Simplifying Data Sorting, Searching and Filtering with Smart Grids (preview)
Now that Smart Grids are in public preview via model-driven apps views, users can rapidly locate, filter, and sort their data using natural language instead of complex advanced filters. By using AI, the functionality streamlines data administration and enhances user experience by turning grid views into a smooth interface for immediate responses, locating records and starting actions on your data. In Power Apps model-driven apps (including Dynamics 365 apps), you may now ask queries about data using natural language when utilizing the main grid view. Requesting “Task with high priority with pending follow-up after the specified date,” for instance, will limit your screen to just see those pertinent cases. The following features are supported:• Filtering of record• Sorting• Text search The following capabilities aren’t supported:• Query aggregation• Query grouping• Adding columns Things to Think AboutCheck the generated filter tags after running a query to make sure your natural language query’s filter criteria were successfully interpreted. If any portion of your query is absent from the filter tags, that condition did not filter the results.In the event that Copilot fails to yield the intended results, think about changing your query by:• Using the names of the data columns as they appear in the grid header• Using commas or periods to separate several conditions• A text search will be conducted using search strings that contain two words or fewer (prior functionality).• Use more than two terms when conducting a Copilot search. Put the search string in single or double quotations to do a text search for more than two words. In conclusion, the introduction of Smart Grids in public preview for model-driven apps marks a significant advancement in how users interact with and manage their data. By leveraging natural language queries, users can now filter, sort, and search through grid data with ease, eliminating the need for complex manual filtering. This functionality enhances the user experience, making it more intuitive and efficient, especially for those who need to quickly locate and take action on records. Please take note that this is a preview feature that will be enhanced with every weekly update. Thank you, Arvind Khadye for your valuable inputs to this blog!
Speed Up Form Filling with Smart Paste (preview)
“I have been annoyed by the time-consuming process of completing forms and wished I could just take the data straight from an existing note, document, or email?” Now in preview for model driven apps, Copilot’s new smart paste feature will speed up and simplify the form fill process. The purpose of smart paste is to make form-filling as easy as copying and pasting. You can now fill out forms with ease using the data you already have, which will save you time and cut down on mistakes. Prepare yourself to manage forms in a more intelligent, efficient, and user-friendly manner.Consider the following scenario: you need to fill out a form with content from an email, document, or note. You can now just copy the text to your clipboard rather than painstakingly entering it all in. Simply use the regular paste shortcut (CTRL+V or CMD+V) or click the smart paste button without selecting any particular fields. Copilot makes suggestions inline within the form by analyzing the form and the copied content to determine what text might be used to fill in particular fields. The recommendations that suit you can be reviewed and accepted; as usual, nothing is kept unless you give your approval. Suggestions will be immediately discarded if they are ignored, and the ability to clear all of the form’s suggestions will be added in future.Users can select the smart paste button or use the keyboard shortcut to receive suggestions for fields. Text, choice, date, and number fields are the ones that Smart Paste currently supports. It is also not possible for Copilot to enter data in any fields that have field security enabled. Arabic,Chinese (Simplified), Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (US), Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Norwegian (Bokmål), Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Thai, and Turkish are among the languages that Smart Paste supports.How to enable it?By making the following two changes in the Power Platform admin center, under Settings > Product > Features > AI form fill assistance section, you can leverage smart paste in your model-driven apps:1. In the Enable this feature for field, make sure that All users immediately is selected.2. Set Enable smart paste (Preview) to On. In conclusion, the new Smart Paste feature from Copilot is a game-changer for anyone who finds the process of filling out forms time-consuming and repetitive. By allowing users to seamlessly copy and paste data from existing documents, emails, or notes, Smart Paste streamlines the form-filling experience. It reduces errors, saves time, and ensures a more efficient workflow by automatically suggesting relevant data for each form field. Whether you’re dealing with text, choice, date, or number fields, Smart Paste is designed to make form management easier and more intelligent. With support for multiple languages and a focus on user privacy and control, Copilot’s Smart Paste is poised to enhance productivity and provide a smoother, more intuitive form-filling experience. Thank you, for your valuable inputs Arvind!
