Contacts to Multiple Accounts considerations
Key Takeaway
With Contacts to Multiple Accounts, the account in a contact's Account Name field is its primary account, which is a direct relationship. Every other account you relate to the contact is an indirect relationship.
Contacts to Multiple Accounts lets you relate one contact record to several accounts. People often work with more than one company. A business owner may own several companies, and a consultant may work for several organizations. You keep one contact and relate it to each account, so you don't need a duplicate contact for each company.
Direct and indirect relationships
The account in the contact's Account Name field is the contact's primary account. The link to the primary account is a direct relationship. Every other account you add to the contact is an indirect relationship.
A contact must have a primary account before it can have indirect relationships, so a private contact can't have them.
Direct and indirect relationships are both stored as Account Contact Relationship records.
Lena Park is a contact whose Account Name is Orchard Analytics. She also advises two other companies, Redwood Clinic and Summit Foods, so a user relates her contact record to both of them. Orchard Analytics is her primary account. Her link to Orchard Analytics is a direct relationship. Her links to Redwood Clinic and Summit Foods are indirect relationships. Lena now has three Account Contact Relationship records, one for each account.