One of the preview features I’m most excited about in Platform update 29 is saved views.

Saved Views – What are they?

In D365, personalizations enable users to Hide, Add, or Move fields on a given form. A Saved View can best be thought of as a set of personalizations, and saved views allow users to toggle between multiple sets of personalizations.

New users of D365 are frequently overwhelmed by the volume of fields and buttons available on every form. Saved views provide a way for users to pare the number of fields displayed in their day-to-day tasks, while still giving them access to the extra functionality should the need arise.

Saved Views – How are they enabled?

As a preview feature, there is a line of SQL code needs to be run to enable their flighting. More information can be found here:

Saved Views – How do they work?

When enabled, all forms now start in a standard “Classic view”:

If a form is modified through a personalization, the Classic view gains a Barry-Bonds-like asterisk. The asterisk indicate the form has been enhanced:

By clicking on the view button, the user now has the ability to save this as a new view:

The user can now name this new view, as well as decide whether to make this the default view every time the form is accessed.

Clicking the view button, this new view is now a new option the user can select for how the form is presented. The user always has the option of clicking back to the Classic view to see the standard presentation of the form.

That’s Great! What Else?

Saved views can be used for personalizations (adding, moving, hiding fields). Saved views can also be used for the sorting/filtering of columns. This is a huge extension of the form personalization capabilities.

Additionally, saved views can be published and shared at the role level bringing the management of personalizations much more in light with security management. I’d like to do another post on the sharing of views, as well as a video digging deeper into applications for shared views, but those will have to wait for another day.