One of the main benefits of any customer relationship management system is that you can use the software to create relationships between records in your database. These relationships allow you to understand the different types of data about your customers, vendors, and partners, and how they interact with one another. The Microsoft Dynamics CRM user interface displays the link between two records by using a lookup. The default contact form includes two lookups: one for the Parent Customer and one for the default Currency.
You can visually determine that a field is a lookup because:
The text in the field is hyperlinked (blue and underlined).
There is an icon to the left of the text that indicates the entity of the linked record.
The field includes an icon with a window and a magnifying glass.
Clicking the hyperlinked text in the field launches a new window displaying the linked record. Unlike the other fields on the form, in which you simply enter data into the field, lookup fields require you to select a record to link. You can link records in the lookup field by using one of two techniques:
Use the Look Up Records dialog box. To use this technique, click the lookup icon. Microsoft Dynamics CRM then launches the Look Up Records dialog box that you can use to search for and select a specific record.
Use automatic resolution. To use this technique, simply start typing the name of the linked record in the lookup field. After you enter all (or a portion) of the linked record’s name, click a different form field or press the Tab key. Microsoft Dynamics CRM then tries to automatically resolve your entry to an existing record.
Tip
The automatic resolution feature in lookups can provide a significant time savings when you work with many different records.
Microsoft Dynamics CRM tries to match records in the lookup by using the find fields of the entity. The record name is usually included as a find field, but your administrator might configure additional find fields that you can use with automatic resolution. If Microsoft Dynamics CRM finds just one matching record during the automatic resolution, it populates a link to that record in the lookup field. If more than one match is found, the lookup field displays a yellow warning icon and colors the text you entered red. Click the warning icon to view the potential matches, and then select the record you want. Microsoft Dynamics CRM then uses that value for the lookup field.
If Microsoft Dynamics CRM does not find any potential matches, it colors the text red and displays a red circle with a white X.
If you want to remove a value from a lookup field, you can select the white portion of the field (without clicking the hyperlinked text) and then press the Backspace key or Delete key.