04 Sep Enter and Edit Information in Dynamics 365 Business Central

Have you recently started working with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and need a review of the functionality to enter and edit information? In this article we have summarized all this functionality so you can gain agility in your day to day with Business Central.

View and Edit Mode

In general, you can only edit information from card pages, not from list pages (with some exceptions like the Chart Of Accounts lists). When you open the card page from the list, the card page is automatically in edit mode and you can start editing the information.

Note: You switch to view mode by clicking (disabling) the Edit button in the ribbon of the card page.

New and Delete

You can insert new records from both list and card pages by clicking New. You can delete records from a list by selecting the line, clicking the assist edit and then selecting Delete.

You can also delete a record from its card page by clicking Delete from the ribbon.

The way to add and edit information in fields depends on the type of field.

Field Types

When you enter information into fields, Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides the format for the type of information that you enter in the following types of fields:

• Date fields – accept only date parameters.
• Number fields – accept only numbers.
• Text fields – accept information in any format.
• Code fields – accept only predefined codes
• Calculated fields – display amounts and quantities calculated by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, for example the Balance field for G/L Accounts

Enter Dates

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central provides flexibility when you enter dates. The following table shows valid entries in a date field.

You can also enter abbreviations for the weekday and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central will then enter the date for that weekday based on the work date, as shown in the following table.

When you enter a date, take special note of the following:

• Start-day of the week is Monday.
• Date fields accept incorrect year numbers such as 9008.
• The work date year is added automatically if you enter day/month.
• The work date month/year is added automatically if you enter day.
• Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central supports default Windows date ranges.

Enter Quantities and Amounts

Quantities and amounts are entered in special number fields that have a built-in mathematical function so that you can enter calculations such as 13.50 * 2 – 12.

The four basic mathematical operators are as follows:

• + (plus)
• – (minus)
• *(multiply)
• / (divide)

Note: The calculated amount, but not the formula, is stored in the field.

Enter Codes

A code identifies a record such as a vendor number or customer number. Codes are also values that are used for sorting information on the screen and in reports.

Numbers and letters can be used to identify codes. When you must enter a code in a field, you can look up the value to select from the list of codes related to the field. Instead of selecting a code, you can also type it in the field. In that case, you only have to enter the first letter(s) in the code name. For example, type “y” for YELLOW.

Calculated Fields

Calculated Fields display amounts and quantities calculated by Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central, for example the Balance field for G/L Accounts. By clicking the value of the FlowField, you can open a separate page. For example, when you click the Balance FlowField on a G/L account, the General Ledger Entries page opens. It shows the entries included in the calculation.

The contents of FlowFields are calculated every time that they are displayed. This means that a FlowField is always 100 percent updated and displays the newest figures.

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