🌟 Introducing the Cool and Crisp Makeover for Model-Driven Apps! 🚀🎨
Hey, app aficionados! Get ready to jazz up your model-driven apps because they’re getting a snazzy, modern, and totally refreshed look! 🌈✨ 🎉 What’s the Buzz? Turn on the “Try the new look” feature, and voila! Your Model-Driven Apps will be rocking updated styling, with cooler fonts, trendier colors, and even some magical shadows. It’s like giving your apps a makeover to align perfectly with the latest Microsoft Fluent design system. 🎨✨ 🚀 Why the Hype? This revamped look isn’t just for show – it’s designed to make your app experience smoother and more efficient. Imagine updated styling in form, view, and dashboard pages, creating an elevated, almost floating appearance! It’s not just a makeover; it’s an app revolution! 💻🚀 🔮 What’s in the Modern Magic Kit? 🎨 Command Bar Couture! Check out the floating command bar – it’s like the runway of your app, with rounded corners and consistent spacing. This isn’t just an update; it’s a fashion statement for your app’s command bar! 👩🎤💄 👀 View Pages that Wow! View pages are now the rockstars of your app. With a sleek command bar and the Power Apps grid control for infinite scrolling, data browsing just got a whole lot cooler. Your app just became the VIP lounge of data interaction! 🕶️📊 📋 Form Pages – Redefined Elegance! Form pages are strutting their stuff with a new command bar and refreshed headers, tabs, and business process flows. Quick views, card forms, and timelines also got a makeover. It’s not just a page; it’s a form of art! 🎨📝 💡 Field Controls – Styled to Perfection! Field controls like text input, lookup, and checkboxes are now the supermodels of Fluent design. Icons have shifted to the right for that perfect balance, and redundant icons have hit the road for a cleaner look. Your app’s fields just got a glow-up! 💅🌟 📊 Dashboard Page – Where Data Meets Glam! System dashboards are now flaunting the new command bar and a style that matches form and view pages. Monthly channel users get the Power Apps grid control for a dashboard that’s not just informative but also Instagram-worthy! 📸✨ 🚀 Activate the Glam! End-users, it’s your time to shine! Hit the “Try the new look” switch in the app header, and your app will transform into a modern marvel. Don’t worry; you can switch back anytime. It’s like having a magic button for your app’s wardrobe! ✨🔄 🚧 Limitations – Keepin’ It Real! Okay, so the mobile and mail apps are taking a rain check on the glam party. Also, classic theme customizations are making way for a new era. Change can be challenging, but it’s all for the greater good of app evolution! 🔄📱 Get ready to turn heads and elevate your app game because the future of model-driven apps is here, and it’s looking fresher than ever! 🚀💻✨ Thank you, Sayantan, for your valuable inputs to this blog!
Check out the Lead Qualification Experience in (Release wave 2)
Introduction: The business landscape is constantly evolving, and staying ahead means adapting to the tools and features that can streamline processes. With the 2024 Release Wave 2, Dynamics 365 Sales has introduced an exciting enhancement that promises to revolutionize the way businesses handle lead qualification. This update brings a fully customizable lead qualification experience, empowering administrators and sales teams with more control, flexibility, and precision. Description Lead qualification is a crucial step in the sales process, determining whether a lead is worth pursuing further. The traditional Dynamics 365 lead qualification experience had limitations, auto-creating certain records without giving users much control. However, the latest feature allows administrators to fine-tune this process, adapting it to their unique business needs. Here are some of the key highlights of the new lead qualification experience: 1. Multiple Opportunities from a Single Lead Sales cycles aren’t always linear. With the new feature, you can now create multiple opportunities from a single lead, enabling your team to pursue various avenues simultaneously without needing to duplicate the lead. This offers more versatility when nurturing complex sales scenarios. 2. AI-Powered Lead Summaries with Copilot AI is taking center stage in the world of CRM. Dynamics 365 Sales now integrates Microsoft Copilot to assist in generating AI-based lead qualification summaries. This not only saves timebut also helps create more accurate and data-driven insights, enabling sales teams to make informed decisions faster. 3. Administrator Control for Enhanced Customization Unlike the previous rigid system, this feature grants administrators the ability to configure which records (account, contact, opportunity) are auto-created upon qualification. Whether you want to skip certain steps or capture additional information, the flexibility of the system ensures it works in alignment with your business goals. The Business BenefitsThe ability to customize lead qualification offers multiple advantages:• Improved Efficiency: By customizing the qualification process, sales teams can avoid unnecessary steps and focus on converting high-quality leads into valuable opportunities.• Enhanced Insights: With Copilot summarizing leads based on AI, businesses can leverage real-time data and insights to better evaluate lead quality.• Scalability: For businesses dealing with multi-channel or large-scale sales processes, the ability to create multiple opportunities from a single lead ensures a more dynamic approach to lead nurturing.How to Get Started with the New FeatureTo enable this feature, administrators need to access the early access features for Dynamics 365 Sales 2024 Release Wave 2 and configure the lead qualification settings based on their organization’s requirements. Follow these steps:1. Navigate to the Sales Hub app.2. Go to Settings > Lead Management.3. Enable the new qualification experience and customize it according to your business needs. Once activated, sellers will notice an immediate difference in the lead qualification process, from the way opportunities are created to how AI-driven insights are integrated into their workflows.ConclusionThe new lead qualification experience in Dynamics 365 Sales brings a fresh approach to an age-old process, combining flexibility, AI-driven insights, and the ability to handle multiple sales paths simultaneously. If your business is looking to stay competitive and maximize sales potential, embracing this new feature should be a top priority. Stay ahead of the curve by exploring this feature as part of the 2024 Release Wave 2 and elevate your sales process to new heights. Thank you, Subhash! for your valuable inputs to this blog!
