Hi, I am trying to figure out how 1 table can have connections to multiple tables and on which field the relationships are created. I have a Student table with a Course_ID field and a Sports_ID field, a Courses table with primary key Course_ID and Description fields. I also have a Sports table with primary key Sports_ID and Description fields. Coming from an SQL world, I can create a link between the Course_ID field and the Sports_ID field in the Students table to both the related fields in the Courses and Sports tables. How do I accomplish this in Adalo? Thanks Steve

Hi @SynopsisLabs, Not sure I understand your question - are you talking about “relationships” concept in Adalo (One-to-Many vs. Many-to-One | Adalo Resources, Many-to-Many | Adalo Resources)? Basically Adalo’s many-one relationships are using foreign keys under the hood - exactly like in SQL. Many-many relationships are (I assume) junction tables under the hood, but in Adalo that is simplified so you can connect 2 collections instantly, without creating a 3rd one. Best, Victor.

Hi Victor, This is what I am trying to accomplish. [image] Thanks Steve

@SynopsisLabs so what exact problem do you encounter? Did you read the help article about Adalo Collections relationships? This is exactly many-to-one relationships between Students and Courses (one student can have only one course, but a course can have many Students), and same with Sports. Best, Victor.

If going with join tables/junction tables, thank you and have a great day! [image] Adalo Join Collections | Adalo Resources Alternative to Relationship Property. Otherwise known as a join table, a junction table, or linking table. [image] XANO - Sort list of Restaurants by Category via dropdown External Collections, Custom Actions & Collections Hi @jsecompany, Am I correct of what you need? : Adalo and Xano Restaurants filter_edit.mp4 - Google Drive By sort you meant filter? Thank you

Ok, Here are some screen shots - [image] [image] [image] [image] Questions - How does Adalo know what field in the Students table to link to the ID field in the Courses and Sports tables. I could potentially have many more fields in the students table linked to other tables. I removed the Courses ids from the Students table, yet a course is still showing up in the preview What does the second ID field in the tables come from and what does it content represent? Thanks Steve

Hi, I decided to try to get it to work using local databases first as the list component has more options. So I am trying to understand how the local tables link. As said before, I am from the SQL world where all relationships are explicit, so I am trying to rewire my grey matter!

@SynopsisLabs Adalo uses PostgreSQL in the backend. Think of it like: “ID” field is the Identity and Primary Key. When you create a relationship to another table, you do not need to add an explicit foreign key field and set it up - Adalo does it for you. So fk_courses will always point to courses.id. But anyway you should not worry about it - Adalo does the job for you. You do NOT need to create a numeric ID field to store ID of a related collection (unless you want to do complex manual filtering which is quite rare case). Also I would avoid naming any field as “ID” to prevent possible confusions. Internally, manually-created fields have different naming anyway, but in the frontend sometimes things may happen. Best, Victor.

Ok. But can you explain how the preview shows a course even though I have removed it from the Students table?

Adding few media items/ docs to learn more! [image] Accessing your Record ID | Adalo Resources Each record in Adalo has a unique Record ID. Makers can now get access to a Record ID for use in custom actions, visibility rules, conditional actions, list filtering, or anywhere else in your app! [One-to-Many vs. Many-to-One Relationships | A No Code App Builder Tutorial] [An Overview of the Database | A No Code App Builder Tutorial] [image] SynopsisLabs: But can you explain how the preview shows a course even though I have removed it from the Students table? Simple list subtitle, magic text setup screenshot? Thank you and have a great day!

Trying to figure out tables with multiple relationships

Get Help Database

Dilon April 14, 2026, 12:36pm 5

If going with join tables/junction tables, thank you and have a great day!

Topic		Replies	Views
From Structure to Connections: Setting Up Effective Relationships in Adalo Resources & Tutorials tutorials , help , resources , performance	11	287	February 28, 2026
How the hell do relationships work? Database	5	133	August 9, 2025
Create records in bulk using Adalo relationships Get Help	0	214	April 12, 2023
Is it possible to edit an existing Collection relation in Adalo? Database	2	416	April 8, 2023
Storing/Accessing values in many to many relationship Database	4	131	July 27, 2024

Trying to figure out tables with multiple relationships

Related topics