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Overview

The Associate Records workflow action enables you to automatically link records within your CRM by matching specific field values. This powerful feature can create connections between Contacts, Companies, Opportunities, and Custom Objects, depending on the workflow's context and your account's association settings.

You can use this action to:

Link records across various CRM objects and Custom Objects based on configured associations
Find target records using customizable field filters
Utilize merge fields from the enrolled record as filter values
Associate with the earliest created, latest created, or all matching records
Apply existing association labels to define the relationship type
Create connections between different object types

Note: When using multiple filters, a record must satisfy all conditions to be considered a match.

Enabling the Feature

The Associate Records action is currently available through Labs. To activate it, navigate to Settings → Labs, locate the Associate Records Workflow Action option, and enable it for your sub-account.

Prerequisites

Before implementing the Associate Records action, ensure that:

Both the source and target objects are available in your sub-account
An association has been established between the two object types
The records contain fields that can be used to identify appropriate matches

You can create associations by going to Settings → Objects, selecting an object, and then configuring the Associations section. For instance, to link Contacts with Property records, you must first create an association between the Contact and Property objects.

Only user-defined association labels that are applicable to the relationship will appear for selection in this action. If a target object or association label doesn't appear, verify the association configuration between the objects.

Configuration Steps

I. Action Name

Provide a descriptive name for this workflow step. This identifier is used solely for reference within the workflow builder interface.

II. Create Association With (Required)

Select the object type containing the records you want to associate with the record currently enrolled in the workflow. The available options depend on:

The object type the workflow is running on
The associations configured in your sub-account
Whether the relationship is user-defined or managed natively

For example:

A Contact workflow can associate a Contact with a Custom Object like Property or Policy
A Custom Object workflow can associate its record with Contacts, Companies, Opportunities, or other Custom Objects, provided a supported association exists

Note: Contact-to-Opportunity associations are not supported through this action. Use the native Opportunity association feature instead.

III. Filter Records to Associate

Define the criteria used to identify the correct target record(s). Each filter consists of three components:

Field: A field from the selected target object
Operator: The condition used to evaluate the field (such as Equals, Contains, Is not empty)
Value: A fixed value or a merge field from the enrolled record

Click + Add field to include additional filter conditions. Multiple filters are combined using AND logic, meaning all conditions must be met for a record to qualify.

Example filter configuration:

Field: Bedrooms, Operator: Equals, Value: {{contact.preferred_bedrooms}}
Field: City, Operator: Is, Value: {{contact.preferred_city}}
Field: Property Type, Operator: Is, Value: {{contact.preferred_property_type}}
Field: Property Name, Operator: Is not empty (no value required)

IV. When Multiple Records Match (Required)

Determine how the system should handle situations where multiple target records meet your filter criteria:

Associate with earliest created record: Links the enrolled record with the oldest matching record
Associate with latest created record: Links the enrolled record with the newest matching record
Associate with all matching records: Creates associations with every qualifying record, subject to association limits

When selecting all matching records, associations are processed in bulk and may take a moment to appear in the system.

V. Association Label

Select the label that best describes the relationship between the records, such as Policy Holder, Primary Contact, or Potential Buyer. This field is required when displayed.

When associating a Company with a Contact (or vice versa), the standard Company-Contact relationship is applied automatically, and this field will not be displayed.

Use Cases

Real Estate: Matching Buyers with Properties

A real estate agency stores property listings in a Custom Object. When a potential buyer submits their preferences, a workflow automatically links the contact with properties that match their criteria.

Setup:

Trigger: Contact Created
Create Association With: Property
Filter Records: Bedrooms Equals {{contact.preferred_bedrooms}}, City Is {{contact.preferred_city}}, Property Type Is {{contact.preferred_property_type}}
When Multiple Records Match: Associate with all matching records
Association Label: Potential Buyer

This automation connects the contact with all suitable properties, enabling the agency to efficiently manage property matches and follow-up activities without manual record linking.

Insurance: Linking Policies to Policyholders

An insurance agency manages policies through a Policy Custom Object. When a new Policy record is created, the workflow automatically finds the correct contact and associates the policy with them.

Using the Associate Records Workflow Action