Imagine you’re navigating through a Dynamics or Model-Driven App, and you come across a record that you want to present in a beautifully formatted document. How do you achieve this?
There are a few Options you could imagine from easy to advanced from simple to unnecessary.
- Word Template
- Export to PDF
- Power Automate Flow
Screenshots
We all agree that Screenshot shouldn’t be on the list. It’s the worst way to document data.
But what about Power Automate Flow?
Power Automate is a powerful tool for automating various tasks, including document creation. One of its standout features is the ability to populate Excel files dynamically, which is particularly useful when working with data from model-driven apps. This functionality, however, is not natively available for single records in model-driven apps.
So if you want to populate an Excel. This is the way to go.
If you’re looking to populate a Word document or obtain a PDF, this method may not be suitable for you.
Word Template
Word Templates are a native feature from Microsoft, integrated into Dynamics 365/Model Driven Apps. This means that this function is relatively safe to use and unlikely to cause significant errors.
On the other hand, this feature is limited as it can only display data in a text field; checkboxes are not supported and are still displayed as „Yes“ or „No.“
So if you want display data in a Word Format, this is the way to go
Export to PDF
Occasionally, exporting data in PDF format is appropriate. Fortunately, Microsoft is developing a native feature (currently in preview) that allows PDF export. This feature is quite neat; however, it has a drawback: it relies on Word templates as a foundation.
To achieve it you have to do two steps:
- Activate the function
- Populate a Word Template for the necessary entity.
We covered both steps in Tutorials, so you always know what to do.
If you need a PDF version, despite the setup hassle, this is the method you should use.
3rd Party Software
As usual, third-party software developers have taken the initiative to create excellent software that can export records, sometimes multiple at once, into documents in various formats.
If the native functionality provided by Microsoft doesn’t meet your needs, exploring third-party software could be an excellent option.
Conclusion
Microsoft offers several functions for recording documents. If any of these meet your needs, feel free to use them. However, if you require additional features, considering third-party options could be beneficial.