Tip #883: Exporting filtered lists to Excel from subgrids

In CRM 2013 – Dynamics 365, subgrids do not have the “Export to Excel” button, but you can click the “pop out” button on the subgrid to open the full associated view, from where you can export to Excel. However, what if your subgrid is filtered by a different view? Let’s say you have 20 contacts associated with your account, but in your subgrid you have a view of contacts with birthdays in July, which filters the 20 associated contacts down to 2. When you click the pop-out button on the subgrid with 2 contacts, you will see the full associated view with 20 contacts.

The reason it does this is because the pop-out button is actually a link to the navigation area link for that entity, and the navigation area link is always the full associated view.

So what is a Dynamics 365 user to do if she wants to Export the filtered contents of the subgrid to Excel, not the full associated view?

The answer? Excel templates.

  1. Create an Excel template. Name it consistently with the name of the subgrid.
  2. Export to Excel the full associated view.
  3. Add the appropriate filter to match the subgrid filter.
  4. Upload your template.
  5. Teach users that when they need to export the subgrid, click the pop out button, then export the Excel template with the name of the subgrid.

Tip #882: Video Guide to Chat & Cobrowsing for Dynamics 365

ChatIn the next few videos we look at the new Omni-Channel solution for Dynamics 365, Live Assist powered by Café X. In this first video we show you how to setup the solution, and what the agent experience looks like in Dynamics 365. We will show you how to interact with customers, use many of the different features, and how to Co Browse with your customers.

YouTube player

Give us your feedback, all of it: good, bad, and ugly, I’m sure we can take it. Suggest new topics either in comments or by sending your ideas to jar@crmtipoftheday.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to http://youtube.com/crmtipoftheday!

Tip #881: Can I track a contact using the Dynamics 365 Outlook App?

User of the Dynamics 365 App for Outlook asks: Is it possible to track a contact from the app? I see the Dynamics 365 button on emails and appointments, but not contacts. How do I track a contact?

If you read the user guide, there is an add-in deployed when you install the Outlook app that allows contacts to be tracked; however, some users report getting an error when trying to launch this add-in. You will get an error if your version of Outlook is not Outlook 2016 16.0.6741.1000 or later.

If that is your experience, or you want a faster way to track contacts, all you have to do is compose an email with the contact(s) as a recipient. In Outlook, click the Dynamics 365 icon to launch the Dynamics app.

For each contact that doesn’t exist in Dynamics, you will have the option to add the contact to Dynamics 365. Select the contact and click the + button.

Enter the contact information and click “save” on the bottom of the form.

So instead of entering a contact into Outlook and then tracking the contacts, another option is to compose an email with the email addresses of the contacts, click the Dynamics 365 icon, then add the contacts to Dynamics 365. The contacts will then sync to your Exchange contacts. You do not have to send the email, as long as you create and save the contact records.

 

Tip #880: Exceptions to the Flow vs. Workflow rule

In tip 876 Jerry “I ski on water because there are no hills in Kansas” Weinstock gave us a simple rule about when to use CRM workflow and when to use Microsoft Flow.

Assume for a moment that Microsoft Flow didn’t exist. Can you do what you need to do in CRM with the built-in workflow engine? If so, do it with Workflow. Otherwise look to Microsoft Flow.

In general, I agree that it’s a good rule of thumb. I have several rules of thumb that I live by:

  • Don’t pet dogs you don’t know
  • Don’t spit into the wind
  • Don’t cut timber on a windy day

But like most rules of thumb, this one is not the end of the debate. I would add “… unless it can be done better or easier with Microsoft Flow” to the rule.

Let’s look at two examples: approvals and email notifications.

Approvals

Can you do approvals with workflows? Absolutely. For example, you can have a Workflow that email somebody asking them to approve something, but you have to do a lot of configuration to enable the approval mechanism and securing the approval field so only the approver can check the box. Or you can just use the flow approval framework and even have people who don’t have Dynamics licenses approve stuff.

Email notifications

In my recent session on business process at CRMUG Focus,  I said clearly that workflow should be the primary agent for email notifications. But there are certain types of email notifications that flow is better at. Like having a notification sent from an email address not associated with a dynamics user, having notifications come from non-office sources like Gmail, real time notifications for people that don’t have server-side synchronization, or if you can use it to create a better looking notification then the standard crm email editor that resembles the design of a 1980’s generic cereal box.

Keep it simple

So the rule of thumb is good, as far as rules of thumb go. My recommendation is understand each requirement before you decide what tools to use, then decide which tool will best meet your requirements and provide the greatest benefit from a functionality, performance, and simplicity standpoint.

