Business Central Hacks: 12 Features Power Users Swear By (But Most Miss)

Discover the secret weapons that make working with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central faster, smarter, and incredibly efficient. If you’ve worked in Business Central for some time, you no doubt know the basics: how to post journals, how to use and navigate Role Centres, how to run reports. But where’s the real productivity boost? It comes from the little things, the lesser-known features that power users rely on daily to save time, reduce errors, and keep operations running smoothly. Here are 12 underrated Business Central hacks that will transform the way you work. 

1. Edit in Excel – The Mass Update Superpower 

Most users know this exists, but few truly use it.  With Edit in Excel, you can bulk update hundreds or thousands of records each for items, vendors, customers, or GL accounts and publish them back instantly. Perfect for: 

  • Price updates 
  • Adding new items 
  • Dimension fixing 
  • Vendors contact clean-ups 
2. Saved Views for Personalized Filters 

If you’re constantly applying the same filters, stop. Saved Views let you create custom-filtered pages, for instance, “Items low on stock,” “Overdue customers,” “Pending approvals,” among others, and pin them to your Role Centre. It’s like having mini dashboards built into BC. 

3. Page Inspection, Your Debugging Sidekick

Hit Ctrl + Alt + F1 to open Page Inspection. This reveals: 

  • Table name 
  • Field names 
  • Extensions affecting the page 
  • Field data sources 

Power users use it to troubleshoot issues without having to involve a developer. 

4. Background Sessions, Do Heavy Jobs While You Keep Working 

How about posting a huge batch or running a long report? Use Background Sessions so that BC completes the job while you keep working normally. No more freezing your browser or waiting 10 minutes on a posting screen. 

5. Keyboard Shortcuts Power Users Live By 

Some of the best: 

Alt + Q — Tell Me (fastest way to find anything) 

Ctrl + Shift + F3 — Open Filters 

F8 — Copy value from above 

Ctrl + F12 — Switch to/from full screen mode 

These alone can cut your work time by 20%. 

6. Personalization, Customise Your Workspace in 2 Minutes 

Don’t like the layout? Missing fields? Too much clutter? Use Personalize to: 

  • Add/remove fields 
  • Reorder columns 
  • Move cues 
  • Hide sections 

Any user can create BC based on the workflow in their role. 

7. Config Packages: The Most Underrated Data Tool 

Beyond just migrations, Config Packages are insanely useful for: 

  • Template-based master data set-up 
  • Setup reuse across companies 
  • Mass cleaning without Excel 
  • Fast onboarding 

If you’re not using them regularly, you’re missing out. 

8. Advanced Filters, Not Just “Contains” 

Business Central supports the following powerful operators: 

. (ranges) 

| (OR) 

<> (excluding) 

= and <= 

Date shortcuts like t, w, cm, -1w 

9. Copy Document, A Time Saver for Orders & Invoices 

Creating repetitive sales or purchase documents? Use Copy Document to: 

  • Clone old orders 
  • Repeat monthly POs 
  • Create templates for recurring tasks 

It’s a lifesaver for procurement and sales teams. 

10. Send Reminders & Statements in Bulk 

Finance teams love this. You can bulk-send: 

  • Customer reminders 
  • Vendor remittance advice 
  • Account statements 

It integrates with BC’s Email Accounts to log and automate everything. 

11. Role Explorer, The ERP Encyclopaedia 

Press Alt + Q → Explore opens the Role Explorer. 

It shows every page, report, and setting in your BC environment. 

Great for discovering features you didn’t even know existed. 

12. Item Availability by Event, Inventory Insights in One Page 

Instead of guessing stock levels, use Item Availability by Event to view: 

  • SO, commitments  
  • Purchase receipts  
  • Transfer orders  
  • Production  
  • Reservations  

This one page solves 80% of inventory confusion. 

Final Words  

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central is full of capabilities, but most people only use 60% of its potential. These 12 hacks will seriously help with efficiency, data accuracy, and productivity in a day-to-day workflow.