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Linking of one customer to multiple vendors

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Posted on by CU04081252-0

Hi Team,

I have one customer whom I have to link to multiple vendors. However, when I am linking contact to second vendor it is giving me the error that the contact is already linked to vendor.

How can I link a single customer to multiple vendors to have offset in the Business central.

Thanks in advance for the help.

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Dynamics 365 Business Central

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Pallavi Phade 5,420 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Namaste

You are right we cannot link a same customer to multiple Vendors . I m getting the below error. I Tried both ways as person and as company . We cannot link the same

Work Around

You have to create multiple contacts and link to multiple Vendors . Mapping is one-to-one . You need to take care in case of transactions

Or

Create custom table storing all the necessary infromation for records . It will have no impact on transactions .

Above workaround will have no transactional impact. If you have any detialed requirement We can discuss further

If you feel answer is helpful , please verify the answer

Regards

Pallavi Phade

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Mansi Soni 8,951 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hello,

In standard Business Central, a contact record can only be linked to one customer or one vendor at a time, so you can’t directly link the same contact to multiple vendors. To manage a scenario where one customer needs to be offset against multiple vendors, you’d typically need to create a custom relationship setup to map one customer to multiple vendors.

Hope this answer will help you as well!

Regards,
Mansi Soni

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Nimsara Jayathilaka. 4,950 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Business Central only allows a contact to be related to one customer or one vendor at a time. That is why you were getting the error message when you attempted to relate the same contact to multiple vendors. To relate a single customer to multiple vendors to offset the payment, you have two choices: create unique contacts for all of your vendors, or use one company-type contact that can be related to multiple business entities (customer and vendors), as was described in the recent updates.

Refer given linkdin post :: mohamed-afrat

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-create-manage-customers-vendors-contacts-dynamics-mohamed-afrath/

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Sumit Singh 11,757 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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Hi,

Standard functionality does not allow one contact to link to multiple customers/vendors, even with a company-type contact.
If you need a single contact tied to multiple vendors/customers, you’ll need customization (e.g., a mapping table for many-to-many relationships).
Otherwise, the only standard option is separate contacts per entity.

Mark true, “Does this answer your question” if it helps.

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Rishabh Kanaskar 6,219 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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If your main goal is financial offsetting, you don’t actually need to link the contact to multiple vendors. Instead, manage the offsets via general journals or ledger applications, or use dimensions to track the relationships for reporting purposes.

You can create a dimension (e.g., “Vendor Link”) on the customer ledger entries.

When posting transactions, assign the dimension for the related vendor.

Pros: Maintains a single contact; allows reporting and offsets by vendor.

Cons: Does not physically link the contact to multiple vendors, only for reporting/analysis.

Thanks

Rishabh

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Sahan Hasitha 2,683 on at

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hi

standard functionality does not support linking a single contact to multiple customers or vendors, even if it is defined as a company-type contact. Each contact can only be associated with one customer or vendor at a time. If your business requires a single contact to manage relationships across multiple customers or vendors, this cannot be achieved out of the box. The only available standard approach is to create and maintain separate contacts for each customer or vendor entity, which can lead to duplication. To achieve a true many-to-many relationship, you will need a customization. A common approach is to develop a custom mapping table in AL that connects one contact record to multiple customers and vendors, allowing centralized management of the contact while preserving links to all related entities.

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Teddy Herryanto (Th... 14,302 Super User 2026 Season 1 on at

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By default, you only link one customer to one vendor using contact.

The other way is to link it by using dimension.

Create a new dimension code and value for it and have them use the same one.

At least you can report on it.

The "link" doesn't do anything but for report purpose only.

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