Tip #879: Merging duplicate Outlook contacts

If you use Dynamics 365 contact synchronization (either server-side or client-side), you will find yourself in situations where you have duplicate contacts in Outlook. This can happen when you reconfigure the Outlook client, other users create duplicates, or many other reasons.

Contact duplication is also an issue when users first configure synchronization of contacts, and CRM downloads their synchronized contacts. If contacts downloaded in the initial synchronization are the same as contacts already existing in the user’s Exchange/Outlook contacts, a new contact is created, rather than updating the existing which duplicates existing contacts that I have in Outlook. This is by design so the synchronized contact doesn’t overwrite data you have in your personal contacts. But you now have two copies of the same contact in your inbox, the official synchronized version, and the personal copy that has years of notes that you don’t want to lose.

This can be frustrating and make your Exchange contacts more cumbersome to use. Fortunately there is a not-so-painful process to merge these contacts so you can keep your data and merge it with the master contact.

  1. In Outlook, click People and change the view to the phone view (if not already selected).

  1. Click the first column of the view to sort by the contact icon. This will separate the synchronized (two man icon) with the non synchronized (vcard) icon.

3.  Create a new folder in Outlook contacts. I call mine Backup Merge.

4.  Select all contacts with the vcard icon and drag to the backup merge folder.

5.  Move the contacts from the backup merge folder back to the main contacts folder.

6.  Outlook’s duplicate detection will prompt you for each duplicated contact that an existing version of that contact already exists, giving you the option to merge the synchronized contact with your personal copy.

7. The updated contact will then synchronize back to CRM.

Warnings and risks

Keep in mind that this will overwrite the data in CRM with your personal contact data. Of course, this introduces risks to your data quality. If your master contact data is pristine, you may want to take a more manual approach. However, in some situations, the contact data in your user;s Outlook may be more up to date than the stale old copy that you have in the master database.

If you don’t see the icon change

So if you merge the contacts and you wait a while and you don’t see the icon change back to the synced icon, one common reason is duplicate detection. If you have duplicate detection rules published and more than one copy of the contact exist in CRM, duplicate detection will prevent the contact update from synchronizing back to CRM.

Go to the users mailbox record (located in Settings > Email Configuration > Mailboxes). Open the user’s mailbox and go to the alerts tab. If you have a contact where synchronization is being blocked due to a duplicate scenario in CRM, you will see an alert letting you know that duplicate detection has prevented the update and giving you the option to approve the update. Click yes to update the contact record in CRM. After that you should see the icon change back to the two-headed synchronized version.

Tip #878: Swiping in Dynamics 365 for Phones

In this video tip we talk about the differences between how Dynamics 365 for Tablets and Dynamics 365 for Phones navigationally swipe. Since the phone app does not include any animation when users swipe, some users have the perception that the swipe isn’t working or the app is unresponsive, then they leave negative reviews. In this video we show you the right way to swipe.

YouTube player

Tip #877: Video Guide to Email Engagement in Dynamics 365 Relationship Insights

Email engagementIn this video we finish off our look at Relationship insights with the Email Engagement piece. We look at what is needed to make the functionality work in Dynamics 365, as well as create a tracked email with tracked attachment.

YouTube player

Give us your feedback, all of it: good, bad, and ugly, I’m sure we can take it. Suggest new topics either in comments or by sending your ideas to jar@crmtipoftheday.com.

Don’t forget to subscribe to http://youtube.com/crmtipoftheday!

Tip #876: CRM Workflow vs Microsoft Flow

I keep hearing the same question over and over again. And I keep seeing long drawn out answers to the question, sometimes with it being explained with a half dozen bullet points. Other times, with unnecessary examples.

What’s the question?

When should I use Microsoft Flow vs CRM Workflow to do ‘something’?

Here is the simple, complete and succinct answer.

Assume for a moment that Microsoft Flow didn’t exist. Can you do what you need to do in CRM with the built-in workflow engine? If so, do it with Workflow. Otherwise look to Microsoft Flow.

End of subject. End of debate.

Tip #875: Editable Grid Date Picker

So it didn’t jump out for me right away and frustration was building. Hopefully, this tip will calm you down also. 🙂

I was annoyed that the date picker for the editable grid didn’t have  ‘Today’ date selection like the regular form date picker control.

But after just blindly clicking around I discovered that the little dot between the left/right arrows is the Today date picker for the editable grid calendar control.

editable grid data picker

Tip #874: Update email subject or body with workflow

Sometime, somewhere you are going to want to update the subject line or body of an email after it has been sent or received with a workflow. If you do, your workflow will fail with the following error:

“Cannot update subject or description unless email is in draft status.”

To make your workflow succeed, have it first update the status of the record to “Draft,” then modify the subject or description field, then set the status the desired “completed” status.