# Host relationship within a collection

**URL:** <https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179>\
**Category:** Get Help\
**Created:** [May 19, 2023, 8:14am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179 "2023-05-19T08:14:45Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 7\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![sorovi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@sorovi](https://speciforum.org/u/sorovi)\
**Post date:** [May 19, 2023, 8:14am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/1 "2023-05-19T08:14:45Z")

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Hi. Creating a host relationship in Specify requires that the specimen and its hosts are in different collections. Is there a way to create a host relationship to a taxon name or a specimen in the same collection? Thanks. Soraya

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**Author:** ![willem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/898d66/32.png) [@willem](https://speciforum.org/u/willem)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 9:00am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/2 "2023-05-26T09:00:33Z")

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You can create a relationship between a collection and itself. I can help if necessary. There is no way to create relationships between taxa, only between collection objects.

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**Author:** ![sorovi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@sorovi](https://speciforum.org/u/sorovi)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 10:12am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/3 "2023-05-26T10:12:08Z")

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Hi @willem. Yes, I would like to know how to create a relationship between a collection and itself. Thanks!

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**Author:** ![willem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/898d66/32.png) [@willem](https://speciforum.org/u/willem)\
**Post date:** [May 26, 2023, 11:51am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/4 "2023-05-26T11:51:04Z")

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Please send me an email to discuss: w.coetzer@saiab.nrf.ac.za

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**Author:** ![willem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/898d66/32.png) [@willem](https://speciforum.org/u/willem)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2023, 9:19am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/5 "2023-06-08T09:19:18Z")

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You need to go to Help / About in Specify 6. Then double click the database name. This is where you set preferences.

You need to set a local pref “SELF\_COLREL” to enable the ColRel setup wizard to show all the Collections in the destination list. The value of this preference must be ‘true’. Click out of the row to be sure that it takes.

Then you should be able to click on System and Configure Collection Relationships.

The xml form code that applies is not affected by whether it is a relationship between a collection and itself, or between two collections.

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**Author:** ![sorovi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c68b51/32.png) [@sorovi](https://speciforum.org/u/sorovi)\
**Post date:** [June 9, 2023, 11:19am UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/6 "2023-06-09T11:19:11Z")

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Many thanks Willem! Will try it out.

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**Author:** ![system](https://canada1.discourse-cdn.com/flex029/uploads/specifysoftware/original/2X/1/18a843c97bc32b40e8ad0e035755bc88ffaacaf7.svg) [@system](https://speciforum.org/u/system)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2025, 6:30pm UTC](https://speciforum.org/t/host-relationship-within-a-collection/1179/7 "2025-07-17T18:30:38Z")

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