We are so excited to partner with the best in the CRM business because their releases help you too! The most recent release for Microsoft Dynamics 365 is currently rolling out, and below are important dates and links to review. Microsoft releases new features in "waves" during the update timeframe. 

Key Dates

Milestone	Date	Description
Release plans available	January 25, 2023	Public disclosure of 2023 Release Wave 1 plans.
Early access available	January 30, 2023	Early access public preview available to new features and capabilities before they are enabled automatically.
General availability	April 1, 2023	General availability for 2023 Release Wave 1 begins.

 

Below are some of the key enhancements we want to highlight as your Microsoft partner.

• Look up records easily with modern advanced find

• Prioritize Engagement by Working in Focus Mode
• Manage Duplicates When Importing Leads in Bulk
• Approve and Enable Mailboxes Without an Administrator
• Associate Activities with Other Activities

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Look up records easily with modern advanced find

(General Availability April 2023)

With modern advanced find enabled by default, you can be more productive in filtering data based on specific records on all grid pages in an app.

Adding a condition or editing an existing condition on lookup columns in the Edit filters pane on grid pages is easier with the Advanced lookup option. You can see more fields per record and search for records within a specific view to choose the right record to filter against.

Admins can disable this capability in Power Platform admin center by toggling the setting Show advanced lookup in lookup fields within Edit filters.

 

Prioritize Engagement by Working in Focus Mode

(General Availability April 2023)

A new focus mode will help advisors quickly work through their records by completing updates and calls. This customizable layout includes further ‘up next’ action cards with focused view filters and will allow users to switch between their default grid and the focused view in a single click.

Manage Duplicates When Importing Leads in Bulk

(General Availability September 2023)

You can view duplicates when you bulk import leads into the system, allowing you to prevent the import of duplicates.

 

Approve and Enable Mailboxes Without an Administrator

(General Availability April 2023)

If you're using Dynamics 365 with Exchange Online, a user with a Global administrator or Exchange administrator role is currently required to approve mailboxes before they can be enabled to synchronize with Dynamics 365. With this feature, users can approve their own mailboxes.

Users will be able to approve and enable their own mailboxes without needing to involve an administrator. This means users will be able to perform actions, such as sending and receiving email with their Exchange Online mailbox.

 

Associate Activities with Other Activities

(General Availability April 2023)

Activity records like emails, appointments, tasks, calls, and Teams chats can be associated to business records, such as accounts, contacts, leads, and opportunities. Previously, however, it wasn't possible to associate an activity record to another activity record. With this feature, users will be able to associate activity records with other activity records (for example, a Teams chat with a task).

Users will be able to associate an activity record with another activity record using the Regarding lookup column (field). This means a user can perform actions like associating a Teams chat activity to a task or an appointment activity.

 

Top 5 Early Access Features: Pre-release Only

1. See Which Colleagues are Viewing the Same Records as You

This feature can be turned on by going to the Settings->Collaboration:

Now, on the form, we see icons of which users are looking at the same record, in the case below the user sees eight users. This feature applies to all entities, including custom tables, and is enabled by default.

 

2. Improved UX for Sharing Records

The Share button has been revamped. When a user selects the button, it displays 3 options:

• Email link

• Copy link

• Manage access

Manage records gives us a nice interface to select users/teams and then the permissions to the record:

3. Focused Mode for Sales Views

Focused mode is useful to help prioritize Dynamics 365 lists in an optimized and beautiful experience. To enter focused mode, click on the Focused View button:

Here, we see a list of records displayed as cards. There is a search box to filter records as well as the options to filter and sort. 

4. Pipeline View for Opportunities

The pipeline view for opportunities helps you visualize and prioritize opportunities. To access it, select Opportunities->Show As->Pipeline View:

 

The view is opened:

 

Users can interact with visualizations and records:

5. Improved In-App Notifications

To enable this, in the model-driven app turn on In-app Notifications:

The notification appears as a toast:

And also when clicking on the bell icon:

Now when a notification is created it will be delivered in real time as opposed to being dependent on user navigation. Also, 2 new action types on the notification will be added. Previously URLs were supported, now the new release will support opening an app side pane with context and a Teams chat related to a record.