# In formulas, lookups of "to-one" related entities being treated like "to-many" collections

**URL:** <https://community.fibery.io/t/in-formulas-lookups-of-to-one-related-entities-being-treated-like-to-many-collections/8731>\
**Category:** Bugs & Issues\
**Created:** [May 5, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/in-formulas-lookups-of-to-one-related-entities-being-treated-like-to-many-collections/8731 "2025-05-05T21:06:48Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![interr0bangr](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/flex020/user_avatar/community.fibery.io/interr0bangr/32/8089_2.png) [@interr0bangr](https://community.fibery.io/u/interr0bangr)\
**Post date:** [May 5, 2025, 9:06pm UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/in-formulas-lookups-of-to-one-related-entities-being-treated-like-to-many-collections/8731/1 "2025-05-05T21:06:48Z")

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When referencing a entity in a lookup field using formulas, the entity is getting treated like it’s part of a “to-many” collection instead of respecting the settings of the lookup field’s source where it’s actually set as a “to-one” relationship.

Is this the expected behavior? Why is the lookup ignoring the settings of it’s source field?

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**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:** [May 5, 2025, 9:52pm UTC](https://community.fibery.io/t/in-formulas-lookups-of-to-one-related-entities-being-treated-like-to-many-collections/8731/2 "2025-05-05T21:52:09Z")

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What are your relations, and what are you trying to achieve?

If you have dbs A-\>B-\>C and you add a lookup in the A db to get the Cs from the linked Bs then the result will be a collection.  
If you add a lookup in the C db to get the A (that is the parent of the linked B) then the result will be a single entity.

If you have dbs A-\>B-C (or A-B-\>C) then a lookup in A can get the Cs linked to the linked Bs (or the Cs linked to the linked B). Either way, the result will be a collection.  
Adding a lookup in C can get the A linked to the linked B, and the result will be a single entity.

If you have dbs A\<-B-\>C then a lookup in A can get the Cs linked to the linked B (or a lookup in C can get the As linked to the linked B). Either way, the result will be a collection.