dialog box, click the dropdown menu and select a new label or click x to remove a label. Click Update. You can also set association labels in bulk via import.
   • Remove association: select to remove the association. In the dialog box, click Remove association. If the association you’re removing is a primary company, use the dropdown menu to choose a new primary company.

Please note: for contact records, a primary company association is required. On contacts with multiple associated companies, if you remove a company as primary, you must select another primary company. If a contact has only one associated company, that company is primary by default and you cannot remove the primary label.

View record associations on an index page

You can view associated records in bulk on each object's index page in the associated object columns. You can display columns for each association type (e.g., Deal → Companies) and for a record's primary company (e.g., Contact → Company (Primary)).

1. Navigate to your records:
   • Contacts: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Contacts.
   • Companies: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Companies.
   • Deals: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Deals.
   • Tickets: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Tickets.
   • Appointments (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Appointments.
   • Courses (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Courses.
   • Listings (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Listings.
   • Services (if activated): In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM > Services.
   • Custom objects: In your HubSpot account, navigate to CRM, then select the custom object.
2. To display associated records as columns in the table:
   • In the top right of the table, click Edit columns. 
   • In the dialog box, on the left, select the checkbox next to [Object] → [Objects] to display associations of that type. For example, if you're on the contacts home page, you could select Contact → Companies, Contact → Company (Primary), Contact → Deals, etc.
   • Click Apply. Learn more about customizing the table.
3. In the columns, click [x] records to view the record’s associations for that object relationship. In the pop-up box, click the name to view a specific associated record, or click View associated [Objects] to open a view of all associated records for that relationship.