# Create Entity in Relation colummn with a Rule **URL:** \ **Category:** Get Help\ **Created:** [July 10, 2025, 9:31am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173 "2025-07-10T09:31:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 9:31am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/1 "2025-07-10T09:31:42Z")
I’m struggling to understand how rules and relations work. I can not manage to create a rule that creates or updates a relation in an entity(new row created) I have a rule that creates a new row in a Project DB, when a new row is created in Notion DB. But it does not let me add the client to the Client DB, or the Company to the Company DB… ![Screenshot 2025-07-10 at 11.26.18](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/fibery/original/2X/4/4443a609dd2d424d3d6f55b39b71f7506d57f3ef.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Chr1sG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/chr1sg/32/3941_2.png) [@Chr1sG](https://community.fibery.io/u/Chr1sG)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 9:40am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/2 "2025-07-10T09:40:50Z")
Please share the full screenshot of your automation. Are you trying to update a select field? This can’t be done by using a formula that results in a text string. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 9:47am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/3 "2025-07-10T09:47:24Z")
I tried with both…This is something I’m trying to understand.Some relation I can change and some not…does that mean I have to have 2 different columns of relations to be able to work? ![Screenshot 2025-07-10 at 11.45.03](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/fibery/original/2X/6/6b17ae32b5b0bd59160a0b2b887549b03aa8b794.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Chr1sG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/chr1sg/32/3941_2.png) [@Chr1sG](https://community.fibery.io/u/Chr1sG)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 10:03am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/4 "2025-07-10T10:03:34Z")
I’m not sure what you are trying to achieve. Let’s check. It looks like you have two similar fields (`Client DB` and `Clients DB`). The first is a multi select field, the second is a relation field, right? You want the automation to create a Project from a Notion entity, and it looks like your Notion DB has a field called `Client Name` (which is a text field). If you want to create a Project that is linked to a Client (via the `Clients DB` field) based on the text string in the Notion entity, then you will need to use a query to find the right Client to link. So you will want to use a formula something like this: `Clients.Filter(Name = [Step 1 Notion DB].[Client Name]).Sort().First()` (this assumes that a Project links to a single Client) It works by taking the `Clients` database, and filtering to find any entities where the `Name` matched the `Client Name` from the Notion entity that triggered the rule. Theoretically, there could be more than one, so using `.Sort().First()` will take the first one (in no particular order). I hope this makes sense and helps. However, you might want to look in to [auto-linking relations](https://the.fibery.io/@public/User_Guide/Guide/Auto-linking-(Set-Relations-Automatically)-50). You could add an auto-link relation between the Notion DB and the Clients DB, where you match on the Client’s name. Then, you can either use this field value directly in the automation (no need for a query formula) or even just use a lookup on the Project db to get the Client that is linked to the Notion entity it was spawned from. Just a thought … ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 10:30am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/5 "2025-07-10T10:30:21Z")
Does not work… I will try to check the video but I think I already have the auto-linked relation, but it does not work. Maybe I need to create first the client on the Client Db first? Which brings me to this question, if I use update DB automation, will it create one if It’s not there? Thanks for taking the time to help me, I’m trying to explain how this work..I’m trying to switch from Coda, and in coda relation are a bit different… ![Screenshot 2025-07-10 at 12.25.46](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/uploads/fibery/original/2X/2/26a892a855f944109712d7f00216d4159c6ffd7d.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![Chr1sG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/chr1sg/32/3941_2.png) [@Chr1sG](https://community.fibery.io/u/Chr1sG)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 10:43am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/6 "2025-07-10T10:43:19Z")
> [@Eva\_Folch](#): > > Maybe I need to create first the client on the Client Db first? Right. You can’t use an automation action to create a Project and within the action that creates the Project also create a new Client to be linked to that Project. If your Notion entity has the value ‘ACME Ltd’ for the Client Name, you can create a new Project, but you won’t be able to set the Client for that Project if there doesn’t already exist an ‘ACME Ltd’ Client entity. And when you have an auto-linking rule setup, it doesn’t create new entities - it will only link existing entities that match the criteria. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 10:49am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/7 "2025-07-10T10:49:26Z")
Then I always have to create an Entity, right? But, what happens if it’s already there? Will create a duplicate? By the way, why I can not create but only update in the Clients DB? ---
**Author:** ![Chr1sG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/chr1sg/32/3941_2.png) [@Chr1sG](https://community.fibery.io/u/Chr1sG)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 10:54am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/8 "2025-07-10T10:54:24Z")
What you could do is break it into two automations: - the first one creates the Project and links it to a Client if the relevant client exists - then, you can have a second automation (which triggers on Project creation, and with a filter of Client field is empty) which creates a new linked Client, based on the Client Name from the Notion entity which spawned the Project. ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 11:01am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/9 "2025-07-10T11:01:24Z")
Then I will have to do the same, for the Client’s Company as well, if it’s not found? Is not this a bit complicated, or I’m getting old? 😅 ---
**Author:** ![Chr1sG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/chr1sg/32/3941_2.png) [@Chr1sG](https://community.fibery.io/u/Chr1sG)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 11:54am UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/10 "2025-07-10T11:54:47Z")
> [@Eva\_Folch](#): > > Then I will have to do the same, for the Client’s Company as well, if it’s not found? I am wondering about the process here. Is the Notion db an imported/synced database? Did you have Client and Company dbs in Notion? If so, why not import/sync them as Fibery dbs. If not, why don’t you make the entities for all possible Clients/Companies, in a batch ahead of time (manually or by asking AI) based on the text fields where their names are stored? ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 12:17pm UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/11 "2025-07-10T12:17:52Z")
I think I have managed.Thanks! No, I don’t have other databases in Notion,just this one. I’m using notion, together with “notion Saver” to be able to entry data from Chrome browser. It just gets information about the project, client, price, etc…then I want to bring the information into Fibery (Now I’m doing this with Coda) Hopefully I manage to recreate all my works flows from Coda into Fibery, so I can totally migrate one day… 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chr1sG](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/chr1sg/32/3941_2.png) [@Chr1sG](https://community.fibery.io/u/Chr1sG)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 12:56pm UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/12 "2025-07-10T12:56:20Z")
It may not help you for this specific use case, but worth mentioning that Fibery has a web clipper [browser extensions](https://fibery.io/features/browser-extension). ---
**Author:** ![Eva\_Folch](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/eva_folch/32/11814_2.png) [@Eva\_Folch](https://community.fibery.io/u/Eva_Folch)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2025, 1:08pm UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/create-entity-in-relation-colummn-with-a-rule/9173/13 "2025-07-10T13:08:59Z")
I will take a look, it would be great to avoid steps. Thanks!