Efficient Data Management using New Enhanced Grid Features in Power Apps
The 2024 Wave 2 release includes a noteworthy update in the form of new grid features in Power Apps. What is it all about?These improvements are meant to make it easier for users to view and use data. Users will find it easier to manage massive datasets with the new grid’s better data filtering, sorting, and inline editing features. These features improve user productivity by enabling speedy information retrieval and updating, while also streamlining and simplifying data management. Businesses that primarily rely on data-driven decision-making and require effective tools to manage their data may especially benefit from this update. Model-driven applications now have new grid features that make it easier for users to view and interact with data. You may easily accomplish various jobs with the capabilities, such as grouping and aggregating data, rearranging columns, and setting column width. What are it’s features?Numerous functional and aesthetic enhancements to the Power Apps grid control enhance users’ out of the box experience. Grouping and aggregationUsers of the Power Apps grid control have the option to organize data according to a particular column. Users can choose to extend (and re-collapse) groups, although they are collapsed by default. Regardless of whether the grid is set to be editable or read-only, this feature is accessible. Users can also combine one or more of the grid’s numerical columns. Users have the option to view the average, minimum, maximum, or sum of the numbers in each column. This aggregate value will also be shown for each group if grouping has been used. When an entity is set up to use the pipeline view or the read-only grid component by default, these features are activated. You must enable this behavior for other instances that require manual configuration by utilizing the Enable grouping and Enable aggregation options. Column headers allow users to aggregate and combine columns. Only column types that support these operations have options. Simple column rearrangingThe ability of users to rearrange columns directly within the grid is determined by the Allow column reordering property. This includes using the Move left and Move right actions from column header dropdown menus, as well as the ability to drag and drop column heads.Redesigned list mode styleThe Power Apps grid control’s list mode has been modified to conform to Fluent styling, with adjustments made to the font size and weight to denote the relative importance of each field in the list.List mode sorting is supportedUsers notice a new header row with a sort icon at the top of the list when using the Power Apps grid control in list mode. By clicking on this button, the user can select the sort direction and column from a menu. If column sorting is not supported by the grid, this option is suppressed.Command bar for nested gridWhen a row in the nested grid is chosen in the Power Apps grid control with configured nested grids, the correct command bar is now displayed.Column width can be set to a specific valueNow, using the column settings, you may adjust the column width to a certain pixel value. This makes it possible to set column width with just the keyboard.The ability to scroll endlessly while selecting every record On all contemporary grids, the option to choose all records will be present by default. This option will select up to 1000 records when used with infinite scroll. Conclusion:So now users will have more privilege while working with columns and data in grids and views. Now, you can adjust the column widths, aggregate the data, group the data, and more. A feature that greatly simplifies working with fields for average users. Thank you, Arvind Khadye for your valuable inputs to this blog.
Real-time collaboration using Coauthoring in Canvas App
The 2024 Wave 2 release includes a notable feature for developers creating canvas apps: real-time collaboration using Coauthoring. What is Coauthoring?It was previously forbidden for many creators to edit an app at once. Coauthoring allows developers to quickly author and amend a canvas application. By facilitating rapid collaboration and app development across multiple makers, this experience expedites and saves time during the app development process. When several makers are needed, this functionality also improves code reviews, debugging, and training.A canvas app can be edited simultaneously by multiple developers. In the past, Power Apps Studio copresence experiences allowed numerous developers to collaborate on a canvas application, but only one developer could make changes to the app.With the new coauthoring functionality, multiple developers may work together to edit a canvas app simultaneously, much like they can with Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. With the help of this feature, fusion teams may enhance their Power Apps Studio collaboration and expedite the app development lifecycle. In real time, makers can also view the updates and whereabouts of their coworkers.How to Enable Coauthoring?Coauthoring supersedes the copresence functionality once it is enabled.To enable coauthoring, follow given steps: What are the Limitations of Coauthoring?• When multiple users are editing the application, the following settings are not available: ➢ Search ➢ Save as ➢ Open another or new app ➢ Undo and redo ➢ Switch authoring versions ➢ Depending on whatever restriction is reached first, up to 10 coauthors may be added in a single session or over the course of 10 tabs. Beyond 10, any more coauthors or tabs will be in copresence and won’t be able to edit the app or receive real-time updates. ➢ When an app is opened for editing, the language of the application is locked to the first user’s locale. ➢ Cut is disabled. ➢ Coauthoring is disabled in the Monitor tool. • Issues could arise from the following actions: ➢ When you try to rename a control ➢ When you add AI Builder components ➢ When you add geospatial controls ➢ When one author adds a flow and another coauthor tries to run the flow without first refreshing the app ➢ Some errors from one author’s actions are visible to all other coauthors ➢ When you copy and paste Conclusion:This improvement facilitates teamwork and speeds up development processes by enabling several users to work concurrently on the same canvas app. Teams can expedite the app-building process, share ideas, and give prompt feedback with real-time updates and collaboration tools. This function is revolutionary for companies trying to boost output and encourage teamwork among their development staff. Thank you, Arvind for your valuable inputs for this blog!