Tip #952: Why you should create records from cross-entity search results

In Dynamics CRM 2015 or later we have cross entity search. This allows users to search across multiple entities and displays the results on a single screen. If you don’t find the record you want, you can hit the + button.

So when you are training users, should you train them to create new records from the view, from the quick create button, or the cross-entity search results page? I maintain that you should teach users to create from search results for two big reasons:

  1. It forces them to search before creating, which protects against creating duplicate records.
  2. When you click the + button on the search results, the new record form will prepend the words you searched for to the “name” field of the created record.

So if I search for CRM Tip of the Day and don’t get any results…

When I click the + button, the quick create form will already contain “CRM Tip of the Day” as the record name.

This will reinforce good data quality practices and save users time.

6 thoughts on “Tip #952: Why you should create records from cross-entity search results

  1. audrey says:

    I tested this. I does not work

    • Joel Lindstrom says:

      what doesn’t work? If you search in cross entity search, then from the search results, click the + sign in one of the columns (accounts, contacts, opportunities), it will create a new record form with the name of the record prepended with what you typed in search. What version of the application are you on? Just to be apples to apples, I’m on Dynamics 365 8.2 online. I’m clicking the + sign in the search results, not to be confused with the + for quick create on the top menu.

  2. John says:

    Hello, I updated from crm 2015 to 8.2, the + button is unclickable for some reason – does anyone know why ?

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