Making Light Edits to Forms in Dynamics 365 CRM

Dynamics 365 CRM is highly customizable, and the out-of-the-box experience doesn't have to be the final version of your system. While extensive customizations may require assistance from a partner or consultant, administrators can make many smaller changes themselves. Understanding these basic customization tools can help you make CRM better reflect the information and processes your organization actually uses.

Security Requirements

To access the development side of CRM, you need one of these security roles:

• System Customizer
• System Administrator

The System Administrator role provides the highest level of access and control. The System Customizer role provides access to customization functionality without giving you the same ability to manage user security and permissions.

Accessing CRM Customizations

There are two ways to access Dynamics 365 customization tools. The older customization editor can be reached from CRM through:

1. Select the gear icon.
2. Open Advanced Settings.
3. Navigate to Customizations.
4. Select Customize the System.

From there, you can navigate through tables, forms, fields, and other components. For newer development, go to make.powerapps.com and begin by selecting the correct environment.

Make Your Changes in a Sandbox First

Before making customizations, make sure you're working in the correct environment. Development should generally begin in a sandbox rather than your live production environment. A sandbox lets you make and test changes before exposing them to users or production data. Your sandbox should also accurately reflect production. If it doesn't, moving changes between environments can potentially introduce unwanted differences.

Create a Solution

A solution provides a convenient container for organizing your CRM customizations. You can give the solution a recognizable name so it's easy to find later. More importantly, the solution becomes the package you use when you're ready to move your changes from the sandbox to production. When creating the solution, you'll also select a publisher. Publishers help identify who created or owns the customizations, such as your internal organization or a consulting firm.

Add the Components You're Changing

Next, add the components you plan to modify to your solution. If you're editing an Account form, for example, add:

• The Account table
• The appropriate main Account form
• Any existing columns you're changing
• Any global choices you're modifying

Keeping your solution limited to the components you're actually changing makes it easier to understand and manage your customizations.

Edit a Choice Field

Choice fields provide users with predefined options to select from. Each choice has both a label and a value. The label is the text users see in CRM. The value is the unique number Dynamics uses behind the scenes. You can modify a label when appropriate, but keep in mind that changing it affects existing records as well as future selections. The underlying numeric value shouldn't be changed. It can be referenced by functionality such as client-side JavaScript and Power Automate conditions. You can also:

• Add new choices
• Reorder choices
• Change existing labels

If you're modifying a global choice, remember to include that choice component in your solution. Global choices can be reused across different tables in CRM.

Create a New Field

You can also create new fields when your organization needs to capture information that isn't currently available on a form. For example, you might create a text field called Business Type where users can record a short description of what a customer does. Dynamics 365 provides many field types, including:

• Single-line text
• Multiple-line text
• Email
• Phone number
• URL
• Whole numbers and decimals
• Date and time
• Lookups
• Choices
• Yes/No fields
• Currency
• Autonumber
• File fields
• Formula fields

When creating a text field, you can also control its maximum character count based on the amount of information users need to enter.

Add Fields to Your Form

Creating a new field doesn't automatically mean users will see it on the form. Open the appropriate form in the Power Apps form editor. Locate the field you want to add and drag it into the desired position on the form. Once your changes are in place, save and publish the form.

Publish and Test Your Changes

Before evaluating your changes, publish your customizations. Using Publish all customizations helps ensure that your updates have been applied throughout the system. When opening CRM to test the updated form, clear your browser cache to make sure you're seeing the latest version. Ctrl + F5 provides a quick way to refresh the application and retrieve the latest changes. Review your updated form carefully. Check that:

• New fields appear in the correct location.
• Updated choices contain the expected options.
• Fields function as intended.
• The form layout still makes sense for users.

Testing these changes in your sandbox gives you the opportunity to correct problems before moving anything into production.

Move Your Solution to Production

Once you've tested the changes and are satisfied with them, you can export the solution from your sandbox. Before exporting, make sure your customizations have been published. In the example from this Fast Class, the solution is exported as unmanaged so its components can continue to be edited in the destination environment.

Back Up Your Production Environment

Before importing your solution into production, consider creating a manual backup. A backup provides a recovery point if something unexpected happens during the deployment. Remember that restoring an environment also rolls back other work performed after the backup was created. If users make changes after the backup and you later restore it, those subsequent changes can be lost.

Import and Verify Your Changes

With your backup complete, select the correct production environment and import your solution. After the import finishes successfully, review the application again to confirm the changes appear and function correctly in production. At this point, your light form customizations are complete.

Start Making CRM Work Better for Your Organization

You don't need complex development expertise to make every useful Dynamics 365 CRM customization. With the appropriate security access and an understanding of Power Apps solutions, you can make straightforward improvements such as creating fields, modifying choices, and adjusting forms. The key is to follow a controlled process: organize your work in a solution, make the changes in a sandbox, test them carefully, back up your production environment, and then move the tested solution into production.